Parenthetically Yours

Favorite Things Friday

It’s good to be back on the blog and to be sharing all my opinions with anyone who will listen (er…read?). Turns out, that’s about 100 people. Not enough to swing an election…but more than enough to, say, help me move. A good number. (note: no. I’m not moving. Just a figure of speech.)

It’s Friday. It’s time to let you in on my little secrets this week.

KONA COFFEE  So yeah, I went to Hawaii last week and got back this past Monday. Before I even boarded the plane in Nashville, I knew what I would be bringing back home: a tan and some Kona coffee. Only coffee grown in the Kona region of the Big Island can be labeled “kona,” therefore it’s a very limited (and expensive) coffee. On the mainland, it’s generally only available once a year (late spring) and usually fetches $30-$50/lb. I thought it would be much cheaper in Hawaii. Ha. Nothing is cheaper in Hawaii. Even sunburns have a consumption tax. I bought two 8 oz. bags (one for me, one for a friend) at $19 a pop and am a third of the way through mine. You really can tell a difference. It’s mild and mellow, like Hawaii. Even this dark roast I’m sipping this very moment has zero bitterness, but strong flavor. I’m more than a little tempted to drink this other bag and not tell my buddy I got any for him. Is that wrong?

AMERICAN IDOL  Yeah. It’s that time of the year (we’re about five or six weeks deep at this point) and I have to admit, I’m completely hooked…again. For the most part, there’s a ridiculous amount of talent on that show, year after year and my picks have won the past three years running. The top 12 was just rounded out last night (I picked 10 out of the 12 so far, thank you) and now we get into the popularity contest of it all. My picks for the final two? Lil Rounds and Danny Gokey. They both have great stories, humility, charm, and talent for days. I used to be totally ANTI-IDOL…but with my growning appreciation for David Cook, Carrie Underwood, Eliott Yamin, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, etc…well, you can’t argue with genuine talent. I’ll admit a few big disappointments so far this year (which I won’t mention for risk of sounding too much like a super-geeky-fanboy), but all in all, once again, Katie and I are glued to the TV every Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

THE JESUS I NEVER KNEW. My friend Tony Lucido gave this groundbreaking book by Philip Yancey to me a little over a year ago. I’m just now picking it up to read. Why did I wait? I recommend this book to anyone who grew up going to church.

Thank you, and good night!

(rw)

Favorite Things Friday!

Well...one of my favorite things is college football...and sadly, it's over. I'm so torn because on one hand, I CAN"T STAND the Florida Gators. Yet, I love Tim Tebow and the SEC...so, I'm caught in this tension of elation and frustration. I was rooting for OU and Tim Tebow. And, if OU had been playing Texas for the National Championship (which should've happened), I would've painted myself burnt orange and donned a longhorn helmet.  It was all very confusing and left me apathetic to the entire BCS process. 

This week, Katie and I attended an amazing marriage seminar by Dan Allender. It was sponsored by Al Andrews and Porter's Call, a ministry for artists and musicians here in Franklin. It was disturbing, frustrating, revelatory, beautiful, and mind-splittingly amazing. Thank you Al and Dan for messing up things! It's already had an effect in our marriage (in a great way!). 

Finally, for all you techy-geeky folks out there, this isn't so much a favorite thing, but a favorite possible thing. There are many rumors out there that Apple is going to introduce a large version of the iPod Touch (maybe Macbook Touch?) later this year. Basically, it will be a fully-functioning tablet (meaning, no keyboard) computer. For those of us who travel so much, we can leave our clunky laptop computers at home. Oh...the joy!

Until next week...here's a favorite quote:

An immature man will die nobly for a cause while a mature man will live humbly for one. - JD Salinger

(rw)

Accidental Sabbath

I suppose I took a sabbatical.

I didn’t mean to, it just happened. First came Thanksgiving week. I knew I wouldn’t be able to contribute much to the blog that week but I figured I’d make up for it during December with my love of all things Christmas. I even was planning a 12-Days-of-Christmas theme where I’d write about that song over the dozen days leading up to the Big Day…but plans (and rules) were meant to be broken.

Break them, I did. Scrapped is more like it. I found myself enjoying the lazy mornings with coffee and conversation too much to even open the computer for writing purposes. Instead, I read and conversed. There’s something that happens when you let information come in rather than only go out. It does something for me, at least. Don’t get me wrong—I love giving my opinion and I usually feel pretty strongly about it. But if you want to see me inspired or contemplative, give me a good book or article or catch me after a conversation with Randy Elrod or Matt Gilder. Or a movie, a documentary.

I love information. I love analyzing it, reformatting it, and disseminating it again. I guess that’s why I got my degrees in Journalism and Education.  And I guess that’s why I took some time off from this site. Just needed to get inspired, watch some TV, listen to some music.

I did just that and now I’m back, inspired (again), and fattened from too many dense holiday meals. In the last 30 days I’ve probably had 15-20 carb-heavy meals, thanks to the Christmas tour I was on. I don’t want to see another potato or cheese or a dinner roll until next Thanksgiving.

Or maybe next Thursday.

(rw)

RANDY'S FAVORITE THINGS

Hear ye! Hear ye! Friday's are becoming a whole new thing here at the ol' blog. Today I introduce RANDY'S FAVORITE THINGS...sorta like Oprah, except I'm not going to give you any money or free iPods. I'm just interested in turning people on to cool sites, music, companies, books, movies, etc. I'm spreading the love and hope you'll like what you see/hear/read/buy. 

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with PASTE Magazine, but it's, without a doubt, my favorite. They cover every genre of music, film, and books, but only by people who have something substantial to say. You won't find the latest flavor-of-the-month music or big-budget movie release...but you will find the latest Griffin House or Wes Anderson offering. Their tagline is Signs of life in music, film, and culture. and it was started by these Christian guys in Atlanta who realized there was an entire genre and subculture of art going nearly unnoticed--that is, there's a whole lot of art out there dealing with Eternal and Universal themes. Great stuff, but it's usually pretty under-the-radar. Their point was and is to get this stuff noticed.

Well, one of my favorite new sites, www.noisetrade.com (started by Derek Webb and others) is offering a Name Your Own Price subscription to PASTE. You can get an entire year's subscription for as little as $1...or more, you decide. I signed up for $5. You can even renew if you're currently subscribing. Here's the catch: after the year is up, you will automatically be renewed for another year at the going rate of $19.99. Not a bad deal, in my estimation.  So, CLICK THIS for the Paste offer.

FAVORITE THING #2:

My favorite local music happening, Ten Out of Tenn has released their Christmas CD and tour dates. I'm not going to over-hype it too much because I did that already here. If you'll click the link to their Myspace site, you can hear many of the songs and find out how you can own it. This will be the most-played music this season in the Williams household. 

Well, except for our own little Christmas EP. You'll be hearing more about that soon enough. Let's just say my wife has a ridiculously great voice. 

(rw)

Right Wing Nut Jobs

I used to be so bright-eyed and optimistic, then the information age happened. Since I’m a sucker for information, I’ve soaked in it—and nearly drowned in it. See, I have a problem (surprise) and that is I believe everything I read. Maybe it’s because I grew up with such an appreciation for printed words. For whatever reason, if it’s written, I’ll give it consideration.

This, however, does NOT apply to forwarded emails. I unequivocally doubt the validity of any email that has been forwarded to me claiming things like bottled water will give you cancer or that Starbucks doesn’t send coffee to the troops. Neither are true. If you are a frequent forward-er…please spend a few minutes at Snopes.com. The truth will set you free!

But other than that, I believe most things I read. This is a useful habit when it comes to things like reading the Bible, or Shelby Foote, or Johnny Cash’s autobiography. It is not beneficial or helpful in the least, though, when faced with websites about Federal Reserve conspiracy theories, the supposed illegality of a federal income tax, and the positive teachings of Scientology. I read a few pages of this stuff last night and I was ready to stockpile weapons, move to Montana, and hole up until the rapture.

I also made the mistake of watching a few melodramatic “documentaries” by the conspiracy theorist (read: nutjob) Alex Jones. These films are more slanted than an isosceles triangle and make Michael Moore look like an honest filmmaker. You think The Exorcist is frightening? His take on the Illuminati made me want to sleep with the lights on for three days.

I Thessalonians 5 says to “test everything and hold on to the good.” St. Paul was mainly talking about theology and preachers, but I think there can be a broader application here. In today’s over stimulated cache of information, I think Paul’s saying that we shouldn’t be so idealistic and naïve that we accept everything at face value yet not so cynical that we instantly put up an impenetrable wall of doubt. This comes, unfortunately, with wisdom and maturity—two things I’ve yet to master.

Whether we’re reading up on the IRS, the Emergent Church, forwarded emails, or Britney Spears—we have to know how to filter, how to study, yet never ever throw the baby out with the bathwater.

(rw)

I'm not a cynic, really

I don’t like feeling cynical about anything, especially my fellow faith journeymen, but my first trip to the International Christian Retailers Association’s convention (also known in the industry as CBA—or Christian Booksellers Association—week) did nothing to lessen my inner cynic. I don’t want to bad-mouth my good-intentioned brethren (and sistren), because truth be told, there are some unbelievably talented people among the aisles of this trade show. My problem with most Christian art (including music, writing, film, design, artwork/crafts, etc) is a profound lack vision and/or purpose. Or a business plan.

It’s quite a spectacle, the CBA trade show. There are several rows of booths featuring everything from major record labels to the the tiniest mom-and-pop start ups hoping to peddle their wares to the major and minor Christian retailers. There are some amazing things and some full-on gringe-worthy embarrassments. Or should I say embarrass-mints? There was a booth for children’s books and videos that featured a guy walking around dressed as Jesus. I suppose he was there to suffer ye the little children, but he more or less looked like Barry Gibb in a toga. When I saw him—sorry, Him—there was a gaggle of 20-something girls lined up to take photos with Him. I was hoping they wanted the pics for cheeky, ironic reasons, but I’m afraid they just thought He was hot. You could tell Jesus liked the attention. There was a big display for a new book coming out called “Lord of the Flies,” which is apparently a devotional for fly fishermen. Call me crazy, but that seems like a pretty small niche. Why not open it up to all fishermen and just call it “Hooked on Jesus”? Or “Thy Rod and Thy Reel, They Comfort Me”? There was an entire booth dedicated to hawking a bad, melodramatic poem and, of course, the awful parody t-shirts were everywhere. Things like Ourapostle instead of Aeropostle, or Jesus died for Myspace in Heaven, or Church Girls Gone Wild, and so on. And they will know we are Christians by our t-shirts. Ugh.

To be fair, there was some cool stuff too: a new book called “Evolution: A Fairy Tale for Grownups” by Ray Comfort (Darwin’s 200th Birthday Special Edition. Genius.) debunks the theory of evolution simply using quotes from many evolutionary scientists and experts without “quote mining” (using quotes out of context). And Hayley DiMarco has a new set of short books for teen girls and if nothing else, she has some of the best designed books in the CBA market. Most of the Christian publishing industry could learn something from the modern design of her books and the understated booths of Oxford University Press and Penguin Books, two of the mainstream publishing houses in attendance. By far the thing that got me the most excited, though, is the announcement of Crossway’s English Standard Version Study Bible. I’m feeling so nerdy right now, but I’m kind of obsessing about it. Who gets that excited about a study bible? Me apparently.

As much as I hate to say it, though, the bad outweighed the good. It’s just that so much of what I saw was simply a reaction or response to something offered up by the general market. I’m not one of those people who say Christian art shouldn’t exist in the first place, though. I totally believe in "the industry" and that there’s a place for it. I think some people have a gift and, if you will, calling to the church to encourage, uplift, and lead. BUT I also believe that they should be doing things in such an excellent way that when the un-churched come in contact with their work, they’re drawn towards belief, not repelled by it.

(rw)