flickr & twitter w/the critters

or, An Experiment in Social Networking.

tomorrow, at the dawn of dawn, we leave for a week-long trek through the Sangre de Cristo mountains in south central Colorado. our ETD cannot arrive soon enough.

I love to document our travels with photography and plan to do so for this trip. this time, however, I aim to push myself into new journalistic territory. I hold a two-pronged objective:

1. update my blog with commentary and photography in real-time…
2. using only my phone.

on the right you see two updating widgets, one for my twitter account (”so…”) and the other for my flickr account (”what’s flickrng?”). amazingly, I can update both of these anytime, anywhere (almost), with my phone. it even allows me to add titles to the pictures, so you’ll know exactly where the picture occurred.

so, will you join me? it’s time for a road trip!

weather in Westcliffe, CO

for those of you who know why this matters…

an ode to The Woman

as Bono says, it’s easier to work with friends than fight your enemies. with that in mind, I want to offer a gush of praises for The Woman…instead of railing against The Man. he doesn’t deserve our time.

I praise God for gifted women who lead with courage…and it takes courage to live as a gifted woman.

I praise God for nurturing women who raise children in the fear of the Lord.

I praise God for righteous women who burn with anger over injustice.

I praise God for women who put up with The Man…

…and I don’t mean “men,” but The Man. The System. The Machine. too often, men mirror The Man, and for that, my beloved sisters, I beg your forgiveness.

Dallas Seminary blogs

all in one place. students, alums, and faculty/staff.

join the conversation(s)!

kung fu panda-Christ?

[mild spoiler alert]

I know that official movie reviews splash the webwaves the day of the release, or earlier, but I intentionally held off on this one. I have some questions for you.

first, however, how about that intro animé?! seriously, the brilliance of the art put the Wuxi finger hold on my retinas. in concert with Jack Black’s legendary commentary, my brain spun with delight.

back to the questions. or question, I guess. did anyone else see parallels with Revelation 5 & 20?

The Living & The Departed

what dost Dillard hath to do with Scorsese?

Annie Dillard’s sprawling description of the settlement of the Pacific Northwest opens with the gruesome description of Ada Fishburn’s son, Charley, dying. Martin Scorsese’s ramming account of mob movement closes with the funeral of Billy Costigan. both Charley and Billy perish before they ever live.

more directly, though, both pieces regurgitate the Old Testament narrative: "…and then he died" (Gen 5). both pieces swiftly introduce death as an unavoidable consequence of life, but The Departed treats it more tritely. there’s something to these titles…The Living emphasizes what was lost, The Departed the inevitable. The Living grieves over Gen 5, The Departed glories in Gen 3.

I love both works. both reveal their creator’s brilliance. despite their "age" (1992 and 2006, respectively), I would encourage you to devour them. in this duel, however, the advantage goes to Annie. the book rumbles with quotable insights and nods to the Pentateuch. if you want a quick tour of its grandeur, read Eva’s (brief) review she wrote for a class at Dallas Seminary.

one particular note still hums in my mind from Dillard: "A child’s death was a heartbreak–but it was no outrage, no freak, nothing not in the contract, and not really early, just soon" (p. 151). a masterful way to mourn the dead without giving honor to death. death is the gravest insult ever conceived, and it will be reversed for the living who departed.

why dogs are great

at the beginning of this video, Leno asks the man from the crowd if the dog can pop all the balloons in 30 seconds. “Not a chance,” he replies…