Prince Rilian and the UFO sighting near Highland, IL
My friend Joffre runs the best little bookhouse in South Carolina, The Silver Chair. And I don’t just say that because it is a fun play on a Broadway musical; I say that because it’s true.
Joffre and the fine folks at The Silver Chair put out an arts and culture ‘zine called The Revenant Culture. By visiting the link, you can download the ‘zine in .pdf format, view the blog, listen to the podcast (which is a really excellent podcast, might I add), submit your art (visual or literary), and even subscribe to the print edition of The Revenant Culture – all for free.
I, for one, think you should do all of the above. And I really think you should visit The Silver Chair. Often. Especially if you live in the Upstate. Because it is places like this that give a town its soul. It’s places like this that make capitalism redeemable. It’s at places like this that true community can blossom. Plus, the Thai Tea Dragonfly smoothie is spectacular.
Now maybe I’ll win a gift certificate out of this. ;-)
The Quotable John Adams
I have a “Quotes of the Day” application installed on my iGoogle page.
At the risk of sounding particularly partisan (or even political), here’s a fun one from today’s edition, attributed to the second president on the United States, John Adams:
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
Ah, where have all the witty politicians gone?
Parking tickets without the badge
In keeping with the theme of posts lacking substance or actual writing on my part, a friend of mine recently brought to my attention this booklet of parking tickets from a company called Shinebox Print; they’re designed to be a clever, legal, passive-aggressive way to express frustration over a bad parking job.
And as we know, I’m all about some clever passive aggression…
Here are some of my favorites, for your enjoyment:
.
.
.
.
.
Dostoyevsky and the Last Judgment
This pared-down excerpt is impossible to fully understand outside its context in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment; nonetheless, I include this passage here because I love it. I don’t care if it is “theologically sound,” it is beautiful; I resonate with it; I so want it to be true. I love it because I keep rediscovering that I am a broken and fragile ragamuffin, more like Marmeladov than I ever think or care to admit. I am a man who has and is nothing without Grace.
.
[Marmeladov] would have filled his glass, but there was no drink left. The pot was empty.
“What are you to be pitied for?” shouted the tavern-keeper who was again near them. [...]
“To be pitied! Why am I to be pitied?” Marmeladov suddenly declaimed, standing up with his arm outstretched, as though he had been only waiting for that question.
“Why am I to be pitied, you say? Yes! there’s nothing to pity me for! I ought to be crucified, crucified on a cross, not pitied! Crucify me, oh judge, crucify me but pity me! And then I will go of myself to be crucified, for it’s not merry-making I seek but tears and tribulation!… Do you suppose, you that sell, that this pint of yours has been sweet to me? It was tribulation I sought at the bottom of it, tears and tribulation, and have found it, and I have tasted it; but He will pity us Who has had pity on all men, Who has understood all men and all things, He is the One, He too is the judge. He will come in that day [...] And He will judge and will forgive all, the good and the evil, the wise and the meek…. And when He has done with all of them, then He will summon us. ‘You too come forth,’ He will say, ‘Come forth ye drunkards, come forth, ye weak ones, come forth, ye children of shame!’ And we shall all come forth, without shame and shall stand before him. And He will say unto us, ‘Ye are swine, made in the Image of the Beast and with his mark; but come ye also!’ And the wise ones and those of understanding will say, ‘Oh Lord, why dost Thou receive these men?’ And He will say, ‘This is why I receive them, oh ye wise, this is why I receive them, oh ye of understanding, that not one of them believed himself to be worthy of this.’ And He will hold out His hands to us and we shall fall down before him… and we shall weep… and we shall understand all things! Then we shall understand all!… and all will understand [...] ….Lord, Thy kingdom come!”
Death By Love
I must preface this post with the caveat that I’m not the biggest Mark Driscoll fan, so what follows isn’t me just latching onto a forthcoming book because the guy’s a rockstar and I’m a groupie. I mean, I’m not above that, I just reserve it for other people. But Driscoll’s forthcoming book, entitled Death by Love, looks really, really intriguing. My friend Joel does a much better job than me introducing the book, so you should check that out here.
If you’ve already read too many words and just want to hear sounds and look at pictures, a short (3:30) introductory / promotional Flash video, complete with quite good (and chilling) art, can be found at the book’s official site, here. I encourage you to check it out.
/ / /
Death By Love official site, with video, sample chapter, and downloadable art : http://relit.org/deathbylove/
Death By Love official Facebook page (you must be signed in to view) : http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Death-by-Love/25798910666
.
Hope for America
The University of South Carolina Tackle Football Gamecocks.
That’s right.
Enjoy this short post from Billy House of the Media General’s Washington Bureau.
I know who I’m pulling for…
/ / /
Steve Spurrier and Gamecocks vs. Obama and McCain
Tue, August 12, 2008 - 2:53 PM
WASHINGTON – It may not be the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, who open the NFL season on the very night as John McCain accepts his nomination at the Republican National Convention.
But turns out that both McCain and Obama will be facing other football competition durng their acceptance speeches. ESPN is scheduled to show South Carolina Gamecock games on Aug. 28 and Sept. 4.
NBC and the NFL have already agreed to move the Sept. 4 Giants vs. ‘Skins game up an hour from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m., given the McCain speech from St. Paul.
The only problem might occur if the game runs late or into overtime. McCain is expected to deliver his speech at 10 p.m. ET.
But on the same night, the Gamecocks are in Nashville for their Southeastern Conference opener against the Vanderbilt Commodores at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Gamecock football fans are rabid, and that tilt is certain to run well into the time of McCain’s scheduled speech.
And week before that, Obama’s own speech in Denver on Aug. 28 will face a similar conflict, as the Gamecocks host the North Carolina State Wolfpack in their season opener in Columbia, to be shown by ESPN starting at 8 p.m.
Maybe the political parties will tape the speeches.
An excerpt…
I have been doing a good bit of reading lately, and, until I am sued by a publisher, I figure I will start posting excerpts of things I find particularly engaging.
From Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew:
Jesus, I found, bore little resemblance to the Mister Rogers figure I had met in Sunday school, and was remarkably unlike the person I had studied in Bible college. For one thing, he was far less tame. In my prior image, I realized, Jesus’ personality matched that of a Star Trek Vulcan: he remained calm, cool, and collected as he strode like a robot among excitable human beings on spaceship earth. That is not what I found portrayed in the Gospels and in the better films. Other people affected Jesus deeply: obstinacy frustrated him, self-righteousness infuriated him, simple faith thrilled him. Indeed, he seemed more emotional and spontaneous than the average person, not less. More passionate, not less.
The more I studied Jesus, the more difficult it became to pigeonhole him. He said little about the Roman occupation, the main topic of conversation among his countrymen, and yet he took up a whip to drive petty profiteers from the Jewish temple. He urged obedience to the Mosaic law while acquiring the reputation as a lawbreaker. He could be stabbed by sympathy for a stranger, yet turn on his best friend with the flinty rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan!” He had uncompromising views on rich men and loose women, yet both types enjoyed his company.
One day miracles seemed to flow out of Jesus; the next day his power was blocked by people’s lack of faith. One day he talked in detail of the Second Coming; another, he knew neither the day nor hour. He fled from arrest at one point and marched inexorably toward it at another. He spoke eloquently about peacemaking, then told his disciples to procure swords. His extravagant claims about himself kept him at the center of controversy, but when he did something truly miraculous he tended to hush it up. As Walter Wink has said, if Jesus had never lived, we would not have been able to invent him.
