"Everybody Gets Knocked Down..."

An excellent new commercial from Nike.  This really is inspiring. 



Very artistic, in my opinion.  Very well done.

"Why don't the rabbis believe in Jesus?"

""Why don't the rabbis believe in Jesus?" Many Christians who ask me this assume that all rabbis are extremely knowledgeable about the Hebrew Scriptures. And, they figure, it stands to reason that anyone who is familiar with the many passages that point to Jesus would be persuaded to believe in Him too."

Another interesting article by David Brickner.

His historical perspective is interesting and I find myself in about 95.6% agreement with his conclusions.

I think, too, most of what he says about the true terms of orthodox Jewish religious scholarship also applies to Christian evangelical teachers, writers, and preachers today.  My perception is that a lot of what is preached and taught today as doctrine is derived as much or more from the study of popular commentaries and modern interpretations as it is from the Bible itself.  In evangelical churches that are more doctrinally conservative, there is a reliance on John MacArthur, Bill Hybels, and John Piper.  In the younger, edgier congregations, there is a lot of attention paid to the videos of Rob Bell, the inflammatory sermons by Mark Driscoll, and others.  There is always a big buzz when the newest book by Erwin McManus or Brian McLaren is published.

This is not new...25 years ago it was Charles Swindoll, Chuck Colson, James Dobson, and Billy Graham who helped shape the American Christian cultural consciousness.  Some of that buzz and hum may be good, but much of it is just noise and you need to be able to discern the difference for yourself. 

A diversity of opinion and a broad spectrum of influences and ideas is not necessarily a bad thing, of course, and that is not what I am suggesting.  Proverbs 23:12 encourages us to "apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge," which no doubt includes the writings and teachings of others.  This theme is repeated in different forms and nuances throughout the Bible.

However, no one should let their study about the Bible take the place of their study of the Bible.  If you find yourself more interested in reading some new book about social justice or how to live a dynamic and successful Christian life than you are about reading the book of James, for example, then you need to recalibrate.

Pray in earnest that the Lord will instill or restore in you a love for His word first.  It won't take long.  When you've got that going, you'll be able to sort through the noise and hear the music.

"Rahm Emanual thinks Democrats are retarded..."

Glenn Reynolds should get some kind of award for this hilarious headline:


RAHM EMANUEL COMPARES DEMOCRATS TO RETARDED PEOPLE, then apologizes to retarded people.

Click on through for the details...or not.
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Personal VTOL - Almost as good as a Rocket Pack

I'll take one...for sure.




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Entertainment

Why does Google News put all of it's stories about the drama that has usurped the lives of Tiger Woods and his family into the "Entertainment" category of it's website?  The available categories for news include "World, ""US," "Sci/Tech,""Business,"" Sports," and "Health."  Clearly, this tragedy doesn't fit in any of those categories either, although "Sports" may be the most appropriate since that is where most of the previous reportage about the golfing legend has appeared until recently.

But it definitely does not qualify as "Entertainment."  It is definitely not entertaining.

Steal This Recipe

Okay, here's the deal.  This is why Mark Bittman is so cool.  This recipe couldn't be easier, but it is an incredibly amazing rendering of brussel sprout deliciousness.  Watch this short video and just do it.  There is bacon involved.  Watch it now.

Cut and paste this into your browser if necessary:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/dining/281mrex.html?ref=dining

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I did add a couple of tablespoons of pine nuts. And, check it out, I didn't have any dates.  But I did have figs and everyone knows that figs and dates are functional equivalents.  They are basically the same thing, really, so if you don't have dried figs, used dried dates.  And I added some chopped red bell pepper for color. 

Do it.  Don't fear the brussel sprouts.  Embrace them.

(Yes, I stole that picture from the internet.)

New Audio Technology Stuff

The National Association of Music Merchants (forever hereafter referred to as NAMM) winter show was last week.  While, typically, it is the summer show that is the musical instrument manufacturing industry's biggest event, the tradeshow last week revealed some cool new products.

First, check out the Akai Synthstation.  It is a powerful, feature packed synthesizer and music production application for the iPhone and iPod.  This is crazy!

Also, there is the iPK25 keyboard controller.  It's so new, you can't hardly find it on the internet, but go check out this really cool video on the Electronic Musician site.

And here is an interesting video on some new studio isolation products from Primacoustic, which is a part of the Radial Engineering family of companies and a real leader in acoustic design technology.  I was really impressed with the simple and creative design of some of these little problem-solvers.  Some clever, thoughtful new tools that will really work well in many studios and performance applicatons.

Linus explains Christmas

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

Just finished Steven Pressfield's "Gates of Fire,"  a best-selling historical novel published in 1998, about the Battle of Thermopyle in 480 BC, the decisive battle in the Greco-Persian wars.  It is a compelling story well-told of a fascinating period of history.  An excellent read about an event that defines the word "epic". 




It is, of course, the same storied event that was the subject of the popular movie "300" from 2006, by Frank Miller and Zack Snyder, although the book has a much different flavor, of course.  I enjoyed the movie, as well, and I highly recommend the book.  Here is a trailer for the movie:

300 Movie Trailer

This was the last of the books that I had been given last Christmas that I had not read.
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Bacon Oatmeal

This is a recipe for 1 serving.  It is easily doubled, tripled,  quadrupled, etc.


Ingredients
2 slices of the best quality bacon
1/2 cup of Quaker Oats oatmeal; not the instant, the other kind.
1/2 cup of 2% milk
1 tbsp butter
1 heaping tbsp of Splenda brown sugar.

This recipe is very quick and easy, but the process is specific in order to get the best blend of flavors.

Fry the bacon to taste in the skillet, then remove to paper towels to cool and to drain excess grease.  Place oatmeal and milk in a microwaveable bowl and zap it at full power for 1 minute.  Remove and stir.  Add the butter, return to the microwave and heat at full power for 1 minute.  Remove and stir.

Stack the 2 bacon slices, holding them in one hand over the bowl.  Using kitchen shears, snip the end of the cooked bacon, allowing the small bacon bits to crumble over the oatmeal.  Sprinkle the Splenda brown sugar over the bacon bits and oatmeal.

Return to the microwave and cook at full power for an additional 30 seconds.  Serve immediately, stirring to blend once more before eating.

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Nobel Peace Prize Rap by MC Crowbar

"I made a sandwich - got a Peace Prize!"



Oh, yes.  This is very funny to me.

h/t to Instapundit
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Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize has become increasingly ridiculous and irrelevant over the last couple of decades, even comedic at times, in a pathetic kind of way.  Here is a list of the winners since 1980:

_ 2008: Martti Ahtisaari
_ 2007: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore
_ 2006: Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
_ 2005: International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei
_ 2004: Wangari Maathai
_ 2003: Shirin Ebadi
_ 2002: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
_ 2001: United Nations, Kofi Annan
_ 2000: Kim Dae-jung
_ 1999: Medecins Sans Frontieres
_ 1998: John Hume, David Trimble
_ 1997: International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams
_ 1996: Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Jose Ramos-Horta
_ 1995: Joseph Rotblat, Pugwash Conf. on Science and World Affairs
_ 1994: Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin
_ 1993: Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk
_ 1992: Rigoberta Menchu Tum
_ 1991: Aung San Suu Kyi
_ 1990: Mikhail Gorbachev
_ 1989: The 14th Dalai Lama
_ 1988: U.N. Peacekeeping Forces
_ 1987: Oscar Arias Sanchez
_ 1986: Elie Wiesel
_ 1985: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
_ 1984: Desmond Tutu
_ 1983: Lech Walesa
_ 1982: Alva Myrdal, Alfonso Garcia Robles
_ 1981: Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
_ 1980: Adolfo Perez Esquivel

Some of these are absolutely worthy, to be sure.  Others seem relatively obscure and unknown.  But then there's Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama, Yasser Arafat, Mohamed El-Baradai, and...

...wait for it....

Al Gore.

And now this.

......

Plinth

It is not my intention to start "a word of the day" theme, nor is this space going to devolve into some kind of Jungian dream journal.  However, I have had more vivid dreams lately than normal, several each night, and one of them was highly unusual.  Two nights ago, I dreamed of the word "plinth".  In my head, I saw it in print, I heard it spoken, and I myself said the word, repeating it.  At the time I had no idea what it means and was only vaguely assured in my dream that it is, in fact, an actual word.

I trolled the internet for definitions and the one I like the best came from the ubiquitous Wikipedia:

In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests.^[1] Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture (1851) posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. According to Semper, the plinth exists to negotiate between a structure and the ground. Semper's theory has been very influential in the subsequent development of architecture.^[2]

I especially like the line, "exists to negotiate between a structure and the ground."

Why I dreamed this word, I have no idea.  Maybe I should ask a Jungian.  Here are a couple of more gratuitous plinth pics:

Here is a different kind of plinth...evidently it is also a kind of sophisticated, articulating medical chair:

And here's a short video about an art project involving a famous plinth and a bunch of English folk:





Has anybody else ever had a dream about a word? Next, I just need to start working it into as many conversations as possible.

Chappaquiddick

I consider Mark Steyn's short essay on the legacy of Ted Kennedy essential to the present public discussion.

Call Your Name - Gateway Worship

One of the best worship songs in the last couple of years. I was blessed to be in the congregation the night this was recorded.

Sing along...it will surprise you.



Gateway Church The singer/songwriter is Zach Neese. Here is a link to more of Gateway's worship music.

Ethnomusicological Stimulus - MBPYNHO

It's a veritable gold mine of Music By People You've Never Heard Of.

Go here to preview and download FOR FREE a couple of dozen World Music Sampler albums from Amazon.com.

I heard about this from ChordStrike, an Amazon blog about all kinds of music.

Free is good.

Gastronomic Stimulus

Here are some random food links that I like.

First, a sweepstakes to enter to win lots of groceries. Yes, there are coupons and recipes involved for those interested in such things. If you're hardcore and you like to make your own pasta noodles by hand, don't bother. The rest of you go check it out.

Secondly, here is a link to the arepa con queso recipe that I like. In fact, I'm cooking some now. This is a very simple, good recipe. You need the right kind of flour, though, or it won't be right. You need the PAN Harina Precocida de Maiz Blanco which is available from many Latino or specialty grocery stores. While you're there you can get the queso blanco, too.

Thirdly, and I've probably said this before, but it bears repeating. I am a big fan of Mark Bittman. His blog, his books, his online cooking video segments. Everything he does is aimed at helping you and me, the non-professional home cook learn to prepare better food with simple techniques and better ingredients. He gets it. He knows we aren't making foie gras...but he will show you how easy it is to make an excellent curry, a superior pasta sauce, what to do with a pound of ground lamb, or how to grill vegetables in the oven. It's real cooking for real people, but it's really GOOD cooking. If you want to eat better and still live your life, you will like Mark Bittman.

The Visitor

Among the several good things about Netflix is how easy they have made it for us to watch movies for which we would not normally have either the time or, because of where we live, the access to conveniently see films that have limited release.

One such was the independent film, "The Visitor," written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, who also wrote and directed 2003's wonderful "The Station Agent." "The Station Agent" is really one of my favorite films, so artfully done. I had read good things about "The Visitor" and was pleased to find it in the mailbox.

One thing I had previously noticed was how "The Visitor" shares a similarity with the former movie in that reading the plot synopsis is completely misleading. Both feature simple, almost banal, stories that are, in fact, rich and deep, and are brilliantly and beautifully told.

Although "The Visitor" boldly violates one of my few but firm rules about what constitutes a "good" movie, I still must recommend it most highly. It centers on the the unlikely relationship that emerges among an interesting quartet of characters. The only recognizable actor is the lead, Richard Jenkins, and he is not a movie star. He's one of those guys you see 3-5 times a year in various minor roles and say, "Oh, yeah...that guy." In this movie, his work is very, very good as the tightly wound (and unwinding) professor Walter Vale.

Although each of the actors is strong, Hiam Abbas, an accomplished Palestinian actress from Israel, as Mouna Khalil, is especially striking in her role. Her performance is captivating, nuanced, complex, and powerful.

It is so seldom that a film can really successfully unpack a story as well, or develop characters as deeply as a book does, but that is what McCarthy does with "The Visitor." It is a difficult story, but one well worth telling. Here is a link to the trailer - check it out.

Rent this movie.

Rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem

"The request reads: "Children wanted for Future Temple service. Ultra-orthodox Jewish sect is searching for parents willing to hand over newborn sons to be raised in isolation and purity in preparation for the rebuilding of the biblical temple in Jerusalem. Only members of the Jewish priestly caste, the Kohanim need apply..."

Words from an ancient scroll disovered in a recent archeological dig? Or perhaps an excerpt from a Hollywood screenplay for some biblical epic? Actually, those words appeared in the contemporary Israeli newspaper, Haaretz."

Read the whole thing. The last couple of paragraphs tell why this is important.


Believe it.

Scrapings

Hey, remember blogging? Way back in like 2008 when everybody would write on their blogs and stuff, sharing their innermost thoughts, posting recipes, pictures of puppies and kittens, and all about stuff their kids were doing and things like that? Yeah, those were the days.

Well as long as I'm here, I'm going to do a brain dump.

*****

I was surprised at the visceral, emotional reaction I had today when I read this story about how the idiot dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is talking trash about Colombia. My first thought was, "Hey, I know those people, you butthead. Leave them alone!" Those are my friends he's threatening and I don't like it one bit.

*****

I think the recent proliferation of vampire fiction, including all of it's cinematic variants, is just plain weird. I'm definitely not into it, mostly because it's ridiculously popular and because I really don't have the time for that kind of reading. But, still, I think it is a peculiar sub-genre. Okay, I confess...I did enjoy the early years of Joss Whedon's Buffy series, especially when it was in syndication and was broadcast every morning during coffee time. I also think 1987's "The Lost Boys" is a kind of modern classic, but most of the rest of it is just not that interesting to me. Somewhere, though, I bet there are several hundred graduate students in English Literature analyzing this phenomenon and cranking out the definitive theses. I don't want to read those, either.

*****


I recently saw the Clint Eastwood movie, "Gran Torino," and liked it very much, charmed even by it's imperfections. It really is one of the best movies I've seen in the last year. I also finally saw the award-winning "There Will Be Blood," starring Daniel Day Lewis. What an absolute waste of time that movie is. Hated it.



*****

"Sometimes people may be so appalled, so offended by what you have to say that they don't stick around long enough to hear your explanation, much less your apology."

I dreamed this statement, in this morning's pre-dawn slumber. There was a dramatic context, of course, but I barely remember it. The statement, though, I remembered loud and clear upon awakening

*****

It is absurd, but the Indiana Symphony Orchestra is heavily promoting on TV their upcoming concert featuring the greatest hits of Queen. Please. What is this going to accomplish, really? They are going to butcher this music while simultaneously selling their artistic soul for a little coin. What a complete waste of time, money, talent, and effort. And, no, I don't have to hear it first to justify my opinion any more than it is necessary for me to drive off a cliff in order to understand how terrible it would be to die in a fiery crash.