Archive for April, 2009

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Our collective vapidity

April 23, 2009

John Doyle has a surprisingly cynical take on the Susan Boyle phenomenon.  I have to be honest and say I have yet to see the clip but Doyle’s point digs deeper. 

 We think we root for the underdog, but we don’t really. We are a superficial, catty and vapid culture. We aren’t interested in authenticity. We mainly watch TV shows featuring people we’d like to date, touch and have sex with.

To a large extent I believe he’s right.  And like Neil Postman says in Amusing Ourselves to Death this is the ultimate function of television.  It was never going to be that deep, we’ve only reached new heights of superficiality.

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Dave Matthews and Lyrics

April 22, 2009

I can’t get enough of the latest Dave Matthews Band single.  I’m really looking forward to the new album.  I’m never disappointed when I go to read his lyrics and this line really stuck out to me today.

Funny the way it is how someone’s broken heart becomes your favorite song.

Check out the whole song below.

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Away too long, but back soon.

April 22, 2009

Tonight this lovely period of every year, which I refer to as Paper Hell, will draw to a close. I am nearing completion on my last two papers, and I write my last exam tomorrow. Following this I will launch my first (real) series here. See you soon.

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Study Break #5

April 16, 2009

This is why I use a Mac, it is so much more reliable when you are trying to enslave humanity.

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Study Break #4

April 15, 2009

Today I have a clip from one of my favorite composers: Felix Mendelssohn.  I had not heard this piece until I stumbled across it in my iTunes.  It may not work here so follow the link to youtube and check it out.  I cannot believe how fast the pianist’s hands move.  

Piano Concerto #1 in G Minor
Mendelssohn 

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Study Break #3

April 14, 2009

Alright, I’m busy learning about the Middle Ages.  You can see how successful that is from my recent twitter comment about it.  I decided to check out John Mayer’s site where he is somewhat regularly posting about his recording process.  This is kind of fun to watch.  His latest video post demonstrates taking three classic songs and creating something entirely new.  It falls somewhere in the gray area between brutal and brilliant.  

In other news I’m happy to see he’s playing a telecaster, even if it is a really screwed up one. 

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Study Break #2

April 14, 2009

Today’s Study Break is Drumbone by the Blue Man Group.  The inventiveness of these guys never ceases to astound me.  Check it out.

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Study Break #1

April 13, 2009

It isn’t the first for me, but it might be the first for you.  

Airplane, from College Humor.

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He is risen!

April 12, 2009

I can’t get past Jesus.  Science can say what it wants about millions of years ago, but 2000 years ago the world fundamentally changed.  Was it actually today?  Who knows, and does it really matter?

The world is fundamentally not right.  We all know this.  We all feel the brokenness permeating everything, just below the surface.  

We look for cures.  

Some say look to science, but science explains everything without giving it any meaning.  Some say look to politics, but kings, prime ministers, and presidents have failed again and again across the millennia to make the world  a better place.  So I look to God.  Not God, the absent, who made the model train and walked away, but God the father.  He watched the conductors derail their trains, their lives, and ruin everything about themselves and each other. 

God, the perfect, watched his creation distort the perfection they were given into war, hate, starvation.  Even when we forgot about God we recognized the broken and we tried to fix it. We called it inequality, and made a new stratification.  We called it poverty, but there were too many empty mouths to feed.  We forgot the first term: sin, and what it requires: a sacrifice.  

God did not forget.  In an inexplicable way God joined us in his son Jesus.  God, the perfect, became God, the human.  Not just human but the perfect human, the one we were all supposed to be.  Jesus scared the authorities of his day so they killed him.  He died and his cult vanished, he rose again and his follower caught fire.  They told the world, as I tell you now:

Beyond hate there is the love of God.
This was the Resurrection.
Beyond this broken world there is the work of Christ’s followers.
This is the Resurrection.
Beyond death there is the life of bent knee and dry eyes.
This will be the resurrection

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

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Kaili in South Africa

April 9, 2009

My sister and her good friend Robyn are heading to South Africa to teach art in about three weeks.  There are a lot of costs to cover and they are engaging in various fundraising activities.  The one that is the easiest for you and I is their online fundraising.  You can find the online fundraising link and their stories here: http://kailirobyn2africa.com/wordpress/.