This Guy Falls Down

Holiday gift ideas

Who's looking out for you? I am, that's who. In the interest of sharing the Christmas love this year, I've thought up some off-the-wall gift ideas you may want to get someone special (and no, this is totally unacceptable).

1. Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies. It's basically a deck of cards with different "strategies" written on them, designed for creative types to consult when they get in a bind. I just got a set myself, and they're very cool...


2. Wallhooky. I played a whole lot of Wallhooky on a recent trip to Florida. It's a very simple game involving a ring, suspended from fishing line, that you try to land on a wall hook, hence the name "Wallhooky". This simple game will provide hours upon hours of entertainment. Trust me.
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3. For the little one, there's always the Gadget Headz Car Factory, a hip way to turn old crayons into new toys. The thing melts the crayons with a 60W bulb, so I'd imagine this would need some parental supervision, but that's just me.


4. And for the really little one, there's a great CD called Mary Had a Little Amp. I've mentioned it before - it features artists like R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks and Maroon 5 doing their take on kids' songs.


5. Finally, if you're in doubt, there's always this. A little more shameless self promotion never hurt anyone...
   

If you're into whacked TV

Then Lost is for you. I know, you may be freaking out right now because Mr. Anti-Television here is recommending a show. And to be honest, I have been very gun-shy when it comes to new TV shows. The last one I went for was ABC's Miracles, and it got cancelled after about 6 episodes. Since "Lost" already has so much hype, I don't think I'll have that problem this time.
If you're looking for a good mystery drama with a bent towards the macabre, "Lost" is for you. It's definitely for me - the main reason I'm posting right now is because it's Wednesday and "Lost" isn't on this week...

If you're into whacked movies

This is for you. I bought Donnie Darko a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty cool, but I had sort of forgotten about it. I watched it again last weekend. It rocked. It's the perfect combination of hilarious '80's cult high school movie (think "Heathers") and totally-messed-up-blow-your-mind-what-in-the-world-just-happened-weird-dark kind of thing (think David Lynch with a giant rabbit instead of midgets). It's not really scary, just generally creepy. And funny. You won't get the end, but you won't care. It's too fun to care.

DISCLAIMER: I hate to have to do this, but there exist people in this world who would get mad because the dude that plays in this band is going around recommending rated 'R' movies. Yes, this movie is rated 'R'. If that offends you, don't watch it.

Shameless self promotion

I don't often do this, but here are a few random things you might be interested in checking out:

1. Sprint now offers Third Day ringtones. Featured songs include "Wire", "I Believe" and "Come on Back to Me". If you're a subscriber, you'll find the ringers in the "Manage" section. Our ringtones are filed under "Inspirational".


2. The Indianapolis newspaper recently did an interview with me. It actually turned out pretty good.


3. A song I wrote with Todd Smith, called "Dear Leopold", is featured on his new CD. It's about imperialism in central Africa during the 19th century. No, I'm not kidding - Todd grew up the son of missionaries in that region, and he had recently read a history book about it. Being the former history major that I am, I was happy to lend a hand in writing it. They did a great job recording the song, not to mention that Todd has a killer voice. I highly recommend the album... (P.S. Todd's link is acting a little weird on my browser, here's his Selah page.)

December 2004: How the Irish Saved Civilization

It should come as no surprise to you that the first installment in my fledging Book of the Month Club is the one that I've most recently posted about. A couple of my readers had said they were going to get it, while a couple have already completed some or all of it. I know it's still November, but I'll allow anyone who's interested a couple of weeks to round up the book.
Remember, you are what you read, reading is fundamental, go get 'em tiger, whatever motivational talk happens to work for you.

Major announcement, pt. 2

In seeing your comments you've recently posted, as well as getting the chance to talk with a few of you while on the road, it has become evident that several people are actually reading some of the books that I've recommended on this site. I don't know why, but it blows my mind that people would actually do that. At any rate, I've been thinking lately of a way to formalize these recommendations so that people can be reading and sharing their comments at in a more organized fashion. And I mentioned a while back that I was wanting to keep the love going from the "Summer Reading Club".
OK, so here's the annoucement: as a new feature on this site, I've added the "Book of the Month Club" (BTW - I'm open to suggestions on the name!). Every month, the "Book of the Month" will be featured in the sidebar, much like the Summer Reading Club was displayed. Anyone who wants to participate can read the book and place their comments after the post. Don't worry - even though I am going to try to suggest classics and "must-reads", I will try to keep them under 2 or 3 hundred pages. No Foucault's Pendulum or Ulysses here. And hey, maybe I'll really do gold stars this time around...
For the few and the proud who choose to accept this mission, welcome aboard!

Major announcement, pt. 1

When I was in high school, I tried my best to go to just about every rock concert in town. The radio station had a slick way of making you listen all afternoon: they would say something like "we have a major concert announcement coming up at 5:00."
Well, I have a major weblog announcement coming up at 7:00 (CST) tonight. (Aren't I cruel?) In a stroke of irony, I will be preparing to go onstage in Chattanooga, Tennessee at that point. But with the wonders of modern technology, I will be able to post at the same time...

The "Long" View of Time

I recently read about a play (the name escapes me) about a guy who went through the trouble of figuring out exactly how long he had to live, down to the second. With this knowledge, he wanted to savor every second, so he spent it looking at the clock. That is an extreme example, but all of us are guilty of this to some degree or other. "Time is precious," is a common saying that I use a lot. But is it?
In his conclusion to Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis supposes that because we desire to live longer than our mortal lives, we must by definition actually be immortal creatures. Of course, he puts it much more eloquently than I. But if we are going to be around for a while, it stands to reason that it would affect the way we view time.
So where am I going with this? I found this article by Brian Eno, producer of some of U2's finest work, as well as a pioneer of ambient music. I consider him to be one of the most creative minds around. This article, and the society Eno is speaking to, are trying to change the way we think about time. Westerners, and Christians in particular, have a "short" view of time. We are tought to believe that this could all end any day, which it could. However, we are also tought that we should be stewards of creation, which involves long-term thinking (think nuclear disposal, the national debt, etc.). As in everything, it probably involves some kind of balance.
I'm anxious to hear what anyone else thinks about this matter. I fully intend to write a longer piece along these lines at some point. I mean, come on. We didn't do an album called Time for nothing.

How the Irish Saved Civilization (****1/2 out of 5)

I mentioned back in the summer how I was excited about reading this book. Well, I was so excited about it that I had intended to do more of a lengthy review than usual. I don't know if this happens to you, but whenever I tell myself that I want something to be bigger or more involved than normal, my subconscious is daunted by the task, and I take forever to get around to doing it. There's a quote I love that says that "anything worth doing at all is worth doing poorly". It's better to do something, even if it's lower than your expectations, than nothing at all.
Enough of my yacking, here are my thoughts on How the Irish Saved Civilization:

You like junk food? Don't watch this

First of all, please know that I'm not one of those "you've got to see this movie" kinds of guys. When people say "you've got to see this", my inner non-conformist rebels and I don't end up seeing it. For example, I haven't seen Mr. Holland's Opus even though I'm sure I'd love it.
Super Size Me is a little different. You may have heard of it - it's the one where the guy eats nothing but McDonald's for a month and gets sick. It's so much more than that, though. It's a great look at the environment which has made us the most obese country in the world and has spawned lawsuits against the fast food industry. Not to mention that it's a very well put together and entertaining documentary.