Posts (page 2)

And I'm still in AWE!
Photo's of our day in Chicago and the awesome concert follow.

And here we are preparing for Snow Patrol:
And then the concert! 
Check out the amazing stage and expanding screen that almost had me considering buying a Blackberry:
And just so we're clear. I want a Giant Spike of lights with a Huge Disco ball on top!
Traffic jam on our way out.

Ok, to follow my previous post, because I'm too nice to make you sit through both of these at the same time, I've been reading the book of James and it has been ahem stirring me up so to speak.
James has some choice words in chapter 2 for believers who think it's OK to treat people with money preferentially over those who have none.  He really takes them to task for it, and in the process delivers this:

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

This brought to mind several conversations I've had about Sunday lunch tippers.  I've had friends over the years who have been waitresses/waiters. They've mentioned the horror of the after church Sunday lunch crowd.  Yes folks.  Straight from Church Christians are notoriously BAD tippers.  Often rude and demanding they usually leave the bare minimum, if not less.  I've even heard several stories of people not being tipped with money but instead with a biblical tract..attempting to 'save' the wait staff.

REALLY! (Come on universal sarcastic font.  How I need you!)

Apparently we've not read this verse.  If we say...hey I wish you well.  I'm going to care about your 'eternal soul' but not give a flying fig newton about how you put food on the table, or do my part to help you keep a roof over your heads then what good is it?  This isn't exactly putting faith into action is it?

Tip like you were tipping Jesus folks!

The other great thing about wealth is here:

¹Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. ²Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. ⁴Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. ⁵You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

I feel like this is particularly timely.  Seriously.  What all do we have that comes to us at a price to others that have nothing against us?  What about the death that has been caused because of the Oil and Gas that fuels our cars and warms our homes?  What about the coffee that is grown in such a way that the workers get pennies a day for their back breaking work?  What about shopping at big conglomerate stores or restaurants that treat employees and suppliers with disdain and keep them in poverty?  What is the price on my relative luxury. 

I read an article the other day in the Washington Post about a woman who was complaining about how she was just scraping by on $300,000 a year. I was just appalled by this and had much to say about the excess of her life.  Then I read James.  Do you know that I (who often live paycheck to paycheck) am in the top 8.1% wealthiest people in the world? See where you come out. So where do I need to pare down, give up, let the cries that reach the Lord reach my ears?
Lots to think about.  Hope it stirs you too.

So Recently my pastor shared that he had been convicted to read through the New Testament between August and the end of the year.  Since this was one of the few things that I've heard him say in the last several months that hasn't inspired an eye roll and a sarcastic "Really!"  I figured it was something I should get behind too. I decided not to be chronological, but instead start bouncing around the smaller letters. You know the ones.  Or maybe you don't, because it seems like every other verse I read and think "If we really lived this way being a Christian wouldn't be such a disgrace."  Or "Wow, this would really undo peoples lives...mine included".

If you are my 'friend' on Facebook [1] over the last week you would have seen my status update "Verses that kicked my ass this week" [2] [3].  My journey through the epistles has turned up more of the same and I feel like (in a good way) every time I open the bible I should assume the position.

The Book of James (one of my favorite books of the bible, if we're allowed them) has been doing that repeatedly to me this week.  There are a lot of things that are standing out to me, but I want to just touch on a few. 

One that caught my attention straight off was this little gem.  James 4:11-12

"11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?"

That last line really got to me.  I began to think of when Jesus talked of neighbor.  Remember the people came to him and asked him about the commandments. He told them to Love God with their whole being and love their neighbor as they would love themselves.  They asked the obvious question. "Who is my neighbor?"  To answer them Jesus tells a story. There was this man traveling.  Dude ran afoul of robbers, and was pretty messed up.  He was lying all beaten and bloody by the side of the road. Along came a priest.  The guy in charge of being the one who reconciled the people to God and Re-presented God to the people. He saw the bloody mess, and crossed to the other side of the rode and went on his way.  Then came a Levite.  One of those that God set aside to minister in the temple.  Someone who is supposed to know the character of God really well.  He saw the beaten man and crossed to the other side of the road.  Then came a Samaritan man.  One who was an outcast to the Jews.  You see Samaritans had the same code...the Torah, but they believed that they had the truer understanding because they were the Jews who didn't go off in exile.  They believed that the mountain where Abraham almost Sacrificed Isaac was the place where the temple was supposed to be.  Basically the Samaritans were shunned because they had the 'wrong' ideology.This Samaritan man sees they guy lying broken and bloody and stops to help.  He takes him to be cared for, and pays for the entire treatment.   Jesus asked which was the neighbor, and scandalized one and all by showing that the scorned was the best example. 

Take this back to James.

Who am I to Judge My Neighbor?
Who's my neighbor?
The one near me who doesn't share my ideology. [4]
Wow.  Who could that be today?  The unmarried couple living together?  The woman that got an abortion? The democratic president? A muslim? The gay guy that waited on my table? The woman that shows more cleavage than I think is modest? The person who watches a TV show I this is wrong? The guy with his explicit rap music turned up so loud I heard it? The person answering their cell phone in a movie?  The [insert your answer here]?

Earlier in James I found this bit:

⁸If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder."If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

 ¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Isn't that beautiful?

Mercy triumphs over Judgement! So what does that mean for us, what does it mean for me?

Excuse me while I bend over.

1. On a side note: Why must everyone be my friend?  I mean some people I haven't heard from for years, and others I barely know.  Can we have categories.  Friends, Acquaintances, People I admire, Baby Daddies for example?  Or am I overly anal in my need to define the relationships?   I wish it was more like Vox.  Neighbor. Friend, Family.

2. "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: WHOEVER CLAIMS TO LIVE IN HIM MUST WALK AS JESUS DID." 1 John 2:3-6 Emphasis mine.

3. One person did mention my vulgar turn of phrase, but I wonder how many saw it and didn't mention that they were more struck by the use of the word Ass than by the power of these verses and the mandate that they contain that clearly most of us (myself included) are not living out.

4.i⋅de⋅ol⋅o⋅gy ahy-dee-ol-uh-jee, id-ee-] –noun, plural -gies.

1.	the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.

2.	such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation.

3.	Philosophy. a. the study of the nature and origin of ideas. b. a system that derives ideas exclusively from sensation.

4.	theorizing of a visionary or impractical nature.

So the last few movies I've seen that have been book to movie transliterations have just left me with a whole lot of Meh. This is sad, as two out of the three books made me cry, the movies not so much.

Sister's Keeper.   I was the only non crying person In the theater.  I'm pretty sure.  The bit that made me teary eyed?  The part with the brother that wasn't in the book at all. Yeah.  That's right.  And they flipping change the whole ending thus changing the purpose and central discussion of the book.  Hacks.

Time Travelers Wife.  This book was good and provocative and an interesting discussion of choice and fate.  The movie, while not horrible, didn't engage me as much as I would have liked.  Mostly because a) Rachel McAdams was too perfect, and didn't have near the pain she did in the book and b) they made her "cheat" on her husband with her husband willingly, as opposed to the trickery that it was in the book and c) the supporting characters weren't near as developed, though I was really glad not to have reason to hate Ron Livingston any more (his character was supposed to be phillandering) and I loved him in Office Space, and then he lost a lot of ground as Berger in Sex and the City, and d) the discussion of the struggles they had having a child was really glossed over, and it cost me a lot of sympathy for the characters.  Yeah.  Not to impressed.

Julie and Julia.  Way to sugar coat things here.  Julie's life wasn't so nice.  No mention of her PSOS, and fears of fertility.  No mention of the bad things in the kitchen (aside from the one aspic mold and the Boef Borgnion) so none of the struggle was really there.  You didn't see how many dinners were at 11pm and how many times she really screwed things up.  She seemed much more slap happy then struggling, and while that may be endearing in "Miss Pettigrew lives for a day" it's not fitting in this story.  Here is not a loveable goof.  Here is a woman drowning, facing aging and that elusive success and the terror of feeling mediocrity sneaking up on you.  Mom's disaproval was minimal in the movie, and the cost of the project was minimalized.  PLUS THEY LEFT OUT HER LOVE FOR BUFFY.  Not just love...her feeling that Buffy was on the journey with her.  I really identified with Julie Powel in her book. Not so much in the movie.

Seriously.

Notice I've not said a word about the Harry Potter Movie.  That I liked, just not in comparrison to the book.

The Friend that is going with Dean and his sweater,

And yes that is my Homer Simpson clock in the background.  The eyes follow the secondhand which doubles as a doughnut.
Is it weird that I look at this and all I can think is "Has anyone seen this Chicken?" ?  (geek points for the reference)
This is my first foray into making stuffed animals.  I really liked this guy and wanted to keep the wee lopsided thing.

All packed up and Ready to Go!  Hopefully Dean will like his new friend.

All it lacks are the buttons.  Soon it will be in a lovely box on the way to Dean.  

Find out what Kelly took away from this episode here:

I didn't like this episode, mostly because I hate how manipulative and destructive Ellen Tigh is.

So there is mistrust among the leaders.  The Cylon Detector is up and running and Baltar is ready to start testing.  Adama and Roslin have this awkward and slightly joking discussion over who should go first.  Adama looses the skirmish and his test begins.  And then he starts acting secretively.  Roslin finds out he's halted his test and asked for another to be tested, a mysterious "Ellen".  She starts trying to find out what the hell is going on, and her mistrust of Adama grows.  The words of Leoben are taking root.  Perhaps he is a cylon and is running interference.

Turns out he's located Saul's estranged wife Ellen on another ship, and is working on re-uniting them, but wants to make sure she is who she says she is.

Ellen is a drunken hussy.

No other way to put it. 
Saul started drinking because of her infidelity and her wanton ways. 

She even flirts with other men in front of him.  However he holds on and loves her, and is so glad she's back.

Turns out the test says she's not a cylon, but that being said, she's still such a destructive person, I can't imagine her presence is going to be good.

Kelly thinks this of the episode.

I think that this is a fascinating episode where we are forced to look the things we believe. We, in a journey with Starbuck and Roslin, are finding our assumptions challenged, and severe cognitive dissonance is created.

So a Cylon clone is discovered, and claims that there is a nuke on board somewhere in the fleet.  Starbuck, since Adama thinks she's a real hardass, is sent to 'question' him.  She's not nice about the questioning either.  It involves torture, and the whole time she throws in his face what a machine he is.  How his self preservation programming should kick in.  This is all juxtaposed with this 'man' who is beaten, bruised, bleeding and broken.  Instead of acting Cylon like he  begins to quote scripture at Kara.  "All this has been before.  All will be again."  He tells her of her destiny, reminds her of her childhood and it's pain.  He tels her she has a role to play.  He, Leoben, gets under her skin, and Starbuck can't shake it.  Much though she doesn't want to, there is a part of her that is beginning to believe that there is more to the Cylons than programming, that maybe they have a connection to something she doesn't. After his death Kara finds herself searching for her long hidden idols of the 'Lords of Kobol' and says a prayer for Leoben's soul, asking that he have peace and be watched over.

The other place in this episode where this is evident is in Laura Roslin's life.  The medicine she's taking for her cancer is giving her haucinations and dreams.  She dreams very vividly of Leoben before she even meets him, and therefore feels the need to confront him herself.  Leoban uses the encounter to sew discord, and tries to convince Roslin that Admiral Adama is a Cylon.  She orders him out of the airlock, and his actions mimic exactly the dream that she had, and Roslin is forced to stare into the posibility that she is the fulfliment of prophecy that she isn't sure she believes in. 

The other noteworthy point of this episode is to point out that Gaius is just exactly himself.  Out to save himself.  He doesn't reveal that Sharon is a Cylon because the Six in his head convinces him that it is too risky.  Seriously Gaius.  Head out of Ass please.  It shouldn't be too hard, you are a genius after all.

So I was reading in USA Today, yesterday, and was pleased to find one of my lesser known favorite musicians mentioned.
Derek Webb.
(For those of you who need context he used to be the front man of Caedmon's Call, a Christian band back about 5ish years ago)
He's been solo for a while, and his music has constantly been pushing the boundaries of 'acceptable' christian music.
Mostly because he's been outspoken in his music, and addressed issues we have not paid attention to.  For instance, in his debut solo album Mocking bird he took on the Christian culture that acted like America is "God's Nation" and the idea that we can love God, and have hatred another people based on race or belief.
I've always loved his subversion!  Yay Derek!
He recently released (It came to my door today) a concept album called Stockholm Syndrome that explores the many ways in which peoples (as individuals or cultures) can come to love the thing that enslaves them.  It encompasses everything from domestic abuse to people who give up themselves just to be loved, to our confusion of patriotism with Godliness.
The song that made the USA Today music column was one entitled Freddy Please.  Written as a take off of old beach love songs of the 50's and 60's it is from Jesus to Fred Phelps [1] and basically takes Fred to task for claiming to Love Jesus, but really showing him hate because of the way he (Fred) hates others.  He uses a great verse from 1st John, basically if you claim to love God but hate your brother, well then you're a liar.
The song makes me happy for two reasons.  A) it's about time a vocal Christian pointed out that Fred is not speaking for God and B) it also reminds me that it's a good thing Jesus loves everyone, because sometimes I forget to, especially people like Freddy.
Plus this has got to be the only "christian" album that I know of that comes in with 'regular' and 'explicit' versions. 
I love this guy!  So enjoy the song, and check out the rest of the album. It's worth it, if only for the discussions it can create.

Freddie, please
how could you do this to me?
How could you tell them you love me
when you hate me,
Freddie, please?

You know I’ll love you honey,
and i’ll bleed you dry with money
I’ll talk where I know you can hear.
Cause Freddie can’t you see,
brother, you’re the one who’s queer?

And the stone’s been rolled away
but you’re picketing my grave
for loving the things you hate.

Then why do you seek the living among the dead?

Freddie?

1. not my favorite person in the world

Six Degrees of Separation from what?
We all know this game.  Most have played it with Kevin Bacon.  How can we link anyone to anyone else in six steps or less. As in; you read this blog, I am co blogging Battlestar with Kelly (who's take is here), who met Jon Stewart, who was in Playing by heart with Jay Mohr, who was in Picture Perfect with Kevin Bacon.
So.  What are the places or degrees of separation in this episode? 
Clearly one of the places of separation is between Gaius and God.  Gaius believes in his own genius.  He believes he should survive.  He believes he should be first. Gaius is really all that is bad about humanity.  He's the self preservation at the expense of others we all wish we didn't have. He's the "me first" that even the most altruistic of us have tried to crucify.  He's he center of his own universe, and is unwilling to be unseated, but it's happening.  By Hook or by Crook Gaius is invaded by Six who is dedicated to God.  One degree.  Gaius is going to encounter God.
Then there is the connection between the Six in Gaius's head, and the Six that manifests in real life.  It seems like they both share an awareness, even though one is clearly out to maipulate Gaius and the other to Manipulate his death, and the end of the Cylon detection program.
Then lets look at the degrees between the two Sharons.  Boomer is freaking out because of the blackouts she's having and the end of her relationship with Tyrol.  Mostly life sucks for her because of what she's afraid might be true, but she doesn't really know.  The other Sharon is fine with Being a Cylon, and is reveling in the fact that she's fulfiling her task so well and making Helo love her.
The Cylon Raider is connected too.  Look at the way Sharon strokes, carresses, sings to, and Understands it intuitively. It is both Flesh and Machine.  One degree from the "skin jobs" but also, just a few steps away from Humanity. 
Starbuck in Hospital is connected to Saul Tigh.  I think the two of them are closer than they'd like to admit.  They hate the falseness they see in each other, they hate the carelessness they see in each other, and they hate that they can both see the brokeness they both carry.  They can send each other over the edge, and this episode is one of the few times that they actually work in each others favor.
One of the biggest journeys is found in the question of God/Gods. Most of the people have a plethora of gods they believe in.  The Lords of Kobol etc.are connected to humanity who are the 'parents' of the Cylons who have established Conciousness, and now are preaching about one overarching God. What's the point they're making?  Who are the God's versus who is God?
Six degrees of separation. 
How they're all connected, and what keeps them apart.  So Close, and yet So Far.