gathering in light

Well I’m back after a four-week hiatus. It was nice having guests blog for me, felt like a little vacation. But I’ve been stocking up on links over the past four weeks so I had something good for show-and-tell. Here’s what we’ve got for today:

• Recently I ran across this post from lifehack.org offering10 Tricks to Get Your Writing Started, and then later I found a similar post on writing abstracts. And while we on the school kick, how many of you remember when the only way to do research was by using index cards?
• By now you’ve seen the Mac vs. PC commercials and there are some pretty funny parody’s out there of it. Take for instance these two “Christian or Christ Follower” videos here’s part one and part two [via Zach].
• Here’s a really cool article on Woody Allen’s typography.
• Oh and check out this really cool non-profit Buy Shoes, Save Lives. There you can purchase hand made shoes that help to fund heart surgeries for children in Iraq.
• Did you ever have a Monchhichi? I used to, and we found it the other day for the the baby. It made for a great picture. And if you don’t remember, does this commercial help job your memory?
• And finally, something for the office.

Big thanks to Wess for inviting the guest post for today’s Dress Down Friday! With Wess’ recent endorsement of Obama, I decided to take DDF in a political direction. For me, following the 2008 election is like watching a good soap opera. I’m completely addicted.

Say What?! :: Obama’s music video by Will.i.am has a sister video that my friend Matt affectionately calls “Cien Anos.” It’ll have you laughing for the next week - bbaaabbbbyyy. Thanks, Cate for the link.

I’ve got Obamaphilia :: When Joel Stein wrote that he wanted to install a urinal in his house, I became addicted to reading his Friday Op Eds. Be sure to read his most recent - Obamaphilia on the rise.

Bush-Clinton Forever :: During the last democratic debate, a 38-year old voter stated that she had never voted in an election without a Clinton or Bush on the ballot. I must admit it’s a damn good point to consider. This clever fellow writes that we could potentially have a Bush or Clinton in the White House until 2057. Vote Chelsea in 2025!!!!

Obama Girl is a huge disappointment. The first video was OK (ridiculously sexist, but funny.) Since then, Barely Political has released a few other video. I can’t even make it through the first ten seconds. It’s like a really bad version of home videos my girlfriends made in high school. Don’t even bother watching.

That’s all for now! Vote Obama 2008. (I guess this is my official endorsement!) I hope I don’t get fired from my non-partisan organization for this post!

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Holly is our last dress down friday guest for awhile, so be sure to check out her blog. Thanks Cate, Ben, Josh and Holly for participating.

Big thanks for Wess letting me co-host Dress Down Friday. I’m not sure if my web musings will be of much interest to some, but here they are nonetheless.

Jonathan Brink writes about the podcast swallowing the pastor. Good stuff. And I know of a good podcast to check out too. Hint, hint.

Only theological nerds (like me) would be interested in a contest to come up with new atonement metaphors.

Social Media for the Christian College.

Amateur YouTube videos make the world better.

Cool business card designs. I’ll be ripping these off shortly.

James Dobson doesn’t know when to shut up. So I say “WHEN!”

Frank Viola is controversial as always. Go figure.

Anyway . . . thanks to Wess. Live long and prosper. And check out my site. Thanks.
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Be sure to pay Josh a visit at iamjoshbown.com.

I love guest blogging. There’s a strange thrill in writing something that will appear on a site other than my own. Thank you for giving me this honor, Wess.

I’ve never written a “Dress Down Friday” so what I’ve got here is a collection of links that (hopefully) will help you through your last day in the work week because that’s the kind of stuff I like to read when I’m about to hit a weekend. Here we go.

TSA has recently set up a blog. It makes for interesting reading, but even more entertaining is the comments on the posts. But hey, what can you expect from a theater of the absurd?

Was that “Theater of the Absurd” thing too serious for a Friday? Then here’s a video you need to watch. You’ll never be able to listen to pop music the same way again:

Good news on the breakfast food front though, seems that Bacon, Eggs and Toast has as many Omega-3s as a piece of salmon. Yay! Bring out the green eggs and ham. OK, OK, there’s no such thing as green ham (not edible anyway) but now we know that there are indeed green eggs. Hmmmm. Seems they come in blue too. Yummy.

‘Salmon’, by the way, is pronounced (Sa-mon) and not (Sal-mon) as my redneck brethren insist on saying it.

Are you an animal lover? Cool, I dig that. You’ll be happy to know that the dramatic chipmunk now has a friend: the dramatic Lemur.

PSA: sometimes it is a tumor, regardless of what Arnold says.

If you’re a blogger, you just may be healthier than your non-blogging friends. Well, that’s what a recent study suggests anyway.

Having solved all other medical problems, science tackles the most important issue of all: why we scratch. Hmmm. Is it me or does there seem to be more pressing issues facing our world?

In other news, people are still shocked at rising gas prices even though it has been rising for decades. I once heard it said that there are three timeless truths: Prices will rise, politicians will philander, and you too will grow old.

As long as you’re alive though, please don’t stoop to the level of creating a canned cheeseburger. Ick!

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Be sure to drop by and give Ben a visit at Openswitch.org.

How flattering to be the first DDF guest blogger! I’m afraid I might not measure up to some of Wess’ posts, but I’ll give it ago. I’m no theologian, so don’t be expecting anything on deconstruction or ‘The Light’; I’m much more interested in pop culture - it makes my brain hurt less. And this post is far wordier than most DDF posts, but oh well.

Anyhow, here we go:

Being that I work in movies & TV, I couldn’t not mention this week’s Oscar nominations. I was disappointed to see Into the Wild not get much recognition, but that disappointment was quickly replaced by my glee at seeing Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova of Once get a Best Song nomination for “Falling Slowly”.

I’m working on location in Vancouver, Canada for the next couple of months on a re-make of the 1951 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. I’ve had time to do quite a bit of exploring and must say that the thing that’s struck me most (other than the fact that there’s a Starbucks every 12 yards, uh, meters) is the sheer beauty of this city. It’s the perfect juxtaposition of urban and natural landscape. Part of the beautiful urban landscape is the Christ Church Cathedral. Walking to church is a novelty for me, what with being an Angeleno and all, so it’s been fun.

Back in Los Angeles, it seems the artists have taken over the traffic islands. And also in LA, the Echo Park Time Travel Mart is open for business. Here’s the (not so) secret dealio: it’s the store front for 826 LA East, yet another chapter of the non-profit tutoring organization put together and run by those McSweeney’s people. A great organization and some super cool people to boot, so if you’re in LA and looking for a place to volunteer, look them up.

U2-3D was released on IMAX screens on Tuesday. I’ve got my ticket to see it this Saturday, and if this review is any indication, I’m gonna love it.

Speaking of music (and while I have the ear of the progressive Christian blogosphere), please allow me to pimp a couple of musicians you all should be listening to. Andy Zipf is awesome and you won’t really know the truth of his awesomeness until you catch him live - do so if you can. You can download a bunch of of his stuff for free here. The Gena Rowlands Band, fronted by Bob Massey, is another dose of awesomeness. Go here and listen to “Fuckups of the World Unite” (Wess, can I say that here?). It might not be work/church friendly, but it sure does make sense to me. And a few other songs can be downloaded for free here.

Both of these musicians are part of Brewing Culture, something I know next to nothing about and only found upon googling both of their names, but it looks pretty interesting.

Lastly, I’d be remiss to not mention the untimely passing of Heath Ledger. His death has upset me more than I would have expected, probably because his perfect performance in Brokeback Mountain was more than enough to endear him to me. I can’t think of any other performance that so heartbreakingly displayed the sheer agony of what it means for a human to not be allowed or able to fully love and be loved. The Annie Proulx short story the movie was based on can be read here, it’s well worth your time.

And that’s that. Many thanks to Wess for inviting me and should you so desire, you can catch me blogging about nothing specific over at Cate’s Musings.

All of you regular readers know I’ve been doing a segment called Dress Down Friday. The basic point is to do a little show-n-tell from around the web on fridays. It’s been a way to have a little fun and ease into the weekend. It’s been a year since I started the segment and I thought it’d be fun to invite some friends to guest blog the next month of Dress Down Fridays. Those who will be joining me are Cate, Ben, Josh and Holly. Thanks for reading this past year and enjoy our guests!

1. AJ asks what do you call your church? It’s a good question.
2. The iPhone popularity is spreading.
3. If you haven’t seen the Moleskine Project website, you really should check it out. There is some great Moleskine artwork there.
4. Finally, Ultimate Reality is here.
5. Here are some great tips for saving time in School.
6. Here’s a really great organization (created by a Fuller Student) that’s looking to stop human trafficking.
7. I enjoyed reading these two articles (One and Two) engaging with Caputo’s newest book, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?
8. Steve Jobs got it wrong this time.
9. Check out the latest update of the Quaker blogging community’s website, QuakerQuaker.org.
10. Good news folks, Obama gets that crucial “Bicycle Swing Vote,” and while you’re at it check out the .pdf of his “Blueprint for Change.”

This is another installment of Dress Down Friday, thank you all who sent me links this week, and as always you are free to send me suggestions through the contact page. The picture above is from a hamburg stand back in Ohio, that guy with the sweet crew-cut is me.

• Those of you who use mobile phones to read blogs and get news may be interested in Pingie.
• Here’s a pair of Chuck Taylor look-alikes from no sweat. They even have low tops.
• Here’s a great new wordpress plugin that makes uninstalling plugins easy.
• I did a google search for Seuss Theology the other day and was sad to see not much has been done on one of the greatest Children author’s ever. But I did find this fun post just done for Christmas time.
• For all you James Wm. McClendon fanboys and girls out there you need to check out this blog dedicated to his work (why is there no Wikipedia article on this guy?).
• For all you Fuller readers, if you haven’t heard yet, Fuller Alum, Andy Konigsmark is going to be on American Gladiator this coming week.
• Have you heard there’s a pacifist running loose in the World of Warcraft game?! He’s trying to get to the top level without killing anything.
• And finally, if your rent is getting too high you might want to consider moving into one of Ikea’s bedrooms.