Here and There and Nearly Nowhere

I’ve been busy as of late, sometimes with a more theological bent and other times not so much. I had hoped to have had news on some projects I’ve done, so right now I’m just waiting for them to get announced elsewhere before I mention them here. So please be patient for the announcements to come.

Also, I like — or attempt — more constructive work here, so I have partially avoided posts as of late ’cause I don’t like to rant much on the blog. The dearth is also because I lost my notes on a theology of marriage (which began with martyrdom… I liked it so and I’m annoyed I can’t find ‘em). Doh.

Still, I have a very short comment on John “our newest Falwell” Piper and his latest drivel: John Piper’s God is the ultimate backseat driver. Or the worst vindictive micro-manager you can conceive of. Either way, its a pretty poor theology, never mind that he conflates sovereignty (of the Piperian kind) with divine glory because he doesn’t seem to understand either of them well. Yeah, you heard me. Indeed, some of his favorite words to use he doesn’t seem to understand at best.

Keepin’ on Movin’

Remember this whole snafu? I feel compelled to link to a recent Colbert segment here: “We are America. We do not swear on camera! … Dropping the F-bomb is an affront to everything this country stands for.”

As for this weekend: paper presented and cell phone broken. Smooooth. Oh and papers to be written. Expect posts on martyrdom.

Relax

I’ve got a lot to do in the next month and I suspect I’m not alone. This goes out to all those who wish they had a real office to get work done.

This is from the new Decemberists cd. Oh, and make sure you crank the volume. I’ve been living off this album for the past few weeks — it has been glorious:

Wait, what?

It has come to my attention that more than one person has assumed, from this blog, that I am Roman Catholic. This I am not. I am also not a reformed type or evangelical (whatever that means). As for liberal or conservative? Meh. I am neither I think. I am, however, catholic and I quite like them Anabaptists. This is how I briefly describe my sympathies here at Marquette.

Anyways, I figured I should clarify. Enough about me.

Oh, and the new Decemberists album is great. That’ll be all.

That light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train.

I’ve had a rough week, but in its own way there were some significant positives. Stay tuned, one will be mentioned soon…ish.

I’ve got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is More… Black Keys?

I like ruts. I’ve found a new rut that I’ve working on since at least early summer, thanks to Chris and Adam. They’re called The Black Keys. I know this isn’t all that theological of a post, but blues rock is sublime, especially when school is getting a bit hectic. So all you writing late night papers (or in my case, cursing Latin), put these guys on and think away.

Busted!

Thank you XKCD. Hilarious.

Music Meme

I got memed in for a music list of sorts, a list of one’s favorite albums from each year that one has been alive. Well, there is something wrong with me. I am terrible, terrible, at keeping track of band names and associating the names with the songs, much less years when albums came out. After much searching through the internet of favorite bands, and again cursing the eighties for being a terrible decade (more on that later), I’ve been able to come up with this list:

1983: U2, War

1984: The Cars, Hearbeat City (A tribute to crappy music and sycophantic lyrics.)

1985: The Cure, The Head on the Door (A tribute to the death of the drummer during the eighties. What so bad about drummers that the eighties decided to kill them off?)

1986: Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet (STEEEEEEL HORSE IIIIIIIIII RIDEEEEEEEE!)

1987: Rick Astley, Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Rolled!

1988: Poison, Open Up and Say… Ahh! (Proof that “success” by being a sellout doesn’t get you anywhere.)

1989: Queen, The Miracle

1990: Michael W. Smith, Go West Young Man (A tribute to the fact that I didn’t know any better back then. I was only seven for God sakes.)

1991: R.E.M., Out of Time

1992: Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax playing Johannes Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano (This is beauty.)

1993: Counting Crows, August and Everything After (Hey, the early 90s was a hard time for music.)

1994: Queen, Greatest Hits (Because most came before my time.)

1995: Jars of Clay, Jars of Clay

1996: Cake, Fashion Nugget

1997: Sixpence None the Richer, Sixpence None the Richer

1998: Burlap to Cashmere, Anybody Out There?

1999: Switchfoot, New Way to Be Human

2000: Switchfoot, Learning to Breathe (I like ruts. And besides, they were my favorite band for a long time.)

2001: Five O’Clock People, In the Bleak Midwinter (Teh Awesome.)

2002: Damien Rice, O

2003: Sufjan Stevens, Michigan

2004: Lovedrug, Pretend You’re Alive

2005: The Decemberists, Picaresque

2006: Grand Funk Railroad, Greatest Hits (I had to work them in somehow, even if this is cheating.)

2007: Feist, The Reminder

2008: Five O’Clock People, Temper Temper

About the eighties, I see so very little of it to be redeeming. In fact, I commonly say, I am glad my youngest years were in the eighties, so I didn’t waste a decade with memories of bad synth music, neon with abandon, and Regan economics (*zing*). So I didn’t like the eighties, sue me. For above, I had also had a devil of a time trying to find for 1994 and 2007.

As for continuing on the meme, I tag people I think who would have a much better grasp of music: Chris, Ben, Adam, Michael, and Ry.

Announcement, Announcement, Aaaaaaanoooouncemeeeent

Nathan Smith, fellow graduate from Multnomah’s undergrad school and now in the Seminary at Multnomah, is starting up a couple projects that I want to announce on this blog.

One is The Free Library of Christian Scholarship, a space where people can upload their own theological works for reading and discussion.

The second is part of The Free Library of Christian Scholarship, a blog aggregator, that so far includes Nathan, Chris Layton and myself.

Its a fledgling project right now, but it has the potential to grow – I’m sure Nathan would welcome interested people. Go give ‘em a look.

Good News Everyone!

Woo hoo! Futurama is back! I just finished the dvd they released a few days back. It was great. Classic Futurama, one might say. Whee! It reminded me of the Simpson’s movie – an hour and a half of good times. I can’t wait for the next three dvds.

Nudist Alien 1: Like all rich people, we’re gonna need weapons to shoot poor people.

Nudist Alien 2: In self defense?

Nudist Alien 1: Yes, that too…

Colbert and his Million Strong

This is from the BBC:

More than a million people have backed comic Stephen Colbert’s fake candidacy in the 2008 US presidential election on social-networking website Facebook.

In nine days, more than 1m users joined an online group set up after the Colbert Report host announced his bid.

…The group grew so quickly it caused technical problems for the website, which has nearly 50 million users around the world and is said to account for 1% of all internet traffic.

I think I could actually vote for Colbert. Well that is to say, I’d vote and then repent, or something like that. Then again, voting in Alaska means nothing on the national level. At least he’ll think about the issues and tell us his reasoning. Yeah, I know he is a comic, but he’d be honest me thinks. Also, the man has guts, sticking it to the president at the correspondents dinner? Wow.

Writing God

I’m a big fan of the comic on academics, Piled Higher and Deeper. I’m also doing quite a bit of writing right now and between school work and applications for life beyond the MA, I am this guy.

A Delicious Irony

I am kind of a sports fan, that is to say, I like to play ‘em, but whenever I follow sports, its normally a communal affair or at the urging of others and not so much out of my own volition. This semester though I’ve been keeping an eye on the baseball playoffs, but not nearly as close as a friend here has. He made this observation that I completely missed: the Cleveland Indians kicked the Yankees out of the playoffs on Columbus day. Ha! That still cracks me up, so much so that I wanted to make sure the whole internet realized the irony. Hence this post. Anyways, as you were.

More Daily Show

From the Times:

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – A new hub for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” headlines a slate of two-dozen targeted Web sites that Viacom’s MTV Networks will launch by the first quarter.

TheDailyShow.com, which launches in the fourth quarter, will archive the entire video history of the show including headlines, interviews and the “Back in Black” feature. The portal also will present the previous evening’s episode in its entirety an hour or two after its broadcast.

Woo hoo!

Hello blogspot.

So I created a myspace account and a facebook account awhile back, partially to stay in touch with those I left behind in Oregon when I graduated; however, I found as I began to post more and more on the myspace page, that myspace is not the kind of atmosphere that really facilitates discussion. Anyways, I’ve now moved over to here, blogspot, to post words – by and large theological words. Ta da.

I will repost some of the posts from the myspace page, but if one is curious as to all the posts, then go here.