:: Friday, November 28, 2003 ::
Ecclesiastes, according to a zen buddhist
One of the books I picked up as research for my book about punk rock and Christianity is Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality, by Brad Warner, a former hardcore punk musician from Ohio who is now a zen priest in Japan. I started reading it last night and found a great quote to go along with my chapter, "Ecclesiastes in a Ripped Shirt," which focuses on how punk's nihilism connects with Ecclesiastes' message.
Anyway, the quote: it's a great contemporary paraphrase of the first few couple of chapters of Ecclesiastes.
Fame, fortune, really great sex -- maybe those'll cure all your ills. But beautiful famous people with loads of money are just as confused and miserable as anyone else. Spend your whole life chasing after wealth and power and you end up with nothing more to show for it than bleeding ulcers and a heart condition. You can master tantric yogic poly-orgasmic Wonder Sex but you're still gonna die alone. There has to be something more.
:: Andrew 14:11 + ::
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Who doesn't love kittens!?!
Awww. Wook at da cute widdle kitties!
Link via blogdex.
:: Andrew 11:43 + ::
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:: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 ::
The day after
My favorite part of the Thanksgiving Holiday is the day after. Dy and I are planning a lazy day at home.
Yesterday, we dined with the in-laws and one of Dy's niece, her husband and their two daughters at a local restaurant. This is the second year we've done Thanksgiving at this restaurant. It's nice to get up and walk away from the table without worrying about cleanup -- even nicer not to have to prepare a slew of food the night before. Then her parents zoomed off to Branson for the weekend, and her niece and family went to visit other relatives. We went home to be lazy.
Yesterday afternoon, Dy and I napped on the sofa while the Lions-Packers game on television droned on in the background. Then we watched Dogma on Comedy Central, then more football, then the traditional post-Thanksgiving dinner of ham and beans, and then watched Al Franken on C-SPAN. Franken had spoken a week or so ago at the University of Missouri-Columbia campus, and I was glad to see that it had been recorded for C-SPAN.
Today's activities: more channel-surfing, and perhaps some writing. I'm working on an essay about Joe Strummer, which I hope to complete in a week or so -- in time for the one-year anniversary of his death. I'm also continuing work on the book. It's nice to have focused time to write. Nicer still to procrastinate. :)
:: Andrew 10:11 + ::
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You might be blogging too much when...
...you experience a "wierd, colourful, migraine induced, lucid dream about the blogosphere with its own soundtrack".
:: Andrew 13:02 + ::
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:: Monday, November 24, 2003 ::
'Tis the season for blogging Andrews to write
Arms laden with books on "new media and postmodernism and systems theory," Andrew Jones has descended into his little-used basement office to begin work on his book about emerging culture. He hopes to post a preview online by Christmas Day. What a nice holiday treat that would be, should it materialize.
I, too, have been working on my book lately. I spent most of the day Saturday, and all morning Monday, working on my manuscript. I even polished off a book proposal on Saturday and emailed it to a publisher. Here's hoping they love it half as much as I do.
It isn't just the Andrews who are furiously writing these days. Iphy over at Red Pill is facing the deadline on her book (scroll down to the November 22 entry).
:: Andrew 09:29 + ::
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From the "as they sow, so shall they reap" department
I'm having a hard time mustering much sympathy for Benny Hinn and Reinhard Bonnke as I read about their allegedly being bilked of $160 million in a ponzi scheme. What irks me is how such ministries can get so wealthy by bilking so many lower-class donors. Meanwhile, smaller ministries striving to meet true needs on a local level are struggling.
I really haven't paid much heed to televangelists in recent years, even though an unfortunate number of people in the local church I attend continue to support these charlatans, either directly or indirectly (through book purchases, watching them on TV, etc.) But the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's recent series about Joyce Meyer Ministries has raised my dander again. In Sunday's Post was an excellent letter from a St. Louis minister who was much more charitable in his assessment of the issues the series have raised than I would have been:
I have no problem with Joyce Meyer as a televangelist. She is enormously talented and is a gifted speaker. I have no doubt that her abilities have been blessed by God.
I have no problem with her ministry. She has given hope and encouragement to thousands of people.
I do have a problem with the numbers. As executive director of the region's largest 24-hour shelter for homeless single women and families, I am struggling to purchase 25 bunk beds because the number of homeless people is rapidly increasing. As we approach winter, this increase borders on a crisis situation.
The cost of these 25 bunk beds is $13,000. That's less than the $14,000 Meyer spent on one office bookcase.
Because we are required to house more homeless people, we have to renovate three restrooms so that more sinks, showers and commodes can be provided. Renovating one restroom will cost $30,000, the cost of Meyer's malachite round table.
At this time, my agency houses 145 homeless people; by mid-January, that number will increase to 170. We spend more than $8,000 monthly just for food; the Dresden porcelain that depicts the Nativity would, in other words, feed our homeless population for one month.
I have no doubt that God blesses those who serve Him, and I understand the concept that is relayed by Meyer's motto that greets visitors at the front entryway of her office complex, "Look What the Lord Has Done."
I have to question, however, whether the Lord would be more pleased by providing housing for His people or buying bookcases, or feeding His people as opposed to buying expensive porcelains.
Robert Nelson
Executive Director,
Christian Service Center Inc.
St. Louis
:: Andrew 08:30 + ::
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From Blood and Guts' HR/management handbook
"Don't tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." - George S. Patton
Link via Adam Curry.
:: Andrew 08:16 + ::
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The op-ed pages of the Internet age
Interesting article about the shifting tide of opinion-making, from the op-ed pages to the blogs. "[T]he buzz in opinion journalism has shifted to the blogosphere, partly because it's new and partly because it's so much less rule-bound. You can say anything you want on a blog (though I'm sure the day is not far off when one of the big bloggers will get sued for libel, which will doubtless cool things off considerably). Just as important, you can say it right now, not next Tuesday. Needless to say, none of this is true on an op-ed page, or anywhere else in a newspaper, for that matter."
Link via Gideon Strauss.
:: Andrew 08:11 + ::
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Simon Dawes, 
