September 27, 2002
You've just gotta read this article from the BBC.
"A study by experts in Germany suggests people with blonde hair are an endangered species and will become extinct by 2202... Researchers predict the last truly natural blonde will be born in Finland - the country with the highest proportion of blondes."
Via MetaFilter, I came across this article which talks about how a fourth grade teacher (directly or indirectly) in Seattle prompted her students to draw frightening pictures of what would happen if the city closes a local fire station as planned. The pictures include captions like "This is what will happen if you take E16 away" and shows a burning building with children inside. City Council members are in an uproar over what has been called manipulation and using scare tactics to intervene in a budget debate. I have to agree that it sounds manipulative on the surface, but the teacher alleges, in the article, that the facts were presented in an unbiased manner by a local fireman, and that she didn't force the kids to draw the pictures. Interesting read, either way.
Matt has recently posted about a couple of crazy things students have done during his math classes recently. (Allow myself to... structure sentences poorly. Myself.) The incidents include one student asking him if they could study for a history quiz during his class, and another student quite loudly asking another student for gum. This reminded me of a few of my own classroom antics, and those of a couple select members of our little KJT family.
My crowning moment was the time that I woke up late and somehow thought my algebra classstarted at 1215, when in fact it started at 1115 and ended at 1215. I waltzed in at about ten after twelve, sat down, and got my book out. I wondered two things -- why our beloved Diane King was teaching already (I knew she loved math, but starting early!?) and why she (along with Melanie and Kacey) were staring at me in disbelief. I figured both of those out when she dismissed class five minutes later.
Another friend, Kacey, also had a couple crazy incidents in Diane King's class. One day, DK noticed that we were passing notes and giggling (which we did all the time -- we were writing down and sharing all her quotes!) and launched into a five minute rant about note passing and how she quit teaching high school because she wanted to teach more mature students. Immediately after she went back to teaching, Kacey turned all the way around in her seat and handed me not a folded up note, but her whole notebook! I could not believe she'd be so bold, especially considering how much we loved Diane King. Melanie and I were cowering in our seats and feeling remourseful for offending her, and then Kacey does this! She claims to this day that she never even heard DK's rant, however. Another time, Kacey left her notebook on her desk after class, and when she went to get it, Diane King handed it to her. Kacey noticed immediately that she had left it open, and the top page had a !
written down quote (specifically credited to D.K.) and a corresponding (and rather suggestive) graph. Busted!
One of the most outlandish classroom antics was done (repeatedly) by none other than Margaret. We had an hour and a half long honors history class together, which we would frequently come in late to because we'd been at McDonald's getting cinnamon rolls. On more than one occasion, though, Margaret left and came back during the middle of class so she could visit the tanning bed!
September 25, 2002
Mel Gibson is set to direct a movie called The Passion which will tell the story of the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ (obviously the pre-resurrection life). This is supposed to be a project very close to his heart as sources indicate he is a very devout Catholic. The only catch here is that he wants to have all the dialogue in Aramaic and Latin, and he does not want to use subtitles.
This article contains a few good quotes from Gibson about the project:
For me that's more real and hopefully I'll be able to transcend language barriers with filmic storytelling," Gibson said."It's very visual and it's about something that has ... affected civilisation in every possible way you can imagine," the 46-year-old actor, a devout Catholic, added.
"No-one wants to touch something in two dead languages. They think I'm insane, maybe I am," joked Gibson.
My guess is that the only way he can really do this is if he approaches it as if making a silent film. Whether it works or not, and whether he ends up subtitling it (as industry watchers predict), I'm going to want to see it.
September 21, 2002
So it turns out yesterday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day and I missed it. Too bad, really, since my pirate name, Mad John Rackham (pronounced RACKem), is so freaking cool!
September 20, 2002
If you are a cash money millionaire and want to show it with your smile, go visit Mr. Bling, The Online Source for Quality Gold Caps! They have the best gold, the phattest styles, and the lowest prices around. They even have an affiliate program so you can refer your friends to Mr. Bling and earn cash or blingPoints towards your own gold cap purchase!
September 19, 2002
A passage from Madaleine L'Engle's Walking on Water:
"I use story to explain the love of God, retelling Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince. In that story, the statue prince gives himself away out of compassion, piece by piece--his gold finish, his sapphire eyes, the ruby in his sword. Finally, the mess that is left is thrown in the dump yard. This is what the gospel is to me--Jesus giving himself away, giving himself away."
I love that description. Maybe one day I'll be living that way myself.
Via @U2, I found a great article from a Christian magazine called Prism about why evangelical Christians should get on board with Bono's mission involving the AIDS crisis and Africa. It's called Why I Would Follow Bono Into Hell and it's excellent. It goes into a fair amount of detail about the singer's work and how it is Biblically valid and important for all Christians.
My favorite passage from the article is the last paragraph:
I believe in Bono because he offers me a living exemplar to diffuse the stereotypes that non-Christians inevitably hold of Christians (by simply dropping his name I can minimize the damage done by televangelist scandals or Harry Potter book burnings). I believe in Bono because he has shown me that the gospel can weave itself into the fabric of my daily life without making me act and speak like a Martian. I believe in Bono because he is first off the mark to poke fun at himself and laughs the loudest at his own mistakes. I believe in Bono because he has set up an effective mission outreach in the center of hell for the last twenty years. But ultimately, I believe in Bono because he says he believes in me and my ability to do the same, to leave this world in a better condition than when I first arrived. Follow Bono into hell? For those that have ears to hear, what other choice do we have?
As a tidbit for those still wondering "is he or isn't he?" the article does quote Franklin Graham talking about Bono's profession of faith. A profession of faith ws also given to a group of Washington leaders as they met about this same issue, as related in this article reprinted from Christianity Today.
In other Bono related news, YouTwo.net has a detailed description of the taping for this Friday's episode of Oprah, on which Bono is the primary guest. He'll be talking about DATA and the work he has been doing with that. He also discussed his religious background a bit, and, of course, gave Oprah his sunglasses at the end of the taping.
And finally, a short article that mentions 15 Christian music artists that have signed on to show a video Bono made to talk about the crisis in Africa and our Biblical mandate (over 2,000 scriptures!) to help with the plight of the poor. This link also included a link to watch the video. Enjoy!
September 16, 2002
I just finished reading an interesting column about a church leader who is starting a movie club at his church. Before you roll your eyes and start imagining people watching crap like Left Behind and then sitting through a sermon, go read the article. They're watching films like The Matrix, Chocolat, and Halloween. The intention isn't evangelism, but discussion of the themes, characters, motives, and messages. I think it's a great idea. Of course, the church Genia and I attend, although hip enough for an idea like this (Andy often inserts film clips or music clips into his messages), is far too large to make this work. However, I think it might be fun within a group of tight friends. We're always sitting around watching movies, but it's usually something light like the beloved Austin !
Powers or Airplane! -- maybe we should try watching something a little deeper.
September 14, 2002
Yesterday on my lunch break, I stopped in HMV and picked up the new Coldplay album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. I've managed to listen to it 7 or 8 times through since then, and it's excellent. Every single song on the album is good, with my early favorites being "The Scientist" and "Green Eyes" along with the current radio single "In My Place." If you have $15, go trade it in for Rush of Blood, one of the best records of the year.
September 13, 2002
I came across this fascinating article about Harper Lee, author of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird. Apparently this is the first time she has even allowed a reporter to photograph her in many many years, and the article includes a great deal of information given by her sister and close friends. The article goes into some detail about her history, her life in New York City (she is quite often out and about, relatively unnoticed) and Alabama (where strangers routinely drive by her house and even ring the doorbell wanting to talk to her). One thing I was pleasantly suprised to find is that although the article contains a good deal of "exculsive" material from people who know her well, they were very respectful and it doesn't come off like the tabloid "behind the scenes" trash that is so often published. If you have a few minutes to read a great article about a classic author, "http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-0209130001sep13.story">check it out.
September 12, 2002
Do you read me? Over.
If you are reading this, please click on the word "Comments?" below and leave me a note. I'm just curious if Craig really is the only person who reads this weblog. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
September 11, 2002
Last week I got an email from Starsailor saying that they had a DVD coming out entitled Love is Here: Live. Since their show at the Cotton Club here in Atlanta ranks in my top three concerts of all time (along with U2 and Over the Rhine), I was very excited about the possibility of a DVD coming out. Then yesterday, which was supposed to be the release date, I checked on Amazon and learned that it is only available in England. The first thought that crossed my mind was "Well I'll just have to pay a large shipping fee." Unfortunately, I can't even do that. It's encoded as a Region 2 DVD, which means that only DVD players made for Europe can play it. I'm very sad.
This week's simple request strikes closer to where I live. Or work, rather. I work in an outsourced call center doing customer service and technical support for a variety of clients. We're a small company, with only four reps. Sometimes that's great. In this case, it's horrible. A couple days ago, I emailed my three co-workers asking them to compile a written schedule of when each of us were going to be here -- I was tired of never knowing when people were coming and going. Simple, no? No. Two of my co-workers who were here at the time scoffed and said "we always work the same thing, we thought everyone knew what it was." Well, today is a perfect example of what was wrong with the unwritten schedule -- three people are showing up to work the 2nd shift (3p - 11p) while I have been slammed with calls and chats all day by myself. I am quite frustrated.
In other work related news, Genia has really been getting mistreated and disrespected at her job. One of the things I've always admired about her is her work ethic -- she gives 110% and doesn't complain. She works hard at this job and does a damn good job, yet her boss favors her co-worker who has a scant 4 months of seniority, always comes in late and leaves early, and has half the workload Genia does. The frustration has been building up in Genia and she's seriously thinking about handing in her resignation. Obviously, we aren't independently wealthy so this is a big decision. Prayers are much appreciated on this front.
A passage from Francis Schaeffer's book Sham Pearls for Real Swine:
"Only by giving the Bible a devotional spin when we read it, by taking isolated verses out of context and ignoring the raw whole, by filtering and interpreing, do we "civilize" it. Civilized, the Bible has become a devotional prop of middle-class values instead of being the rude challenge to false propriety it actually is."The Bible is a dangerous, uncivilized, abrasive, raw, complicated, aggressive, scandalous, and offensive book. The Bible is the literature of God, and literature — as every book-burner knows — is dangerous.The Bible is the drama of God; it is God's Hamlet, Canterberry Tales, and Wuthering Heights. The Bible is, among other things, about God, men, women, sex, lies, truth, sin, goodness, fornication, adultry, murder, childbearing, virgins, whores, blasphemy, prayer, wine, food, history, nature, poetry, rape, love, salvation, damnation, temptation, and angels.
"Today the Bible is widely studied but rarely read. If the Bible were a film, it would be R-rated in some parts, X-rated in others. The Bible is not middle class. The Bible is not "nice." The Bible's tone is closer to that of the late Lenny Bruce than to that of the hushed piety of some ministers."
I think that's a pretty fantastic description of the Bible.
September 09, 2002
Last week saw me getting political. This week I'm going theological.
For my admissions essay to Covenant, I'm writing about Martin Luther and the Reformation. Specifically, whether or not he was scripturally justified, and what scriptural principles affect my responsibility for social and church justice. The kicker is that the essay is only supposed to be 2 pages long. Granted, this is primarily aimed towards high school seniors so I'm guessing they don't want something as in-depth as what came to my mind when I read the question. But since I'm not from a Reformed (Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc.) church background, I have a lot of reading to do on the subject to sound intelligent when I write about it. Fortunately, this sort of thing is my bag, baby, so the research is fun.
The first good article I found online (thanks, Google!) was one by R.C. Sproul entitled Was Luther Wrong? The article goes extremely in-depth into the theological issues behind the Reformation, primarily the issue of sola fide, which means "faith alone." Basically, the Catholic church believes that a man is justified by Christ, through faith and works, and Reformed (and most evangelical churches) churches believe that a man is justified by Christ alone, through faith. The phrase I used in my headline, Simul Justus et Peccator, means "At the same time, just and sinner" -- we are justified by Christ while yet sinners. The article also goes deeply into the concept of "imputation" whereby our sin was imputed upon Christ (absolving us of their penalty) and Christ's righteousness is imputed upon us (bestowing upon us the benefits thereof).
It's a very long read (give yourself a good 45 minutes) but well worth it if you are at all interested in such things. Getting a fuller understanding of theology really helps me develop a greater appreciation for the grace of God and a greater love of Christ. My 3-4 years at Covenant are going to be amazing.
Friday night we hung out with Travis and his friend Alana. FYI, Travis always brings a different lady with him when he visits... the only recurring cast member in his line-up is Amber. The four of us went to Razoo's Cajun Cafe where Travis treated! I had a brownie a la mode and a Bass Ale. Good stuff. Saturday we sat around, ordered delivery from the burger place across the street (how lazy is that?!) and watched the Alabama football game. Great game, disappointing results. Sunday we got up late, skipped church, and went hiking up and around Kennesaw Mountain. In total, we did about 5 miles, and it felt great. Genia and I ended the evening by watching A.I. which I absolutely love. The movie gets a bad rap, but I'll try and refrain from any movie snob-ish accusations about why the "common folk" don't like it.
September 03, 2002
In celebration of our new DVD player and in recognition of Genia not feeling well, we spent much of the weekend in the apartment watching movies. The first thing we watched, as I foretold, was the U2 Elevation Live in Boston DVD, which was excellent. The concert was 1h47 and every second was incredible. There was also a cool "making of" feature that we enjoyed. Other films we enjoyed this weekend were Moulin Rouge, We Were Soldiers, Donnie Darko, and The Mothman Prophecies. Donnie Darko was very unusual but quite good.