Category Archives: video

‘Till Tuesday

Posted on by

I loved ‘Till Tuesday – the name, the music, the look, the album covers.  I’ve followed Aimee Mann long after the band broke up – have all her albums.  She has been referred to as the “last of the tortured artists” and an “artist’s artist”.  I remember in the mid-1980’s sitting in the studio working on my graphic design projects listening to this album.  “Coming Up Close” is easily the best song!  New Wave, female vocalists with low voices… I had a platonic crush on Aimee Mann.

 

Well, she really needs to have a guitar in her hands in this video – not so good at free dancing.  This was when MTV had “VJ’s” and actually played videos – all day!  Then, of course, there was the keyboardist.

In the “Inventive Age”

Posted on by

Here is the quote:

“I think there is something much bigger going on than finding a niche market and asking how should we position this product of the gospel so that those people will appreciate it, and will like it, and will accept it. We’re really asking a deeper question about who we are in a changing cultural environment when it comes to the way think, the values we hold, the tools that we use, and the aesthetics that are meaningful to us.” –Doug Pragitt (describing the concepts behind his new book, “Church in the Inventive Age“)  
Pagitt is the pastor of Salomon’s Porch Church.

This is the melee in which I desire to be and where the Imago Dei Society has a real place within the greater arena of Anglicanism. Well, actually, this whole way of considering and thinking has had a place within Anglicanism, but to understand how we continue to do this thing called Anglicanism (this Christianity) in emerging cultures and with emerging generations are the questions we need to continually ask!

I came across one of the ministries that has as its purpose (or its obsession) the condemning of the “Emergent” side of the Church as being heretical. I don’t know whether it is simply their inability to understand enculturation and that we are all raised within a cultural system that forms us in the ways we collectively think, the way we understand the world around us and our place it in, what we consider to be aesthetically pleasing or appropriate, and even what we consider to be moral and ethical.  I don’t know whether they are simply ignorant of disciplines like anthropology, sociology, etc., or what is really going on within them.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the divine Logos do not change, but we certainly do, our cultures certainly do, and what we consider to be self-evident truth certainly does.  So, groups like this, I suppose, either honestly not to understand, are being willfully ignorant (and as a former teacher, this is an astounding tragedy), or are intransigent in their beliefs – fundamentalists, in other words. 

What is this particular ministry, you might ask?  Apprising Ministries.  I don’t know anything about this, really, and perhaps much of what they do is really good, but with regard to Emergent stuff, they have a thorn in their craw!  So, make up your own mind. 

Derek Webb

Posted on by

“What Matters More” by Derek Webb… considering the controversy surrounding Jennifer Knapp and her coming out.  I understand why some consider this song “controversial,” but again it simply comes out of the camp that gives no quarter to anyone who disagrees with them on their interpretation of Scripture, God’s will, and homosexuality.  Good song, me thinks.

Contemporvent

Posted on by

I’ve been thinking over and through aspects of “contemporary” Evangelical worship practices.  This past Sunday, I was home in Ohio for Mother’s Day (I surprised my Mom – and she was!) and attended the church my sister and her family attend.  It is a growing Church of God (Anderson, IN) with a new building and all the “spiritually correct” stuff that is supposed to draw large crowds.  It was a fine enough service.  The band was very good.  The worship leader was a young guy and I could tell that he really enjoyed what he was doing – his personality was infectious.  As I watched the crowd, they were actually singing.  In many of these kinds of worship services, I’ve noticed that a large majority of the people simply stand and watch the band rather than interring into the worship experience, so I was glad to see that there was more going on than just a “spiritual concert.”  The preacher gave a good sermon.  Babies were dedicated – it was Mother’s Day after all.

North Point Ministries is a very large mega-church.  They’ve done a parody video of themselves, as I understand it, and it captures the new wave of doing church that is supposed to be the “relevant” and “contemporary” thing to do. This too, shall pass.  Not that there is anything wrong with it if it is done well and within context, but if, as is happening, everyone jumps on yet another bandwagon that is supposed to save the church in America, then it once again becomes inauthentic and just another passing fad, a puff of wind.

Here is the video parody:

“Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

By the way, my sisters church service was a whole lot like this – including the cool video with relevant questions.  I don’t get the impression that the pastor thinks he has all the answers, however. 

Part of me really liked it – it was fun being back in that environment, even without the all encompassing Charismatic-Evangelical aspects that are not part of the Church of God, Anderson theological belief concerning the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, I’m not there any longer.  To me, it smacks of religio-entertainment.  People come to God through it, people grow in their relationship with God and one another in the midst of it (if the pastor preachers well, that is), but I would rather be involved in a “full-bodied” experience that I’ve come to know in Catholic worship in its Anglo-Catholic form.  We all participate and we all do the work of worship and liturgy together. 

Sounds like English?

Posted on by

Ever wonder what English sounds like to an non-English speaking Italian?  Whether it is gibberish or not, I like the song… lots of energy!

An Italian singer wrote this song with gibberish to sound like English. If youve ever wondered what other people think Americans sound like, this is it. — cernuto – December 29, 2009

Tablet computing

Posted on by

Notion Ink’s “Adam” tablet computer. A real competitor to Apple’s iPad. I may even be drawn to it if Apple doesn’t add such things as a camera or external port options.

A report of a speech by a Google’s European boss John Herlihy forecasting the future of information/computing devices, as reported on siliconrepublic.com:

Google believes that in three years or so desktops will give way to mobile as the primary screen from which most people will consume information and entertainment. That’s according to Google Europe boss John Herlihy who said that smart phones enhance Google’s mission to make information universal.
Speaking at the Digital Landscapes conference at UCD, Herlihy said that the cloud-computing opportunity will make sure that every mobile device will be capable of doing rapid-scale applications.
“In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs,” Herlihy told a baffled audience, echoing comments by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the recent GSM Association Mobile World Congress 2010 that everything the company will do going forward will be via a mobile lens, centring on the cloud, computing and connectivity.

Newsboys – Something Beautiful

Posted on by


Newsboys – Something Beautiful Lyrics
I wanna start it over
I wanna start again
I want a new a new beginning
One without any end
I feel it inside
Calling out to me
CHORUS
It’s a voice that whispers my name
It’s a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something’s beautiful
I’ve heard it in the silence
Seen it on a face
I’ve felt it in a long hour
Like a sweet embrace
I know this is true
It’s calling out to me
CHORUS
It’s a voice that whispers my name
It’s a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something’s beautiful
It’s the child on her wedding day
It’s the daddy that gives her away–Father
Something beautiful
When we laugh so hard we cry
It’s the love between you and I
Something beautiful