This Guy Falls Down

Apple's "medium" sized announcement

It must be pretty cool to be in a place where you can make it clear that you are about to unveil "medium-scale" things, and then go on to present these new products to the world:

• The new Mac mini's come loaded with Intel chips. There's even a dual-chip model.
• The iPod Hifi is a nifty way to dock your iPod at home and listen to your tunes in style.
• Finally, this article points out that the real news from today may have been Steve Jobs' understated announcement that Bonjour and Front Row will both be featured on the new Mac Mini's. While coming just shy of offering Tivo-like features, Mac Mini owners can now hook them up to a television and have a true networked multimedia experience.

Oh, yeah. I'm going to open my iPod now...

USA Today: Evangelicals missing the big picture?

William Romanowski recently offered this article which eloquently sums up both the potential and the pitfalls of recent trends towards family friendly films, and how this is an opportunity for evangelicals to be involved in shaping the culture at large:

"People of goodwill ought to be concerned with the cumulative impact of a steady diet of American movies that often exalt self-interest as the supreme human value, glorify violent resolutions to problems, make finding the perfect mate one's primary vocation and highest destiny, and offer material prosperity as the most reliable source of meaning and satisfaction in this life. Such a value system arguably runs against the grain of most religious traditions."

"Were more evangelicals to think about movies in terms of their faith beliefs, they would actually have an opportunity to not only buy tickets, but also to begin to shape the entertainment industry."

(via Rock Rebel)

Velvet Elvis - Questions for Discussion

I have a review coming your way in the near future. In the meantime, how about a little discussion? If you haven't yet read this book, be sure to give it a shot. I can't tell you how many people I've heard talking about this just in the last few months. It is sure to be a big influencer as we continue to piece together what the church is going to look like in the post-modern era. If that idea rubs you the wrong way, you might especially want to consider reading books like this one. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Let's get on to the questions. In the spirit of the last couple of months, I'm not officially going to give you questions like a test. Instead I'm just going to throw out a couple of phrases to spark some conversations.

Did I get snowed on the Apple story?

Maybe so, according to this, and this.

Maybe I'll bust out that iPod after all...

The blogging heirarchy

(via SHLOG:)
If you have any interest in figuring out where you stack up against the big dog's of blogging and how you can stand a prayer of increasing your status (or do you stand a chance?), you need to read this.

BTW - Shaun mentioned this and I totally concur. If anyone has any ideas for increasing traffic, I'm all ears. Of course, I don't know if having two blogs is exactly the best strategy...

Apple's "fun" at our expense

Earlier this week, Apple sent out invitations to the press for an event in which they would unveil some "fun" new products. Normally, they give some kind of clue as to what the products might be, but this time we're left to figure out what "fun" means. And that's no fun. this article for details.

All I know is that I just got a new iPod and I'm not taking out of the box until after next week.

Midnight Ukulele Disco

I mentioned this in passing the other day, but this site is worth a full-on mention. An offshoot of a public access TV show in New York, midnight Ukulele Disco features video clips of a bunch of people playing ukulele. Clips range from the jawdropping to festive to downright strange. Definitely worth your time.

Google Video and TivoToGo

Not to be outdone by iTunes' video capabilities, several companies are rolling out video strategies of their own. The two which have me the most intrigued are Google Video and TivoToGo. Of the two, TivoToGo (read article here) has the most potential for stealing the spotlight from Apple.

Currently in beta version, Google Video is sort of a mix between the iTunes style "store" and the trusted Google search engine. You can download television and sports programming on a pay-per-download basis. They currently feature popular shows like C.S.I. and Survivor, and sports programs like the Olympics and the NBA All Star Game. You can also search and find a plethora of independent films. After toying with the site for a few minutes I found some great music videos including this amazing video of a guy playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on his ukelele.

TivoToGo has a couple of things going for it. One, it's Tivo. This has that same potential of sweeping the nation by word-of-mouth. Second, it's apparently free to anyone who has the service, a home network and a series 2 Tivo unit. Through this service, you can transfer anything you have recorded at home to your PC and even certain mobile devices. But, alas, it's not available for Mac yet...

Sacred steel

I guess it all started when my wife gave me a lap steel for Christmas. I've dabbled in it before, and even played one onstage and in the studio. But the instrument has gotten a lot cooler since I first got into it about 10 years ago. Robert Randolph has been on the scene for a few years now, and he does some amazing things with a steel guitar which have paved the way for it to be used in a more widespread rock kind of way (note: my use of the term "widespread" was very intentional, if you catch my drift). Through Robert Randolph and his recent blistering performance on Austin City Limits, I've found a whole new rabbit hole to explore. Randolph's performance featured some other pracitcioners of a tradition called "sacred steel" which came out of the House of God church. Using a wide array of tunings, sacred steel has more in common with rock or blues than it does with traditional steel guitar. It is absolutely infectious.

If you'd like to join me, start with this article about the "sacred steel" tradition in the House of God church. Or dig a little deeper and check out this video on the roots of sacred steel. Or best of all, get yourself a Robert Randolph CD and you'll be hooked instantly.

Be sure to check out the duplex

Before I begin, let me preface this post by saying that I hate "I'm sorry I haven't posted" posts. But I felt an explanation was probably in order. I know I haven't posted a ton here in the last couple of days, but I fully intend to. I've got books to talk about, music to talk about, and I'm sure I'll find a few oddball things on the 'Net that I'll want to share with you. We just kicked off a tour this past weekend, and I've been a little busy with that.

If you're looking to get your Mark Lee fix on the web, have no fear. I am in charge of the Third Day Blog, and have been doing tour updates there. So check that out. Not to say that I'm not going to be hanging out here too, because I am. But I thought I'd make you aware.