I am on record as not being a grunge fan. I find most of that music quite dark and depressing, or just overly-caffeinated when they try to do hard rock without much melody, harmony etc. However, this new album by Eddie Vedder which harks back to classic rock in various ways is just excellent, at least in 8 of its 12 songs. The first seven I play over and over again. It’s well done, inspiring, well played, the tunes are... Read more
Last night, and after they had already done some 30 cities on their way to 50, we got to see Toto open for Journey, though it could easily have gone the other way around, since both are headliner bands. The concert lasted a good 3 hours even with a quick equipment change after Toto finished. And Cinci was ready to rock for sure. The venue crew said they had set up for 12,000 and I believe it. The arena was... Read more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyFMPsgPLcE Read more
This list could be called pet peeves, but really what it is is a list of things that annoy, rather than interest the audience who is listening to a sermon or a lecture. If you want to irritate your audience and make them tune you out sooner rather than later, then you can ignore this post. If on the other hand you’d like them to pay attention, then this post is for you. First of all, one of the... Read more
It is rare when an A list actor is prepared to spoof or even punk himself on screen. Rarer still is when said actor is prepared to laugh about himself and play up his weaknesses. Nevertheless, Nicolas Cage has now done it and it is something to behold. It is a reminder that actors all too often take themselves far too seriously. I would remind them of the Greek word for play actor— ‘hupocrites’ from which we get the word—-... Read more
I imagine that you, like me have heard a plethora of bad sermons over the years, sermons, as the picture illustrates above, that could even put Jesus to sleep!!! But what counts as really bad preaching. I have a long list of things, but here are some of them. Preaching that is not based or grounded in the interpretation of one or more Biblical texts. Sometimes these sermons masquerade as ‘topical’ sermons, and are frequently on topics the Bible does... Read more
A phrase that one hears a lot these days is ‘I’m just speaking my truth’. Truth however doesn’t work that way. Truth doesn’t come in individualized packages decided on by each person who claims to have a truth. Truth is universally accessible, and is the same for everyone. It’s like gravity. It’s everywhere and we do not get to choose whether it’s so for us or not. Now you can have your own feelings, your own ideas,... Read more
Below is a list compiled by Amanda Lehr, and posted on McSweeny’s Internet Tendencies on March 2nd. The cartoon is from another source. “Very inconvenient class! Always holds lectures on top of mountains, in middle of the Sea of Galilee—but never close to the main campus.” “Inconsistent attendance policy. Said we had to be in class by 9:00 a.m. every day. Over half the class showed up late or didn’t attend until the last meeting, but we all got the... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In