Wet Season

It's funny, I read a lot of great blogs that I could link to here for everyone's edification, but I just found one tonight that I know you guys will actually read:

Purpose Driven Drinking

and you, superman?

The following was too funny for me not to link to. Probably only comics fanboys can truly appreciate it, but I place it here for all anyhow.

Superman is a d-word. (link found via Neil Gaiman's Blog)

yeah, I censored myself at Abigail's request.

On the Radio

Tim Rizzo is the man that first introduced me to Devendra Banhart.

So, I'm pleased to present to him here a link to an archived Banhart KCRW performance.

Banhart on Morning Becomes Eclectic

Tim has also recommended Arcade Fire, but I hadn't gotten around to listening to them yet, until recently, when I found a few internet goodies floating around. Here's one of them, also from KCRW.

Arcade Fire on Morning Becomes Eclectic

Christ Haunted

David Eugene Edwards is one of my favorite contemporary Christian artists. I've seen comparisons in various reviews ranging from the Violent Femmes to Nick Cave. And there are similarities. And I would argue that both the Violent Femmes and Nick Cave (and many in-between) are severely Christ-haunted, expressing truths of the Kingdom in song even as they may be (frantically, desperately) denying the Kingdom in the way that their lives are lived.

Anyhow, Edwards, standing in a tradition that extends far beyond either Nick Cave or the Violent Femmes, is an original, even as he exudes familiarity, a deep sense of continuity.

An article from a recent Paste Magazine:

The Uncomfortable Faith of David Eugene Edwards

An mp3 file to give you a taste of song:

The Good Hand

The official 16Horsepower site:

16horsepower.net

The official Woven Hand site:

wovenhand.net

One more mp3 for good measure:

Strong Man

And here's my good friend (it's been too long since last we've seen each other, a large continent shall divide) Joel Dunham's review of the most recent Woven Hand album:

Consider the Birds Review written by Joel Dunham

“What I try to do with my music is to say that it’s never enough, and it never will be enough,” he says in a moment of candor. “It doesn’t matter what you do—how good you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done—how bad you are. Salvation is of the Lord, and we think it is of us, if we behave a certain way or eat the right food—basically that God is not sovereign. If there is a God, which I think that a lot of people are ready and willing to admit whether they are Christian or not, it really doesn’t matter. It’s of no consequence if there is a God, because it’s all up to them anyway. Whatever means they choose, meditating or going to the psychologist, they use whatever faith they have as another tool, just like if they were taking a medicine. Basically, my job is to tell people that they are hopeless. Hopeless without Christ.”

-Edwards, from the Paste article

Theowhat?

I subscribed to the Wrightsaid list for a few months about a year and a half or so ago. It was just too much traffic and I couldn't keep up with reading all of the discussion or managing all of that mail, so I unsubscribed. Joel (yet another man that I don't know personally), the owner of eleysium.blogspot.com, recently posted just one of the many wonderful things that I am now missing out on.

James Jordan on Theonomists/Reconstructionists

Along similar lines, here's:

Alastair's Confession

Something Lost, Something Found (for Spike)

This article only confirms something that all of us who love comics have known for years - there aren't many children's comics left.

Hey kids! No comics!

“Children did not abandon comics. Comics, in their drive to attain respect and artistic accomplishment, abandoned children. The adult reader of comic books has always been the Holy Grail, the promised land, the imagined lover who will greet us, at the end of the journey, with open arms, with acceptance, with approval. … Comics have always been an arriviste art form. And all upstarts are to some degree ashamed of their beginnings. But frankly, I don’t think that’s what’s going on in comics anymore. I think we have simply lost the habit of telling stories to children. And how sad is that?”

-Michael Chabon, quoted in the above article

Scholastic Scribbles

I'm at UB (I believe that this is my first time posting from UB).
I drove down here to do some work, but unexpected printer difficulties have kept me from starting what I have come here to do.

So, in the meantime, I blog.

I did use this limbo time to upload some files to my UB server space, so now you can enjoy these:

1) This first file is my "Issue Briefing" final paper for my intro course last semester. It's a word document, so feel free to download it, mangle it to pieces, and send me back the results.

Comics on Trial: Justified Arguments for Library Inclusion or Impertinent Demands?

2) The second is my final paper for my Non-Book Materials class last semester. This was perhaps the easiest paper that I had to write, because I didn't have to back up any of my arguments with outside sources. That's the way the professor wanted it. We were supposed to write about what we think should be done to change the opinions and practices (and prejudices) of librarians as regards non-book formats.

What Should Be Done: Building A Foundation for Change

Update: I'm at home now. I realized that I should add some details to convince people to read that second one. It's a defense of non-book formats, arguing that they are valid and necessary expressions of man made in the image of god, reflecting the triune god's creation, as revealed in the book of Genesis. Maybe now someone will read it. :)
....

Re-reading both of them now, I'm noticing many things that I would like to change and touch up a bit, but I'll let them stand as they are.

Happy reading!

Molecular Melody (for Nick)

It was providence alone that led me to this site below. I own the Dorothy Collins Experiment Songs lp, but for whatever reason I've never thought to search for others on the www. Some library site that I subscribe to led me to a massive database of science songs, most of which are not available for free. This massive database is indeed massive. I started to just randomly click on links, figuring that I'd get bored shortly. What did I happen upon almost immediately, but this site, featuring the greatest science songs I've ever heard (okay, they're pretty much the only science songs I've ever heard).....

Singing Science Records

Is it artificial?

When I was younger, in Florida visiting my grandparents, Dick and Mildred Heck, the entire family would sometimes spend the evenings playing games; UNO, Trival Pursuit (especially Trivial Pursuit- I can still remember when I saved the game for the men's team by being the only one there that knew the answer, which was Alfred E. Newman), and quite often, 20 questions. 20 questions can be a very difficult game, but it was always enjoyable and accompanied by mirth.

Well, that's my prelude to revealing one of the most amazing things that I've stumbled across here on the 'net.

Play 20 questions with an Artificial Intelligence