greasy burrito radio

2003-11-19T10:58:00.000-08:00

We got back from England late Thursday night. The trip was really good - favorite things included the York minster, steak pie, the Abbey in Whitby (home to Caedmon and St. Hilda), the bookstore underneath the minster at Durham, taking roundabouts with my dad (not recommended), Edinburgh, fall leaves, the Tate Modern Art Museum in London, pubs, and the National Gallery. Also enjoyed the use of the word "smashing", example:

Ticket guy on the train: "Sir, can I please see your train ticket?"
Don: "Here it is."
Ticket guy on the train: "That's smashing. Thank you."

Weirdest day of my life: seeing (in person, mind you) the Queen of England, Tony Blair, Beyonce Knowles, and Cuba Gooding Jr. in a 12 hour period. Seriously.

2003-11-03T00:50:00.000-08:00

It’s been a few weeks since I last blogged. A cup of coffee got in a fight with my computer keyboard. Coffee won. It took my computer two weeks to recover from the incident, which it has done nicely. Nothing like the invincible 4 Gigabyte Toshiba Tecra 550CDT - it was one of 1997’s best!

Emily and I leave for Great Britain tomorrow to visit my parents. Jackson and Allison are staying with their MeeMee. I’m pretty well packed – sweaters, jeans, thick socks, beanie, British music (Elvis Costello, The Clash, the Stones, Belle and Sebastian, Joy Division, Radiohead, Gomez, etc.). Life has been so busy we haven’t had a chance to plan the trip yet. But hey – we’ve got six hours on the plane, right? I also have a 1200 page book on the history of the Isles that I need to squeeze in. The UK will be nice, but we’re really looking forward to just a few days without kids. When on temporary leave from children, even long lines in customs can be relaxing. It’s all a matter of perspective.

That’s it. Cheerio.

Soundtrack of the Day - Cocteau Twins Treasure

2003-10-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

i'm sitting this morning at flight path coffee shop. two rather loud men have spent the last fifteen minutes passionately discussing the finer points of the california election, california politics, california economy, etc. as best as i can tell neither one of them is from california (there are ways of telling if people are from california - i haven't the time here to go into it). but this doesn't seem to affect the intensity of their conversation.

why do we care? i live in texas, why is it on the front page of my newspaper? why is it the first story on my newscast? did i miss something? does this, in some way unbeknownst to me, impact my life? if a washed up bad actor in california sneezes do i get a cold?

oh sure, there are other things going on in the world - my city is in a major financial crunch, our school system is in desperate need of repair, several months ago a student was stabbed to death at the high school just a mile from my house. sure africa is overwhelmed with an AIDs crisis, this country is in an endless war on terror, the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. but c'mon, this whole california thing is THE story. it's so sexy and wonderful. it's funny and bizarre. it's so fun to talk about. it's totally like, you know, like politics and entertainment and really cool stuff all wrapped in one! dude, the terminator is like the dude in charge in california!

now that this story has just passed its fourteenth minute and is headed to it's death, we'll have to find something else in life to numb the bitter painfulness of being alive. maybe britney can kiss another aging pop star - perhaps tina turner? hopefully p. diddy (is that still his name?) or eminem's bodyguards can shoot someone or ben affleck can buy j.lo something really expensive! if only siegfried or roy could have been attacked by that tiger this weekend - then we would have something to talk about.

anything but real life. we can't handle things that matter.

2003-09-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

so, john ritter died a few weeks ago. granted, johnny cash he was not, but i'm sure he was a decent man. he made some people laugh and that's not a bad legacy. his family is certainly in mourning. so, too, is abc. but for completely different reasons. their reasons reveal the darkness, shallowness and triviality of commercial television.

i've noticed that abc is really pushing the last few episodes of his show. i know i'm a bit cynical - especially towards commercial driven television. but one can only imagine the conversation that took place in some shadowy executive boardroom several weeks ago.

executive one:
did you hear the news? john ritter's dead.

executive two:
what? when?

executive one:
less then an hour ago.

executive two:
why does this happen to us? his show was a hit.

executive one:
no joke. our tuesday line-up was solid.

executive two:
what are we going to do?

executive one:
let me bounce this off you. how about a special show that is a celebration of his life and career.

executive two:
a big one night hit before the fall shows begin. great idea! but we have to do it quick. with j-lo and ben's rocky relationship hogging the headlines, he'll soon be forgotten. gotta strike while the iron's hot!

executive one:
thank goodness a couple of his fall shows are in the can! we'll air the last few episodes that john taped. we'll promote them with spots that have john laughing in slow motion. the voiceover guy will talk about how america has lost a rare talent, how we're all going to miss him, blah blah blah.

executive two:
great idea! that's brilliant. i'm sure the sponsors will love it. the ratings should skyrocket. we could get a 15 share.

executive one:
we have to get a 15 share! this thing has really botched our fall line-up. we need to raise our sponsorship fees for these last few episodes. if you're an ad man, you'd be crazy not to want to run your company's commerical. i mean, these will be special human interest episodes.

executive two:
if we promote it right, we could make make a killing!

executive one:
oh yeah, release some statement saying that we are "shocked and saddened by this tragic loss and that our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

executive two:
nice touch.

executive one:
it's lunchtime. who wants sushi!

____________

recommended reading - neil postman amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in an age of show business

recommend viewing - network; a 25 year-old movie that is more timely now than ever

2003-09-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

i came across this dillard quote last week and the merton one a few days ago. really liked them both and thought i’d pass them along …

As a magnifying glass concentrates the ray of the sun into a little burning knot of heat that can set fire to a dry leaf or a piece of paper, so the mystery of Christ in the gospel concentrates the rays of God’s light and fire to a point that set fire to the spirit of man.
- Thomas Merton, New Seeeds of Contemplation
____________

Miss White was old; she lived alone in the big house across the street. She liked having me around … I liked her. [One day] Miss White knelt in her yard while she showed me a magnifying glass. It was a large, strong hand lens. She lifted my hand, holding it very still, focused a dab of sunshine on my palm. The glowing crescent wobbled, spread, and finally contracted to a point. It burned; I was burned; I ripped my hand away and ran home crying. Miss White called after me, sorry, explaining, but I didn’t look back.

Even now, I wonder: if I meet God, will he take and hold my bare hand in his, and focus his eye on my palm, and kindle that spot and let me burn?

But no. It is I who misunderstood everything and let everybody down. Miss White, God, I am sorry I ran from you. I am still running, running, from that knowledge, that eye, that love from which there is no refuge. For you meant only love, and love, and I felt only fear, and pain. So once in Israel love came to us incarnate, stood in the doorway between two worlds, and we were all afraid.
- Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk

soundtrack of the day – yo la tengo and then nothing turned itself inside-out, my morning jacket it still moves and, of course, okkervil river down the river of golden dreams (which will no longer be listed in soundtrack of the day – you can assume it’s there. i’ll let you know when i switch to count chocula)

2003-09-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

for five years of my life, from early 1984 to october of 1989, every morning with very little exception my breakfast consisted of frosted flakes and orange juice. though the reasons are blurred, the details of that october day are clear . it started out as usual. late and hurried i made my way to the cabinet that was home to our cereal. something happened, and to this day i still don't know what, between that moment of time my hand left my side and before it grabbed the box. it was neither calculated nor premeditated. i don't even think it was conscious. but for some reason i pulled down a box of count chocula. five years of faithfulness and since that day i haven't touched the tiger.

the reason for the anecdote - my heart has recently been broken by will robinson sheff and okkervil river and i don’t want the pain to stop. their new record down the river of golden dreams is full of melancholic beauty. its tales of heartache, despair, loneliness, loss, and cries for atonement are a banquet of brokenness - somewhere in the land where muses live and breathe flannery o'conner "lay at the feet” of william faulkner (to use a biblical image) and okkervil river were the quintuplets that came forth - not crying as most babies, but aching, yearning and moaning.

i can't stop listening to it. its songs have taken residence in my heart and mind and have decided to stay. i want them to stay. like the frosted flakes were, they're good company. my only fear is that some day - perhaps four or five years down the road - i'll reach for count chocula and never return. it's almost enough to make me pull off my headphones, just for awhile, so that i can enjoy the heartbreak well into my 40s.

soundtrack of the day – okervill river down the river of golden dreams, okervill river down the river of golden dreams, okervill river down the river of golden dreams,

2003-09-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

dear blog,

i am sorry we haven't spent any quality time together. i promise it's not you, it's me. i've just been so busy lately. blogs don't have wife and kids and jobs and friends, so i don't expect you to completely understand. my wireless internet card has been broken and the one hour they give me at the library just hasn't been enough. to boot, i still can't get over the pretentiousness of blogging. but i'd like to start over. can we still be friends?

soundtrack of the day - belle and sebastian if you're feeling sinister

2003-05-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

alright. i'm a bad person and i don't blog much. my inconsistency is bothersome and people begin to give up. readers are lost and the gnp goes down and we're all doomed. on the bright side, i did have some dandy barbeque yesterday. larry mueller's barbeque on manor road, just east of i-35. their brisket is sensational. that's right, sensational.

i love video - 1 blockbuster - 0
last week jackson made a very interesting observation. we had been driving in the car for several minutes without any noise (a very rare thing indeed). jackson was in the back seat, deep in thought. without warning the silence was interrupted, "you know daddy, if a tiger got loose at i love video i think we'd all be okay because there's plenty of places to hide there."

kid's got a point. tigers be damned, i now rent with confidence.

soundtrack of the day - the free cd in the new adbusters magazine. it's sensational. that's right, sensational.

2003-04-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

i voted yesterday in the austin mayoral and city council elections. i feel like such a good person when i vote, as if i've done something civic and worthwhile and good. these feelings of pride could be construed as a bit strange considering i have a near unblemished record in voting for losing candidates. nonetheless, as an apathetic child of the mtv generation i 'rocked the vote.’ and by golly, that feels real good. i wore my ‘i voted' sticker with pride, carrying a smug air of arrogance as i browsed through the grocery store aisles, sizing up folks with my self-inflated thoughts... “what measly, self-serving tasks did you submit yourself today – trade a few stocks? mow the lawn? perform a heart transplant? ha!” i thought to myself, “i participated in democracy today! see my sticker! i voted. i rock.”

come to think of it, voting truly provides a slacker since of accomplishment. i showed up to a portable building for five minutes, pressed a couple of buttons and hopped on my bike feeling as though i signed the declaration of independence. now, like the handful of other citizens that vote, i can retire to the lazy boy, devour a bag of cheetos, flip between cnn and the cartoon network, and moan about bad things are.*

yeah democracy!

* please indulge me in a little writer embellishment. i have neither cable television nor a lazy boy. i do, however, like cheetos.

soundtrack of the day - nothing. it's been a quiet day. sometimes i like quiet days.

2003-04-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

several nights ago jackson woke up sometime around midnight. i was at the kitchen table reading and, hearing the door creak open, went to meet him. jack never said a word. he just stood at the entrance of his room, blanket and moo-moo under arm. i picked him up and carried him to his bed. after laying him down i pulled the covers to his chest. by the time i took a second glance at him, he was asleep.

i whispered ‘daddy loves jackson’ and kissed him on the cheek. eyes still closed, his face lightened as he gently smiled – an unconscious reaction to dad's kiss.

perhaps it seems a bit corny and inconsequential. but to dad, it was such a life-full, tender moment.

i’m writing about it so that i don’t forget. first steps and first words are always remembered by the camera and through the countless retelling to family, friends, and folks behind us at the grocery line. but as far as i’m concerned it’s these small, seemingly insignificant moments that make parenthood such a gift – a gentle smile, a shared joke, or five minutes spent with backs on the grass and eyes to the skies deciding whether the cloud is dressed up like an ice-cream cone or a bunny rabbit.

soundtrack of the day - uncle tupelo march 16-20, 1992, yo la tengo i can hear the heart beating as one

2003-04-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

let me begin by apologizing for the length of this blog. it may be a bit long but i think, in the end, you’ll find it worth your time. the following is from jurgen moltmann’s the crucified God. i first read it during holy week 2001. i’m reading it again during lent. this passage spooks me. whenever i slip back into comfort and logic and easy discipleship i find it hiding, tucked away in some unexpected place, ready to frighten me out of the ease i have made of the cross. hope it haunts you as well.

More radical Christian faith can only mean committing oneself without reserve to the ‘crucified God.’ This is dangerous. It does no promise the confirmation of one’s own conceptions, hopes and good intentions. It promises first of all the pain of repentance and fundamental change. It offers no recipe for success. But it brings a confrontation with the truth. It is not positive and constructive, but is in the first instance critical and destructive. It does not bring man into a better harmony with himself and his environment, but into contradiction with himself and his environment. It does not create a home for him and integrate him into society, but makes him ‘homeless’ and ‘rootless,’ and liberates him in following Christ who was homeless and rootless. The ‘religion of the cross,’ if faith on this basis can ever be so called, does not elevate and edify in the usual sense, but scandalizes; and most of all it scandalizes one’s ‘co-religionists’ in one’s own circle. But by this scandal, it brings liberation into a world which is not free. For ultimately, in a civilization which is constructed on the principle of achievement and enjoyment, and therefore makes pain and death a private matter, excluded from its public life, so that in the final issue the world must no longer be experience as offering resistance, there is nothing so unpopular as for the crucified God to be made a present reality through faith. It alienates alienated men, who have come to terms with alienation. And yet this faith, with its consequences, is capable of setting men free from their cultural illusions, releasing them from the involvements which blind them, and confronting them with truth of their existence and society. Before there can be correspondence and agreements between faith and the surrounding world, there must first be the painful demonstration of truth in the midst of untruth. In this pain we experience reality outside ourselves, which we have not made or thought out for ourselves. The pain arouses a love which can no longer be indifferent, but seeks out its opposite, what is ugly and unworthy of love, in order to love it. This pain breaks down apathy in which everything is a matter of indifference, because everything one meets is always the same and familiar.

soundtrack of the day - john coltrane a love supreme (is there a better piece of recorded music?), david wilcox big horizon, x live at the whiskey a go-go

2003-04-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

last night our three year old took a kierkegardian leap of faith. jackson, always open to fresh interpretaions and reconstructions, has adapted the traditional pre-meal prayer to his suiting, "God is good, God is great (his ordering), now we thank him for our food, we love jesus. amen." last night it was slightly altered:

God is good
God is great
now we thank him for our food
we love jesus
even if we don't see dinosaurs.
amen.

i'm not quite sure how that compares to the apostle peter's great confession of faith. but jackson is a big fan of the dinosaur. and he really would like to see one someday.

soundtrack of the day - wilco being there (disc two), jungle brothers vip

2003-04-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

alright, alright, alright. i haven't blogged in years. sorry. i have four minutes to do this before my time is up at the library.

much has happened since me last blog. sxsw ended. war started. my computer diseased (which is why i haven't blogged). wabiSABI happened. the largest american flag i have ever seen was draped over a church in my neigborhood ... somewhere betsy ross blushed and tertullian mourned. that's about it. oh yea, and i saw the movie gerry. wow. it was good.

more about all these things later. my time is

soundtrack of the day - billie holliday billie's best

2003-03-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

okay, so this is pretty much a play week in austin. brian and i are preparing for sunday (we're doing a st. patrick's service). other than getting ready for sunday, we are spending the week hanging out in the city. it's a great week to meet lots of people and to check out some great movies and bands.

an update of things done this week - all free!!! (except for one of the movies). saw some great bands at emo's yesterday afternoon. among them were electric eel shock - an absolutely amazing japanese garage band. also very good were the the riverboat gamblers - a denton band recently signed to gearhead records. they play austin often, but this was the first chance i've had to see them live. they put on a phenomenal show! the gadgits were also good.

this afternoon i plan to see the raveonettes at waterloo records and the velvet teen at emo's. tomorrow i'm taking jackson to the bloodshot records showcase at the yard dog art gallery. we'll see how long we last. john vanderslice is playing day shows on friday and saturday. he's played here several times over the last year but i haven't had the chance to see him. i plan to catch one of his shows. he and i have so much in common. four things really stand out - our first names rhyme with "ron", we both have blond hair, he lives in san fransisco and i've been there several times (wonderful city) and we share the same last name (vanderslice).

movies seen: greater southbridge and assisted living. both we excellent.

2003-03-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

South by Southwest film and music festival is this week. over a thousand bands from around the world and hundreds of filmmakers descend upon austin for eight glorious days of film and music. the past several days mosaic has hosted a booth in the exhibition hall for Damah - a christian film festival in seattle.

the music portion of sxsw begins thursday. bands play in clubs throughout the night and there are countless day shows at records stores, clubs, art galleries, garages, front yards, etc. i'm trying to decide between two shows on thursday night. option one is at emo's and the line-up includes (among others) the dirtbombs, the go, the forty-fives, the woggles, and a lookout! records showcase. option two is at the lava lounge and it features the waxwings, mayflies usa, the witches, green and yellow tv, and ol' yeller. it's a big decision. i've prepared appropriately and am sure i'll chose correctly.

it's a very good week to be in austin.

2003-03-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

i have continued to wrestle with lent and why we - as evangelicals - have not considered it to be part of our christian tradition.

another thought crossed my mind a few nights ago (which is a rare, rare thing). as american evangelicals we are (generally) a religion that knows little of true suffering. our spiritual and existential pains are incomparable to the hardships of africans, native americans, middle easterners, and latin americans. our lives are relatively easy - and often that ease is the result of our neighbor’s suffering. our toys are made in china, shoes stitched in indonesia, coffee grown in columbia, land stolen from native americans and plowed by enslaved africans. we are a people of ‘victory’ and we want a God of ‘victory’ – it confirms our own sense of rightness in being and action.

the experience of the oppressed of the world is different. for instance, in latin america holy week and lent are the most meaningful feasts of the christian calendar. ‘the suffering and death of jesus is something in which they can share. they are at home. that is their life.’ (h. luning)

the slaves sang, 'were you there when they crucified my lord,’ because, in some way, they were there (or perhpas it is that jesus was there in their suffering). they could identify with an outcasted and oppressed God. it was part of their lived experience.

what about american evangelicals? if we cannot truly identify with christ's suffering, how can we identify with his resurrection? lent is set aside as a time for this identification. but in lent do we simply go through some sort of existential identification with jesus - a sort of mystical unification with him in his suffering? i’m fantastic with the existential and mystical, unfortunately the call upon peter and matthew – and, for that matter, the life of jesus – were not existential projects. they demanded real action. action that would lead them to suffer as religious, political and communal outcasts. action that would ultimately lead them to death.

God is a God that suffers with. paul remind us that ‘your attitude should be the same as that of christ jesus … who made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.’ how can we, the church of the dominant culture, truly identify with those that jesus most readily identified with - the outcasted and oppressed?

i don’t have the answer. or maybe i do and i’m just afraid to live up to it.

my very non-lenten soundtrack of the day -
mc5 kick out the jams, cat power you are free, the roots phrenology
(seth, eric and i saw the roots at stubbs barbeque saturday night. wow. what a show)

2003-03-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

lent has started. as a recovering southern baptist lent was about as off limits as dungeons and dragons and def leopard. "catholics do it", i was told. "it's because their religion is legalistic and they don't truly understand the concept of grace." (apparently those who told me such things did so with appreciating the irony of it all – a truly unfortunate thing.)

i think there is another reason lent has been such a foreign practice to evangelicals - we're too afraid of the dark. ours is a spirituality of victory. evangelical spirituality is an unrealistic "journey" from high place to high place. read through a hymnal or pay attention to the lyrics of contemporary worship. for every "prone to wander, lord i feel it, prone to leave the God i love" there's a thousand "i can only imagines.” we don't have the guts to face our darkness. jesus singing his "my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?" just won't cut it. too dark. too sad. not good for church growth.

on those rare occasions the church does deal with darkness it’s often done in such sit-com-ish fashion. everything resolved in 22 minutes.

unfortunately life's not that way. the desperation of david wasn't resolved in a half-hour. nor was the cross.

lent has started. we enter a period of darkness and desperation - a time of reflection and penitence. a season of death.

we do so with the hope that we will again be surprised - that at the right time death will give way to rebirth

___________________

a great lenten resource can be found HERE.

2003-03-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday
by William Loader

The darkness asks us questions.
You are out there and we do not see.
You invite us into the night,
the stillness, the loneliness, the desert place.

We cannot see our shadow;
the cold damp of unknowing rises up from beneath our feet.
We tread cautiously, tentatively.

We are afraid,
afraid of ghosts
haunting us with spectres of guilt
and shame.

We would like to run back,
reach the river bank,
swim the Jordan,
sit in the sun by the sea,
mending our nets.
But you have brought us here
- with no bread.

When we look we can see only ourselves,
our darkness.
When we read,
it is invisible words which cannot be grasped,
thoughts we cannot clutch,
hope we cannot capture.

Yet the wild honey remains a taste in our mouth,
a memory for a new day.

Why have you brought us here?
What miracle will you perform for us?

The darkness sighs around us,
dense with your unseen presence,
close to our breathing,
close to our breathing.

O darkness, enlighten us,
embrace us with your invisible love.
Let us see your glory in the ashes.
Take us by the hand that we may trust the darkness.
Minister to us by your Spirit that we may not be afraid.
Jesus, keep the beasts away.

Amen

2003-03-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

i received an email from a friend, mike phillip. though the purpose of the email was not winnie the pooh related, he did offer the following thought. i found it insightful and asked him if i could post it on my blog. it is as follows ...

"Pooh does not suck. I have no pooh shirts, and the "tao of pooh" and "tze of piglet" stuff is nonsense. But pooh (at least the original a.a. milne version, as opposed to the Disney version) is anti-cool, in a Mr. Rogers sort of way, which, paradoxically, does not suck. Just a kid, his imagination, and absolutely no hint of cynicism. And when young kids read, everything comes out sounding like the list of ingredients in a little debbie snack cake. So the cadence of a pooh story read by a kid is actually kind of cool. "

thanks, mike. i still don't like pooh but i like mike's interpretation of pooh.

speaking of mr. rogers ... i don't know how you handled it, but i'm surprised at how moved i was by the death of mr. rogers. he was so much a part of my childhood - something which i was able to vicariously re-expreience through my three year old jackson, who also loved mr. rogers. i would watch jack watch mr. rogers and was amazed that my preschooler could be so entralled by a 75 year old man. even more amazed that a fairly cynical thirty year old could could still be enthralled by this 75 year old. bruderhof.com had a great 'daily dig' today about mr. rogers (i would suggest signing up for bruderhof's daily email digs. they are short, refreshing, and from the wilderness).

"Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood died on February 27, 2003 after a brief battle with stomach cancer. Once, when asked what the greatest event in American history was, he responded:

I can't say, however I suspect that like so many "great" events, it was something very simple and very quiet with little or no fanfare (such as forgiving someone else for a deep hurt) which eventually changed the course of history. The really important "great" things are never the center stage of life's drama. They're always "in the wings." That's why it's so essential for us to be mindful of the humble and the deep rather than the flashy and the superficial."

soundtrack of the day - return of the grievous angel - a tribute to gram parsons

2003-03-03T15:16:00.000-08:00

emily and i watched almost famous friday night - it was emily's first time to see it.

there are a lot of great moments in the movie. my favorite - stillwater is in topeka for a concert. the band finally receives their t-shirts from the record label. three band members are in the background - somewhat faded out - while russell is in the foreground - fine focus. this starts a fight. the room clears, russell leaves and asks william to tag along. russell begins a search for 'something real' that leads him to a teenager's house party. rusell is tripping (do people still say that or is my 80s showing?) on acid and goes into a rather hilarious tirade about loving things that are real ...

(you, aaron, are what it's all about. you're real. your room is real. your friends are real. real, man, real. you know? real. you're more important than all the silly machinery. silly machinery. and you know it! in eleven years its going to be 1984, man. think about that! )

anyway, the scene i love ... the next morning the tour bus comes by the party to pick up russell and william. as they walk onto the silent bus the tension is thick. everyone is angry - it's awkward and uncomfortable. elton john's tiny dancer (what a great song) begins to play. one by one everybody on the bus begins to sing. in two minutes all is (temporarily, at least) forgiven.

the power of music. a bunch of guys whose friendship begins in song and is wrapped up in song. what words couldn't do, elton john can.

soundtrack of the day - aimee mann lost in space, beck sea change

2003-02-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

i'm not sure what freud would say, but i now have computer envy. brian's new ibook is a work of art. it makes my toshiba look like the old texas instruments computer huntley and bradley (my twin red-haired cousins) got for christmas back in '81. don't get me wrong, i have absolutely nothing against ti. i think when we look back to early 1980s computers, ti and tandy stand head and shoulders above the rest (you commodore 64ers have no clue about life). anyway, i'll keep toting my 47 pound, 4 gb hard drive "laptop" around until i get lucky enough to have jackson spill a concoction of milk, water and baking powder on it.

we're going to spend the next few sunday nights talking about the war in iraq. it's a tough position for brian and me. we're both passionately against it, but feel it's an important thing for mosaic to dialogue about. while sharing our thoughts we need to remain open to those who disagree with us and encourage the conversation. all that to say that i'm really excited we're having the conversation. we'll see where it takes us.

speaking of war and rumors of war ... here is a great editorial by stanley hauerwas found in this week's time magazine. hauerwas is a professor at duke divinity school. he's a brilliant theologian and ethicist whose faith in the gospel of christ has led him to nonviolence.

soundtrack of the day - damien jurado ghost of david

2003-02-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

listened to daniel johnston's fun today. he makes me happy. i think everyone should listen to daniel johnston. it would be a happier world. no war in iraq. lion and lamb frolicking, bush and hussein playing table tennis - tony blair and that french guy cheering them on.

travis guest blogged for me today (found below). i thought he did an above average job. not to be overly critical but he began with "before we get on with less important things" and then moved into anti-pooh rhetoric. that was it. he never moved onto the less important. which is fine, just a bit bothersome.

cooper's was good.

soundtrack of the day - daniel johnston fun, we ragazzi the ache

2003-02-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

GUEST BLOG BY TRAVIS HARSCH

A few points about Pooh before we more on to less important issues:

-I'll agree, that for the most part, Pooh is pretty much a tool. Getting stuck in the honey tree, while one of the most memorable of the Pooh experiences, always seemed a bit too 'fat man crying out for an intervention' for me. Bro needs to drop some pounds.
-I'll also concede that Christopher Robin doesn't really fit. Is the whole thing a less-funny 'Calvin and Hobbes' adventure, with this idiot, friendless kid anthropomorphing his stuffed animals so that he won't have to confront the fact that he is really a bit of dandy?
-Tigger is awesome. I don't think there's any way logical people could be opposed to anything that bounces that much.
-You know, thinking about it, Pooh really does kind of suck.

I'd like to thank Don for the chance to get my word out, and would like to throw in a completely shameless plug for my blog, found here: travis's blog

2003-02-20T09:04:00.000-08:00

why texas is better... reason number 73: cooper's barbeque in llano.

today the vanderslice clan is headed to llano where we’ll meet emily’s parents. emily, jackson and allison will go on to san angelo for the larger than life san angelo rodeo (unfortunately i’ll miss the rodeo festivities which is a shame because for my money there ain’t nothin’ better than watching a bull chase a rodeo clown. that, my friends, is entertainment!) anyway, back to reason 73. cooper’s is the best stuff this side of the jordan (the metaphorical one). before entering the restaurant you walk up to one of the abnormally large grills where a bubba opens the cooker and instructs you to pick your choice of meat. everything is beautiful – fit for the cover of bon appetit magzine. it’s a carnivore’s holy grail and a vegetarian’s bloody nightmare.

all of that to say that today, at approximately 4:00 p.m. central standard time, i’ll enjoy a slab of ribs, a bowl of beans, a couple slices of bread, a handful of jalapenos, and a large big red. in the words of poet laureate ice cube, ‘i gotta say it is a good day’ (verb tense changed without permission)

soundtrack of the day – fugazi the argument, robbie seay band 10,000 charms, murder city devils murder city devils

2003-02-18T08:45:00.000-08:00

“the guy is just a little too much like eeyore.”

a friend used this today to describe someone’s personality to me. i haven’t the slightest clue what it means. and i don’t care.

i don’t like pooh. i don’t speak pooh. i don’t think he’s cute and i don’t find his stories even remotely interesting. his books read as smoothly as the ingredients of a little debbie snack cake and they have all the suspense of a meg ryan romantic comedy.

i promise this isn’t an issue of an old fart whose lost the innocence of childhood. i’m as immature as the next guy who rides his bike to work. i laugh every time jackson burps out loud, and i think play-dough can be quite fun. i enjoy all the other usual suspects –goodnight moon, curious george, and the very hungry caterpillar.

i just don’t like the pooh. maybe it’s the fact that i see an inordinate amount of voting aged adults wearing pooh t-shirts, sweatshirts and backpacks. quite honestly, i don’t know. like u.s. foreign policy it is neither logical nor well thought out. it’s just the way i feel.

thanks for letting me vent.

soundtrack of the day - shearwater the dissolving room, alicia keys songs in a minor

2003-02-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

a friend passed this website along to me. created by carmelite nuns in indiana (where did nuns learn to create such an impressive website?), this site is an excellent resource for contemplative prayer. it also has a wonderful section on praying through the news. it can be found at Pray The News

soundtrack of the day - guided by voices bee thousand, interpol turn on the bright lights

2003-02-12T12:16:00.000-08:00

gerhard richter, a twentieth century german artist wrote, “art is not a substitute religion: it is a religion . . .the church is no longer adequate as a means of affording experience of the transcendental, and of making religion real – and so art has been transformed from a means into the sole provider of religion: which means religion itself.”

somewhere along the way, amidst her logical apologetics and systematic theology, the church forgot one of her most important tasks: the work of mediating the transcendent. words often fail short in this – they ring hollow and seem empty. perhaps that’s why God finally became incarnate.

i was revisiting an old re:generation quarterly the other day. stretched across the cover was the invitation “artists come home.” like israel without prophets is the church without artists.

real art is dangerous. it asks questions we’d rather not ask. it exposes clichés we’d rather keep safe. it confronts our all too well worn comfort. and it poses us with possibilities that are, at the same time, terrifying and hope giving.

here is the website of makoto fujimura - one of our much needed prophets.

soundtack of the day - spoon girls can tell, the flaming lips the soft bulletin

2003-02-10T22:38:00.000-08:00

brian and i are headed to waco on tuesday for a symposium on communion and baptism. should be fairly interesting. we assured of two good things coming out of the trip - round rock donuts and uncle dan's barbeque.

soundtrack of the day -
meat puppets up on the sun, television marquee moon
(i should have listened to anne sofie von otter & elvis costello's for the stars and i would have made an astronomer's day)

2003-02-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

i’m a tad nervous about starting a blog. the whole idea is a bit pretentious (not to mention egocentric). we need another opinion about as desperately as we need another reality tv show.

i may be a too bit self conscious for this whole thing anyway. every time i write i’ll wrestle with the nagging thoughts: “who’ll be reading this? what will they think of me? am i trying to sound too spiritual? too unspiritual? have i used ‘very’ too often? ”even now i’m thinking “is my narcissism and self-deprecating style cute and/or refreshingly honest? is my writing too self-aware? in some unnamed way am i trying to sound too much like dave eggers?”

with that out of the way, let the pretentious begin ...

2003-02-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

microphone check. one. two