M83 is one of those bands that lives on the border of greatness. At times they cross over into that country; at others, they just stand on top of the fence and take in the view. Either way, they’re worth experiencing.
I particularly enjoyed this video of one of their better songs. You should check it out, especially if you’ve never heard them. M83 reminds me of 80s movies, and that’s a good thing.
Borne on crepuscular mists, and sounding a tiny swoosh as they stir, a dark furry flyer fights for his evening meal.
I watched a movie called Doubt tonight. It would be hard for me to recommend a film more strongly. Go out right now and rent it. Yes, now. You can thank me later.
I moved into my new place today, in the Arlington, VA area of all places I thought I would be. I start a new job in two weeks or so. I’m working for a company called NRECA that serves electric cooperatives. I’ll be doing software development work for them.
I’m also reading Watership Down. Highly amusing.
I’m working on my singing. Entering the depths of a new season of songwriting as well, I think.
Thinking a lot. Trying to find a new church.
“She said over and over again in her mind–God, please make Mother be all right, dear God, please make my mother be all right–until the words stopped making sense and got all jumbled, and she found herself saying–Mother, please make my God be all right.–”
- The Small Rain, Madeleine L’Engle
To breathe in the world freshly
To find wonder in the mundane
To love pure as water
To sing with the rivers
To laugh with the one who gave me life
To be, simply be
This is my joy and heartache
Patrol Magazine has just released their list of the top 50 faith-inspired albums of 2008. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially their reasoning behind releasing the list. May I particularly recommend checking out Brooke Waggoner, #1 on the list?
I’m 10 days away from graduating from college. It’s an interesting feeling. It’s great to be this close to the end, but I’m way stressed out because of all the work I have to do in those next 10 days. Then, I’m sure there will be a huge sigh of relief on the 18th when I’m completely finished. I don’t have a job yet, but I’m working on finding one.
In addition to being excited about graduating, I’m also excited about the progress I’ve made vocally. I can’t wait to get home and record some new stuff. I’ve been working on some new songs.
My, I’ve neglected my blog lately. I’ve been extremely busy with school and other things, namely practicing my voice lessons and trying to find time to hang out with friends. I’ve been writing songs a bit, and I hope to record some new stuff in a week or so when Thanksgiving Break rolls around. I’m really looking forward to it.
Because of my busyness, I haven’t been reading much lately. I have a copy of The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila, and Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson, but I really don’t have time to look into them more. There’s also the backlog of Phantastes, Atlas Shrugged, and Watership Down. Sigh. Hopefully when I get out of school I’ll be able to read more. I’m sure I’ll have more discretionary time, if not necessarily “free” time.
I don’t currently know what I’m doing about a job for when I graduate (Dec. 18, folks!), but I’m working on it. I brushed up my resume, and I’m ready to send out some applications.
Maybe in a few days I’ll be posting some new songs on here. That would certainly be cool.
Thanks to a friend I didn’t know I had (hey Nick!), I got a free copy of Andy Crouch’s new book, Culture Making. I finished it a couple of nights ago.
Mr. Crouch makes a case for a much broader view of culture than we typically assume. We might think of culture as “high” art, dress style, food etc. Crouch widens things considerably, suggesting that one of the primary purposes God created us to fulfill is culture making, defined as “making something” of the world around us. Basically, everything we’ve done with what God gave us in the garden is culture, including ideas (expressed as writing, music, painting, etc.), technology and social norms. When God gives Adam and Eve the garden of Eden and has them cultivate it and enjoy it and name the animals, he’s setting them up as culture makers, to do creative work with what he has given them.
Anyway, Crouch expounds greatly on this concept, and deals with culture and God’s working in the Bible. He’s basically trying to convince us that we need to be actively and creatively involved in culture making; and he’s giving us the tools we need to actually do that.
I think it’s going to take me a while to figure out exactly how Crouch’s book will affect my life. I’m pretty sure that it means some major shifts in my thinking, but it’s a bit abstract, so it can be hard to determine what kind of concrete response I will eventually have to the ideas he presents. Overall, I think Culture Making is a great book, and I recommend it to everyone.
I think one of the most interesting outcomes of the book for me so far has been a shift in my thinking about vocation. Understanding that we humans have a responsibility to cultivate and create culture, many callings that get questioned by those who think “full-time Christian service” is every Christian’s best “career” choice are given a rare legitimacy. It’s hard to tell what computer programming does for the glory of God or the ultimate good of other people. But when we view computer programming (or business management or plumbing or electrical work) as the creative cultivation of and addition to culture, we might better see why it is a pursuit worthy of a Christian.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of Culture Making. It’s definitely well worth your time.