Left Behind, pp. 452-453 Nicolae Carpathia is working his way around the conference table, inducting his followers one by one into his Team of Evil with his hypnotic incantation and his look-into-my-eyes mind control mojo. Carpathia went through the ceremony with Steve, who gushed with pride. Nicolae eventually covered everyone in the room except the security guard, Hattie, and Jonathan Stonagal. … So of the 20 or so people assembled in the room, the authors only bother to show us... Read more
I think this waiter’s got a fake accent … “Jump,” Aztec Camera “Jump (loaded version),” Aztec Camera “June,” Pete Yorn “Jung and the Restless,” Steve Taylor “Jungle Gym,” Jack Johnson feat. G. Love “Jungle Love,” Morris Day and the Time “Jungle Love,” Steve Miller Band “Jungle Song,” Sonia Dada “Jungleland,” Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band “Jupiter & Mars,” Mightyhead Read more
Left Behind, pp. 449-451 And so the final chapter, the big showdown begins. Nicolae Carpathia steps forward to cement his control with an undeniable “show of strength.” Soon the whole world will bear witness to his fearsome power. Except that Nicolae is, at the moment, in “a private conference room” with no TV cameras. That’s not really an ideal location for staging a show of strength for the whole world to see, but he has arranged to have the press... Read more
Tom likes people, and people like Tom … “Insane,” Texas “Inside,” Moby “Inside Out,” The Mighty Lemon Drops “Inside Out (12″ dance mix),” The Mighty Lemon Drops “Inside Out Upside Down,” Charlie Peacock “Insistor,” Tapes ‘n Tapes “Inspiration,” Lone Justice “Instant Karma,” John Lennon “Institutionalized,” Suicidal Tendencies “Instruction Through Film,” Daniel Amos I had that Mighty Lemon Drops 12″ on vinyl, so I hadn’t heard it for years until I got the USB turntable for Christmas. Actually, that’s not quite... Read more
Barack Obama on Religion John McCain talks to Beliefnet.com If these were presentations by seminary students in the Faith and Politics class I used to T.A., then one of these would get an A and the other a charitable C-. Obama offers a concise, clear and confident description of why the separation of church and state is necessary to protect both the church and the state. He has clearly thought this through. He knows what he thinks and... Read more
You may have already seen this story from the BBC, “Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil“: One of South America’s few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru. The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land. The pictures, taken from an airplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows. More than half the world’s 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or... Read more
On Monday in London, appearing at a press conference with President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown endorsed Bush’s strategy for the ongoing occupation of Iraq. And Brown did so using one of Bush’s signature absurdities. Here is Brown from the official transcript: Can I just say that in Iraq there is a job to be done and we will continue to do the job, and there’s going to be no artificial timetable. “Artificial timetable” is one of... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 443-448 In the final pages of the penultimate chapter of Left Behind, Jerry Jenkins tries to ratchet up the suspense before Buck Williams’ encounter with the Antichrist. The supposedly suspenseful questions — Will Buck get saved? Is Nicolae the Antichrist? Or is it really Stonagal? — aren’t all that suspenseful. The answers are thuddingly obvious (yes, yes and no, duh, respectively). Yet despite that, the conclusion of this book does involve a bit of suspense. After 400+... Read more
And still you seem to believe somehow love will conquer evil … “Hungover Together,” Supersuckers “Hungry Ghost,” Rick Unruh “Hungry Heart,” Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band “Hunt the Self,” Howard Jones “Hurry Down Doomsday,” Elvis Costello “Hurt,” Johnny Cash “Hurt You,” Green “The Hush,” Texas “Hyena,” R.E.M. “Hymn,” Randy Stonehill “Hymn to Her,” The Pretenders “Hymns to the Silence,” Van Morrison The video linked above to “Hungry Heart” says its from a concert in Paris in 1985. The... Read more
So I watched the first episode of In Plain Sight on Hulu. USA is carving out a decent niche with its entertaining hour-long crime shows. This one is a bit like a female version of Burn Notice — emotionally damaged, cynic-with-heart-of-gold protagonist offering wry voice-over narration with the case of the week serving more as background for longer character arcs, etc. Add those two shows to the quirky whodunits Monk and Psych and they’ve got a respectable lineup that, thanks... Read more
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