Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Another new Brew author...
The first of three upcoming, quickly-posted articles is new author Shannon Neffendorf's "True Freedom Found In Eliminating Space." Check it out.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Specialty Brew; Weird News; Camp Songs and Anglicanism
A new section of The Brew, Specialty Brews, will be featuring more creative pieces. I posted new author Travis Theiszen's poem "The Southern Inquisition" on The Brew.
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Burger wars and name calling: Hardee's upset over Jack In The Box accusation (or misspelling) that their burgers are made from 'anus' (rather than angus) meat.
An ice cream truck that got sold some herbal ice cream. I'm a little upset because I blogged about this years ago while living in Chicago. I'm suing for patent issues.
Massachusetts short, fat people to get more rights. For real.
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I visited Christ Church of Plano last night. I was moved and will probably go back to their Saturday night service again sometime.
The church recently broke away from it's Episcopal connections and runs like an independent Bible church, though they are Anglican (as far as a person who doesn't go there and has only heard secondhand about their history can know).
During the traditional liturgy service, they sang "Shine, Jesus Shine". This was a trip. That song brings back so many adolescent nights spent sitting on dirty logs around a campfire, watching sparks fly up into the air. "Shine" was always sung, sticks were always thrown into the fire in dedication.
But the use of "Shine" in a liturgy is illustrative of the unique character of the church, I hear. The officient made it all connect to Day of Pentecost (which is today, I think, in the church calendar) somehow and it worked into the liturgy pretty well.
-------------------
Burger wars and name calling: Hardee's upset over Jack In The Box accusation (or misspelling) that their burgers are made from 'anus' (rather than angus) meat.
An ice cream truck that got sold some herbal ice cream. I'm a little upset because I blogged about this years ago while living in Chicago. I'm suing for patent issues.
Massachusetts short, fat people to get more rights. For real.
-------
I visited Christ Church of Plano last night. I was moved and will probably go back to their Saturday night service again sometime.
The church recently broke away from it's Episcopal connections and runs like an independent Bible church, though they are Anglican (as far as a person who doesn't go there and has only heard secondhand about their history can know).
During the traditional liturgy service, they sang "Shine, Jesus Shine". This was a trip. That song brings back so many adolescent nights spent sitting on dirty logs around a campfire, watching sparks fly up into the air. "Shine" was always sung, sticks were always thrown into the fire in dedication.
But the use of "Shine" in a liturgy is illustrative of the unique character of the church, I hear. The officient made it all connect to Day of Pentecost (which is today, I think, in the church calendar) somehow and it worked into the liturgy pretty well.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Adjustments to Delirious? Interview; New Brew; Progress
I had to take down the last two posts that featured my interview with Delirious? bassist John Thatcher, because the article won't be published until July in Veritasse magazine.
I'm a little used to more of the start-up mentality with it comes to publishing things, where you can publish about anything.
But come July, after I get permission to reprint the interview from the magazine editor, I'll re-post it here. So you can wait till then or go out and buy Veritasse at a Barnes and Noble or Borders.
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On those previous posts (which I had to delete), I linked to Dan Morgan's article. If you missed it, here it is again.
I also just posted Kevin Schwartz's article "Creating Space For Home," which runs a long a similar vein thematically as Dan's.
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Had an encouraging conversation with a friend of mine about progress. We had a common bond of both suffering from depression, either now or in the past. So the idea of progress means a lot.
While talking, I realized that I've made a lot of progress in dealing with depression. I've been able to deal with depression as it comes and still get on with my life. I can say that I have a healthier faith and am probably optimistic when it comes to thinking about faith (probably still not so much about humanity).
Some of the things that help me are: staying busy; not trying to do much when I am depressed; get a good night's sleep when I am depressed and start over the next day. Use films as an outlet of expression or let them be a healthy distraction (Film is the Brew's topic for June, also).
It's funny that I realized this now. Because I could probably say that I'm one of those people I used to look at and think, "Wow. I know that they struggled with depression. And look at them now. They're getting married. They have a good job. They're not holed up in some apartment somewhere, unable to do anything." Those people gave me hope.
I'm a little used to more of the start-up mentality with it comes to publishing things, where you can publish about anything.
But come July, after I get permission to reprint the interview from the magazine editor, I'll re-post it here. So you can wait till then or go out and buy Veritasse at a Barnes and Noble or Borders.
----------------------------
On those previous posts (which I had to delete), I linked to Dan Morgan's article. If you missed it, here it is again.
I also just posted Kevin Schwartz's article "Creating Space For Home," which runs a long a similar vein thematically as Dan's.
-----------------
Had an encouraging conversation with a friend of mine about progress. We had a common bond of both suffering from depression, either now or in the past. So the idea of progress means a lot.
While talking, I realized that I've made a lot of progress in dealing with depression. I've been able to deal with depression as it comes and still get on with my life. I can say that I have a healthier faith and am probably optimistic when it comes to thinking about faith (probably still not so much about humanity).
Some of the things that help me are: staying busy; not trying to do much when I am depressed; get a good night's sleep when I am depressed and start over the next day. Use films as an outlet of expression or let them be a healthy distraction (Film is the Brew's topic for June, also).
It's funny that I realized this now. Because I could probably say that I'm one of those people I used to look at and think, "Wow. I know that they struggled with depression. And look at them now. They're getting married. They have a good job. They're not holed up in some apartment somewhere, unable to do anything." Those people gave me hope.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
New Brew; Crazy News; Christian Music
I just posted new author Dave Fischer's article "Arrival, Departure and Places In-Between" on The Brew.
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More Crazy News:
A Japanese idea to deal with overpopulation.
How a little suburban Dallas town is dealing with illegal immigration.
--------------------------------------
During the last week and half I immersed myself in everything Delirious? to get ready to interview them on Wednesday. I haven't been a big fan of worship music, and I usually gravitate toward most anything darker or edgier. But Delirious? grew on me, especially their most recent album The Mission Bell. There's plenty of edgier and darker songs on the album and a good friend of mine describe the album as probing the dark side of worship.
This made me realize that I recently had somehow been more willing to listen to Christian music. I even went to a LifeWay store and bought 4 of the clearance CDs: Glo by Delirious?; Drawing Black Lines by Project 86; the untitled debut album by The Benjamin Gate; and a remix cd of John Ruben hits.
Maybe I'm not outright dismissing Christian music as much as I used to. I'd always give lip service to the 'real' artists out there and how they're not becoming products of the record labels desperately trying to keep up with pop culture. But now I'm actually turning to the Christian rock station more often and keeping my radio there.
Maybe it was seeing MuteMath live. Maybe it was the Delirious? binge. Maybe it was Toby Mac's new over-produced-but-catchier-than-classic-Newsboys song "Boomin." If you haven't heard 'Boomin' yet, you've got to check it out for it's sheer audacity and attitude.
-----------
More Crazy News:
A Japanese idea to deal with overpopulation.
How a little suburban Dallas town is dealing with illegal immigration.
--------------------------------------
During the last week and half I immersed myself in everything Delirious? to get ready to interview them on Wednesday. I haven't been a big fan of worship music, and I usually gravitate toward most anything darker or edgier. But Delirious? grew on me, especially their most recent album The Mission Bell. There's plenty of edgier and darker songs on the album and a good friend of mine describe the album as probing the dark side of worship.
This made me realize that I recently had somehow been more willing to listen to Christian music. I even went to a LifeWay store and bought 4 of the clearance CDs: Glo by Delirious?; Drawing Black Lines by Project 86; the untitled debut album by The Benjamin Gate; and a remix cd of John Ruben hits.
Maybe I'm not outright dismissing Christian music as much as I used to. I'd always give lip service to the 'real' artists out there and how they're not becoming products of the record labels desperately trying to keep up with pop culture. But now I'm actually turning to the Christian rock station more often and keeping my radio there.
Maybe it was seeing MuteMath live. Maybe it was the Delirious? binge. Maybe it was Toby Mac's new over-produced-but-catchier-than-classic-Newsboys song "Boomin." If you haven't heard 'Boomin' yet, you've got to check it out for it's sheer audacity and attitude.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
New Brew; Jesus Camp
I posted Lonnie's article on Isaac Asimov's view of space on The Brew.
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I viewed one of the most disturbing and possibly enraging films of all times: Jesus Camp.
I had the college group from church over for a movie and discussion night to watch it. A friend said he felt sick after watching it. I was left perplexed, but for a different reason than you might think.
Now, naturally, people wanting to make a documentary about a fiery, flamboyant, and fundamentalist church camp don’t have to look too far for material. There is plenty of naturally disturbing footage that needs nothing added to shock.
But I was a little more distracted by the style and other technical details. The documentary follows three kids who attend camp leader Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire Summer Camp.” Though one of the three, a little girl who likes to dance to Christian hardcore music, disappears more as the film progresses. I wondered if she wasn’t vibrant or dramatic enough to merit further inclusion.
The last half of the film follows the other two kids as they listen to a sermon by Ted Haggard at New Life Church in Colorado Springs and then later protest in Washington, D.C. (The filmmakers surely had no idea how damning or ironic their footage of Haggard would become. There is a very interesting response here by the filmmakers to Haggard’s accusation that they had an agenda). At this point, the film seemed to be more about the fundamentalist movement rather than about the camp or Becky Fischer. The praying, singing and protesting in our capital seemed to be the climax rather than kids returning home from camp.
Other segments in the film also rubbed me the wrong way for how they seemed staged. (For an example of documentary staging, watch anything by Michael Moore). A radio talk show featured throughout the film seemed ultra-staged, especially when Fischer called in to try to defend herself.
The first half-hour of the film is sufficient to disturb everyone and also accomplishes what the filmmakers wanted to communicate. The remaining 50 minutes seems to take on a different purpose, or, dare I say, agenda.
I wondered more after watching Camp if any kind of documentary could truly be unbiased. Conceptually, a documentary’s aim is usually just to tape reality as it is, with no agenda. But then, you can’t show an entire fundamentalist church service and would have to do some editing. And it seems that in the editing, the temptation to stage some great shots that would so compliment the service would creep in. And then you get to thinking how you could add in some voice-overs from a different interview or some other clip that might realistically fit in with the original church service. And then you could re-shoot some altar call and tell some little girl to hold out letting go of those tears just a little longer.
Hmmmmmmmm. Stuff to think about.
----------------
I viewed one of the most disturbing and possibly enraging films of all times: Jesus Camp.
I had the college group from church over for a movie and discussion night to watch it. A friend said he felt sick after watching it. I was left perplexed, but for a different reason than you might think.
Now, naturally, people wanting to make a documentary about a fiery, flamboyant, and fundamentalist church camp don’t have to look too far for material. There is plenty of naturally disturbing footage that needs nothing added to shock.
But I was a little more distracted by the style and other technical details. The documentary follows three kids who attend camp leader Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire Summer Camp.” Though one of the three, a little girl who likes to dance to Christian hardcore music, disappears more as the film progresses. I wondered if she wasn’t vibrant or dramatic enough to merit further inclusion.
The last half of the film follows the other two kids as they listen to a sermon by Ted Haggard at New Life Church in Colorado Springs and then later protest in Washington, D.C. (The filmmakers surely had no idea how damning or ironic their footage of Haggard would become. There is a very interesting response here by the filmmakers to Haggard’s accusation that they had an agenda). At this point, the film seemed to be more about the fundamentalist movement rather than about the camp or Becky Fischer. The praying, singing and protesting in our capital seemed to be the climax rather than kids returning home from camp.
Other segments in the film also rubbed me the wrong way for how they seemed staged. (For an example of documentary staging, watch anything by Michael Moore). A radio talk show featured throughout the film seemed ultra-staged, especially when Fischer called in to try to defend herself.
The first half-hour of the film is sufficient to disturb everyone and also accomplishes what the filmmakers wanted to communicate. The remaining 50 minutes seems to take on a different purpose, or, dare I say, agenda.
I wondered more after watching Camp if any kind of documentary could truly be unbiased. Conceptually, a documentary’s aim is usually just to tape reality as it is, with no agenda. But then, you can’t show an entire fundamentalist church service and would have to do some editing. And it seems that in the editing, the temptation to stage some great shots that would so compliment the service would creep in. And then you get to thinking how you could add in some voice-overs from a different interview or some other clip that might realistically fit in with the original church service. And then you could re-shoot some altar call and tell some little girl to hold out letting go of those tears just a little longer.
Hmmmmmmmm. Stuff to think about.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
New Brew; Movie Quickies; Disturbing 70s Evangelical Video
I just posted part 2 of Kevin Davis' "The Truth in Words and Spaces" on The Brew.
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Here's some quick reviews on some movies I saw recently.
Spiderman 3 (as can be expected): Good effects. Nutin' else.
Zodiac: Great movie that's more about obsessive people following the case than about the serial killer.
Breach: The most thrilling movie with the least amount of action.
Hot Fuzz: Genius send-up of action movies by the Brits who made Shaun Of The Dead. A must see if only to see Timothy Dalton ( a former Bond) as a grocery store owner.
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Scary evangelical video from some 70s fundamentalist preacher. Be warned: It is disturbing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1paYhEDFQIw
----------------------
Here's some quick reviews on some movies I saw recently.
Spiderman 3 (as can be expected): Good effects. Nutin' else.
Zodiac: Great movie that's more about obsessive people following the case than about the serial killer.
Breach: The most thrilling movie with the least amount of action.
Hot Fuzz: Genius send-up of action movies by the Brits who made Shaun Of The Dead. A must see if only to see Timothy Dalton ( a former Bond) as a grocery store owner.
-----------------
Scary evangelical video from some 70s fundamentalist preacher. Be warned: It is disturbing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1paYhEDFQIw
Monday, May 07, 2007
New Brew; MuteMath
I posted two articles on The Brew today. The first is the newest article for May's Space issue: "The Truth in Words and Spaces" by new author Kevin Davis. The second is an article submitted for the April Issue which I somehow completely missed. But with the magic of the Internet and a time machine, I posted the article as it should be: classified under the April Issue with the rest of the 2 x 4 articles. (Or if you want the easy route, it's right here.) It's Lonnie's "Leadership At Work," perfect for anyone who has worked in a cubicle.
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I went to go see MuteMath on Friday so this is the post where I tell you how awesome they are (because they were). The energy the 4-person band han was indescribable.
Frenetic would be an understatement. The lead singer jumped, clapped, and mosched all over the stage. At one point, he did handstands on the piano he was pounding, and then began climbing on the wall of lights at the back of the stage.
The drummer was so animated that he had to duct-tap his headphones onto his head.
Here's a clip that was pretty equivalent to the show I saw (including the breaking of the light wall).
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I went to go see MuteMath on Friday so this is the post where I tell you how awesome they are (because they were). The energy the 4-person band han was indescribable.
Frenetic would be an understatement. The lead singer jumped, clapped, and mosched all over the stage. At one point, he did handstands on the piano he was pounding, and then began climbing on the wall of lights at the back of the stage.
The drummer was so animated that he had to duct-tap his headphones onto his head.
Here's a clip that was pretty equivalent to the show I saw (including the breaking of the light wall).
Thursday, May 03, 2007
New Brew; E-news (without the celeberties)
I just posted "The MySpace-ination of Community" on The Brew by new author Jon Reisinger.
Also posted was the May editorial, which I forgot to link to earlier. The Brew's new look will feature each month's editorial at the top of the page, making it (and the the month's theme) more easily accessible.
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I found some very interesting news on how crazy the new online world can be and how even the military is trying to keep up with it.
A Wired story about the military previewing all kinds of electronic transmissions from soldiers on the field.
The Obama campaign conquers a MySpace page originally designed to support the candidate.
Also posted was the May editorial, which I forgot to link to earlier. The Brew's new look will feature each month's editorial at the top of the page, making it (and the the month's theme) more easily accessible.
-----------------------
I found some very interesting news on how crazy the new online world can be and how even the military is trying to keep up with it.
A Wired story about the military previewing all kinds of electronic transmissions from soldiers on the field.
The Obama campaign conquers a MySpace page originally designed to support the candidate.
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