The above video is from last New Years Eve at the Ichiban Steakhouse. The entertainment for the evening was the wonderful band SWAY who are not only great friends but also the subject of my newest website design project. Click here to see the site and listen to some demos that I recorded and produced as well!
I came across a wonderful site for the Multi-Disciplinary Study of Imagination. It is a group of artists, poets, doctors, writers and more who are getting together to share ideas and research on the human imagination. You can see a diverse and thought provoking mix of videos here or read more about the upcoming live webcast events here. The group is taking part in an interesting three month project called Brainwave in NYC. Brainwave is worth checking out for its interactive blend of fringe science and creative arts projects. Last week to kick off the event a man set the world record for being locked in a tank full of ice for over an hour and tomorrow evening Lou Reed is going to be discussing his newest poems on meditation with a neuro-biologist. If you go to the site be sure to check out the round table discussion on the way the brain works during dream states. Its easy sometimes to forget that we live in a mysterious and wonderful world full of potential and possibilities.
The creative and code-writing wheels have been spinning overtime for the last few weeks as I finish up a new interactive website for artist John Cox. The site is a collision of various images, videos, and writings that offer another layer of experience for John's ongoing abstract conceptual works. Check out the site : HERE and I also put a link into the right side link bar for the future. If you check it out, be sure and leave a comment.
After a year long search for a new online video hosting service that doesn't destroy the quality of uploaded videos, I have found the answer : VIMEO. Not only do they leave your videos in high definition, they also allow you to use any aspect ratio so the videos have a much smoother film-ish presentation. This video is an older video I worked on for John Cox. Check out the same video on YOUTUBE here and see the difference.
If you are ever having a bad day (like the poodle pictured above) then head on over to Cute Overload and within a few minutes you will be full of smiles and wonder over the abundance of 'cute' that exists in the world. I think the Japanese are onto something with an extra-cute aesthetic, it brings out a little flutter of joy!
You may remember this site flash design that I did a few months ago for AJ. I recently redesigned the html/css version of the cross-shore universe. You can check out the site here. I like working with Cross Shore because I get a great deal of creative freedom and I get to muck around with the graphics! This design is a slightly reggae influenced color pallette to give the feel of the islands and a graffiti style lettering because stenciling is cool! Let me know what you think?
The Washington Post has a new online video project called: On Being. They post new videos of everday people each week. So far they have a wide range of people from a nun to a gay man. Each person has a short one sentence quote and a 3-7 min video interview. The project is described by them like this "onBeing is a full screen interactive video feature that takes you into the musings, passions, histories and quirks of all sorts of people. If we learn who they are we can learn btter who we are". The site is pretty slick, from a design perspective, and if they keep adding interesting content it seems like a great idea.
About three weeks ago I began to notice a series of strange, but well executed TV ads for the Bahamas appearing in many primetime slots. last week right before the Grammy's began on CBS they played one of these "Bahamavention" ads. It seems that our Ministry of Tourism has really upped the ante with regards to our media presence. last night I noticed that The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism is a proud sponser of E's wildly irreverant TV wrap up/commentary show Talk Soup. During an in show segment they mentioned the Bahamas and particularly the Bahamavention campaign. You can check out the very tongue-in-cheek website for the campaign here. I am actually pleased to see that our government is entering the modern world and employing cutting edge ad stratagies to their marketing campaign. A few years ago a couple of my friends worked on a big budget film/web project for the tourism ministry that resulted in this bright and shiny website, and now they are taking the same level of intention to their television ads. I think it is a bit strange that these ads are in heavy rotation during a time when our country is being mentioned almost every hour in news reports about the ongoing Anna Nicole Smith drama. Just in the last two days I have the following from cable news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News (just kidding I don't watch Foxnews!):
"The Bahamas is known for crime and the fact that Anna Nicole's former residence was broken into is only par for the course"
"The Bahamas has the most dated and inefficient court system and this will make the fight for custody very tricky."
"The Bahamas Minister of Immigration and Anna Nicole had a "flagrently sexual relationship".
I guess Anna Nicole failed to have a successful Bahamavention.
Read Print.com is an interesting place to find tons of free books and other writings online. One of the coolest things is that you can search through the text of the books offered. Clearly due to copywrite restrictions, they have an abundance of classics that have fallen into the public domain but some of the classics are worth reading: 1984, The Origin of Species and a whole boat-load of Sherlock Holmes titles. Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha is among the many offered and certianly a timely read given the current morphing of eastern and western ideas about all things spiritual. Along with the long form fiction and non-fiction titles, they have an impressive list of essays, articles and poetry as well. If you are into reading the classics in a new way or just wanting to use the cool search feature to see how often Arthur Conan Doyle used the word Hashish in His writings (55) you should check our Readprint.com here.
My friend Kenard has been working up his first website for a good while now - you can check it out here. He has some great images from both here in Nassau and in jamaica along with some up-to-date tech news from all across the web.
I just came across a "create your own avatar" site called MEEZ. You can easily create your own online identity by browsing through their selection of hipster clothing. There are plenty of very cool fashions to choose from, and like the real world, you have to pay for the nicer items. I was still able to get pretty close to the way I would present myself in a virtual world! I guess its a sign of the average age of their users that none of the customizable characters look older than 18 years. Still a fun site to check out for creating your own little online character.
I just finished up a new site design for Paradise Dive Charters. Corey and Monica has an exciting dive operation running with a personal touch. With a wide ranging set of options for dive trips and any level of training you might need. The site was fun to work on and I tried some new design techniques that I have been exploring lately.
Also I designed a site for The Signature Deli. My friend Snucky Miller opened it up a few weeks ago!You can check out fantastic live Jazz from 8-11pm on Friday nights.
snap.com is looking to move industry giant google off its database code driven throne. It has one of the coolest image searching interfaces that I have ever seen but the coolest feature is the nifty little popups that now grace the, newly designed, seeward.com. About the new design, I am still doing some tweaks to add new features so stay tuned! For now here is a list of cool sites that you can test out the previews:
Bahamian Artist John Cox has a newly designed personal portfolio site here. I am a big fan fo John's work and the proud owner of a few of his furniture designs. Check out his new site for photos of new works and lots of info about his work. On a connected note the collective at popop studios has a tasteful facelift as well.
I have been loving the wonderful daily video shows posted by zefrank. He is so intelligent and funny that I can't get enough. I recently sent in a little intro for his show and if you check out the video above you can see that today he used my intro!
Now my hairy face will be beamed out to thousands of internet citizens.
I have put together a little portfolio site for Nicole to display her wonderful clay creations! You can check it out here for now and in the future you can visit nicoledutoit.com!
One of the reasons I have not been posting much lately is that I have been working hard on a new website project for Cross-shore.com. My mate AJ's Kiteboarding company has a new site here.
It was designed in Flash and incorporates some new database and animation actionscripting that I have been learning. Check it out!
I have made a little blog/journal for discussions about theology and spirituality. You can join here. You can always reach this section by clicking on "interact" in the main menu of the site. This new place will be home to ongoing reflections and discussions. i will still be posting misc items, like always, here on the main site but I needed a place where people could make comments on specific ideas. Check it out and join the first discussion on "what is spirituality?"
Two artists together : Bob Dyan and Andy Warhol. Warhol's screen tests provide interesting and at times unsettling looks into the the ways that people react when a camera is turned on them. Dylan has never looked quite comfortable in front of the camera. In this short clip you can almost feel his fear and defensiveness.
The Screening Room is a very cool database of Tv commercials. You can search for themes or products or even by advertising company. Each commercial comes with the full production credits (you can can track your favorite advertising rising stars) and the high quality quicktime videos can be dragged onto the desktop for future viewing. If you are in any way interesting in studying TV advertising or just want to save that funny ad you saw last night, this site is for you!
The site also features music videos, animations and short films.
Of all the insidious uses for Webcam technology, someone has finally come up with a noble use. A Beatles fan in the US was checking out an online webcam in Liverpool, England. With the time change it was night in Liverpool, when he noticed two men breaking into one of the stores on the deserted street. Thinking quickly, he googled the Liverpool police and called them directly to report the crime. The police apprehended two armed burgulars who had no idea they were being watched by the big internet in the sky. You can read more about this story here.
Spray Can artist Paco Rosic is recreating the ceiling of the sistine chapel with areosal paint. Check out the works here. He is not using cartoony grafitti type characters although that would have been even cooler but he is spicing up the color choices.
If you are one of those people who is very concerned about people jacking into their mind and making them into a robot for consumption and labour, then this site is for you. You can catch up on all the latest news from the mind control front and also order your fully refundable tin foil protection beanie.
In Erik Davis' book Technosis, he traces the beginnings of this kind of paranioa (who are we to judge?) to the invention of the telephone. In fact it was Edison's assistant who first wrote, in his journal, about a man who came to him for advice on how to stop the Russians from sending messages into his head. The idea goes that since human beings had never heard, up until the telephone, a disembodied human voice, the experience of it created all kinds of wierd phsychological reactions in people. He also goes even further back to tie the invention of electricity to the idea of ghosts and hauntings. Apparently around the time of the invention of electricity their was a major spike in the public discourse about ghosts and the possibility that the undead could effect the material world. The power of electricity to invisibily make things happen (lights going on or moving a fan) created the idea that spirits could do the same thing.
I wonder what kinds of mutations are happening since the invention of the internet? Are we all becoming more participatory and feeling more fear of isolation? It may be too soon to tell but the fact that the internet is changing the human experience is a certianty.
Just when I was beginning to get overwhelmed by how much total crap was clogging up the limited internet bandwidth, along comes zefrank! A digital-age genius with a slick combination of video editing skills, oddly charimatic presence (he never seems to blink!), and spot one sarcasm and wit.
Ze was an out of work musician who turned to web design as a way of making a living. He quickly proved to be a very entertaining personality. For the last few months he has been doing a daily three to four minute video/blog show here. The shows are a brilliant mix of social commentary, humor, catchy original songs, humor, odd observations and did I mention humor. This is the kind of stuff that restores my hope that the internet can be a powerful tool for re-inventing the future and not simply a lame storage ground for mediocre whining and pictures of tits.
Ze has upped the anti and made me realize that anyone can post a video blog but only a few people have the personality to pull it off and make people think at the same time. What is your power move?
Although I don't have a tin foil hat to keep the brainwashing agents from infiltrating my thoughts like in the movie Signs but I dig a good conspiracy tale. Jeff Wells over at Rigorous Intuition can sure spin a believable tale. If you like reading weird and sometimes troubling observations on the world we live in and the powers that be, then head on over and join the discussions.
If fiction is more your speed (and most conspiracy tales are fiction anyway) then Tim Boucher from Pop Occulture has started a new site called Conspiracy Fiction. He is looking for submissions to add to the archive and seeward is working on a story as well. I will post a link to mine when it is completed (and if he posts it) but for now go and brush up on the best in paranoia blog-land.
This little video is pretty funny! In fact, there are lost of strange and funny things on YouTube. A great deal of it is the same kind of mindless hardrive-space wasting stuff that you find on MySpace but the occasional light shines through. I liked this video because it is a clever idea and this kid has the best hair I have seen in a long time =)
This is find very funny! A series of toy figures modeled in the likeness of the greatest philosophers of all time. Their thoughts have always been fun, now they are also fun to play with! The lovely figure above is none other than Hegel. Each figure has strengths and weaknesses. Hegel's are :
Strength : He is infinite
Weakness : He is finite
That is funny business considering that Hegel is the philosopher who began to push modern thought beyond paralysing dualisms. His idea was that any dualism: right/wrong good/evil light/dark etc all exist within a larger field of meaning. If we can grasp this larger field of meaning then we might be free from the tension and battles that the polar opposites demand. So he is both infinite and finite! Wondeful folly and he can out-smart G I Joe anytime of day.
I feel like I stepped into a parallel universe. Nicole tipped me off that some strange business was going on over on the TBN channel. I was not prepared for what awaited me when I clicked over. 80's Teen Beat cover boy/90's mega christian Kirk Cameron's show The Way of the Master. I can't begin to describe how sickened I felt as he and his "master?" Ray Comfort interogated people on the street about how well they measure up to the Ten Commandments. Throughout the questioning they not so gently pronounce the person guilty before God. They then make an appeal for the person to accept Jesus on the spot. Most people just looked uncomfortable or scared to death. You can see the tone of their engagment with culture by clicking the image above. When the Evangelical Flash-o-Matic intro asks if you are a christian, say "no". (I hope God isn't keeping track of this site and using it's results in His salvation database, If so I'm screwed =)
WhenI turned onthe show, they were talking to a very colorful transexual. I thought she did an impressive job of interacting with them and at the end agreeing with them and saying she was a Christian already. Then they brought up homosexuality and even recommended that she should "put men's clothes back on". She stormed off after a rant about being loved by God and Jesus saving her from suicide. I was sickened to see them immeadiately cut into a "teaching" about the danger of "confident sinners" who are comfortable in their sin and do not know they are going to hell. They even went as far as to warn against "false conversion". I guess the conversions on their website must be 100% legit. That is if you buy a $70 DVD/cd resource kit to prove you are serious about strengthening your spiritual foundations.
How in the hell can a whole group of well-funded and tragically misguided people all read the gospels and decide that this kind of street-level, guilt ridden and offensively impersonal evangelism is "the way of the master".
There are a few very interesting videos at meaningoflife.tv . If you click the link above you can see a rather mind expanding interview on quantum weirdness and its implications to spiritual realities. The speaker makes a wonderful point that we actually live in three (maybe more) worlds at any given time:
The Micro World - the world of molecules and atoms
The Macro World - our everyday world of objects and organisms
The Mega World - the world of astronomers and astro physics
He makes the point that our language was devised to deal with the macro world that we live in and encounter everyday. When we try to use the same language to describe events that are happening in the quantum or micro world, we end up with all kinds of contradictions such as : nuetrons are both particles and waves at the same time and a particle can be in two different places at the same time. These are the kinds of tensions that crop up because we don't have effecient words to describe these events.
The same can be said when we try to use our Macro world language to describe the spiritual dimensions of life. The Bible presents many contradictions due to the limitations of language: Jesus is both fully God and fully man, God is one but God is also three, human beings have complete freewill but God is working out a plan and purpose toward His intended goal.
These are just a few of the various paradoxes that arise when you seriously look at what the Bible has to say. Many people go to the Bible to fidn resolution and I believe that as long as you stay on the surface, you will get that resolution. However, the Bible is designed to call us deeper than the surface and into an intimate relationship with the text. This initmace then becomes a neverending expansion of mystery and paradox. It seems to me that the answer to the human spiritual condition is to be in relationship with the God whose very being creates a fracture and contradiction in our world and language. This is why the great Christian mystics have always called us beyond words and concepts that explain God toward the face to face experience of God that we see the people in the Bible sharing. To hear one of the best interviews on this fantastic site check out Lorenzo Albacete.
While searching for images to fill the new little link engine, I came across this very funny page about Ken Wilber. Click the image above to see this little parody.
I have been listening lately to the commentary tracks on the 10 disc Matrix box set that has Ken and Cornel West providing philosophical and spiritual insights into the film. The dialogue is fascinating and worth buying the set for. The set also includes a few "Making of..." discs as well. My favorite was the one called "Philosophical Roots of The Matrix" It works as a crash course for understanding modern thought. The interviews are with university philosophy professors who admit being so clued out of popular culture that they never thought to see the Matrix until students starting referring to it in classroom discussions about philosophy. If the intellectual exchanges between West and Wilber are too much to sift through, you can also listen to commentary by three mainstream film critics who hated the film. It is interesting to listen to them back to back. The critics are running on about a scene being too predictable and vague while West and Wilber are speaking of it as if it were the most concise portrayal of the meaning of life. Another example of the postmodern predicament, two perspectives seeing two different things in the same scene. For further reading from Wilber check out Integral Naked - Standard warning to those of little faith - Do not visit this link if you are not willing to be challenged.
I wrote a new script for the little links section at the lower left of this page. Now, instead of seeing the same links each time, everytime this page loads a random new set of links is displayed from the database. You can check it out by relading this page over and over again to see the changes. I am also in the process of putting a lot more links into the database. Just for clarification, the links are sites that I find inspiring and challenging or just plain fun. I might not agree with everything on every site but I also don't believe in protecting people from challenging information. Take a look through the link portal and see what wonders await!
He calls himself reverand. He used to date Chelsea Clinton back at Yale. He spends a great deal of his free time making little images of the Biblical story out of lego. Sounds like my kind of guy (we depart on Chelsea Clinton though). His name is Brendan Powell Smith. You can click the link in the image of the last supper above to see the whole testament or click his name to see his blog.
The Hidden Secret Elusive and Shocking Truth about Jesus
When I am in a country that has a decent bookstore (read: the Bahamas needs one!) I love to browse the shelves in the Christianity/Religion section. A few months ago I was in Miami and I was surprised to see that dozens and dozens of books have been written recently proclaiming the "secret" or "hidden" message of Jesus. Finally after all these two thousand years the "real" message of Jesus has gotten out! I was under the mistaken impression that for the last two centuries the message was very clear. I always thought the message was as follows:
There are two sides in the world (good and evil, right and wrong, good fashion sense and Bjork)
Jesus came to show people how to correctly divide the world into these two sides
Followers of Jesus are required to shame and often kill anyone who falls on the wrong side of the line
God will one day come from heavens in a cloud to vanguish His enemies and reward His true children with treasure and blessings in the form of mansions and gold
In the meantime, His most beloved children will live in mansions while on the earth and store lots of gold in the form of fat bank accounts in order to reflect heaven into the lost world
Isn't this clear to everyone else? Just take a look at history and you can see the real message of Jesus written in the blood of the infidels.
Click the super-cute image above to see a great blog written by a secretive but humorous blogster. I wish someone would write the book about the real Ishmael.
I have been checking out a fantastic blog lately from an Irish emerging church group called Ikon. They do a very out of the box type of community that meets in a pub. Not a closed down pub with no people, a fully open and beer-flowing pub. They even get hecklers. Imagine a church with hecklers. You can click the image of one of the leaders Pete Rollins above to see a few written reflections that they have crafted or visit Pete's blog to hear more personal thoughts. Pete is a philosophy PHd so you know that I am interested! His blog (and the reflections) is full of interesting and thought provoking ideas about the nature of faith and how to live the Christian faith. I have spent the last few months trolling the depths or the online emerging community and I am almost ready to put my overall thoughts down in writing. Stay tuned for a fairly long exploration of my thoughts on the emerging church. Among the many voices or confusion and struggle, I have seen quite a few shining lights that give me hope that what is emerging is actually a powerful movement of God's spirit. More soon!
I had a very unique experience this afternoon! I participated(briefly) in Tall Skinny Kiwi's virtual blog party! Andrew Jones is one of my favorite blogs to visit within the universe of emerging church online chatter. He is always fair, balanced and digs up connections between things that are sometimes mind expanding. The party was held at Habbo Hotel. A UK based virtual world, filled with all kinds of crazy habbos. If you click the link above you can see an enlarged version of the image and spot the little seeward shaking his groove thing in the center. The party wasn't much like what I expected. Andrew held court on his future plans for ministry and the intersections between online publishing and personal responsibility. I only caught the end but I did manage to get the Kiwi's attention long enough to invite him to the Bahamas. Hopefully he will be able to make it down and I can connect a real face to his dense(meaning full of information not intellectually challenged) online persona.
If you have a few moments to waste and want to see what the kids are getting up to these days, check out the Habbo Hotel. Beware, you will not find stimulating intellectual dialogue in the publis rooms but the dance moves that the Habbos can do if fun for a few seconds.
A few years ago my good friend Tim Hauber turned me on to this strange hippy/menonite pastor from Toronto named Bruxy Cavey. I listened to a few of his sermons and was blown away. He speaks with amazing clarity and insight blending philosophy, literature, pop culture and historical christian faith. I had an opportunity to go to his church a few years ago and I was very impressed. He gave a message about a new email virus that had infected his computer and sent out a random file from his harddrive to people on his contact list. He talked about how this was a picture of the way we live our lives in fear of being exposed for who we really are. He told a very funny stroy about the guy in his church who got the random file from his computer. He was a new visitor to the church and, at first, was confused as to why the pastor would send him a long article on pride. He reflected on it and decided that he was too prideful and that somehow the pastor had known the true state of his heart and decided to email him this article to set him straight. Bruxy didn't know any of this until the guy called him up and asked to meet him for lunch to discuss his pride. Bruxy was shocked to hear the man humbly asking for forgiveness about his pride. After he sorted out what had actually happened both men laughed out loud and wondered at how God can use anything to speak to our hearts. If you would liek to hear some of Bruxy's sermons click the image of the hippy menonit above. My favorite series is "God in the Grey Matter : Jesus Dialogues with Beautiful Minds" but they are all excellent!
Malcom Gladwell, author of two of my favorite books "The Tipping Point" and "Blink" has just launched blog. It is interesting to read what a professional writer writes about for fun. It may be a stretch to say that the things he has posted so far on gladwell.com were writen for fun but they are interesting amendments to his writings. You can find an archive of his New Yorker articles and some lively and l-e-n-g-t-h-y discussions in the comments sections. Be sure to check out the article about copywright infringment. It makes some interesting connections to the way that recordings are sampled in modern music and applies it to writing.
Last year my friend and wonderful photographer David Sacks came down for his annual visit to the Bahamas. The above images are some of the fruits of his labor. It must take alot of photoshop to get seeward to look like a model! I love the last image and I think it should be titled "Do you mind if I ask your sister out on a date?" You can click the images to see David's site or check out more of his work here.
I found a cool hit counter that allows you to see all the visitors to a site placed on a map of the world. Right now it is not saying much but soon seeward.com is going global!
This picture was taken while Barry Taylor was teaching at Fuller. The topic was the theology of art and fashion. I remember one student seemed very concerned that men were beginning to wear dresses and skirts. You can click the image to see his blog(Barry's not the students). Barry is coming to town next month for a little conclave with Rob Bell, Ron Mortia, Peter Block, Chris Seay and Rick McKinley. Should be interesting.
Here is a list of some of the sites that I check on regularly:
Nathan Clair's Blog : nathan is a cool cat with LOTS to say about topics such as theology, the church, how kickass cs lewis is, and more! He has a sharp sense of humor and a penchant for ranting(in a good way)
Andrew Jone's Blog : I met Andrew breifly a few years ago and just recently found out about his blog. He is a great writer and comes from a fresh perspective. His site is a good portal into the mind of the Emergent crowd.
Waferbaby : another wonder from down under! I have been checking this site for a few years. Daniel has some serious web coding skills and has been adding interactive creativity projects to the site often. Check out brainstorm and hussy. The next upgrade of seeward.com will try to accomplish this level of community interactivity.
Desert Father : Desert Father (don't think its his real name=) is a gifted writer. He works at Mars Hill Bible Church where Rob Bell is the pastor. I posted a review of Rob's Velvet Elvis a few months ago and it is interesting to see how the thoughts in the book trickle down into the practice of community. If they have only a few people as thoughtful and wise as Desert Father, we should continue hearing amazing things from michigan.
The Simple Way : Its always great to check in with North Philly and see what's happening with Shane, Mike, Amber, Brooke and the crew. The site also has some very concious links that you should checkout. Also Shane has a book being released so check out the site to find out how to get yourself a copy.
Douglas Rushkoff : I was published(along with 100 other people) in a book project that Douglas started a few years ago. It was the first open source novel. Douglas wrote the main narrative for the novel and then invented a way for others to engage and add depth to his text. He put the whole thing online and invited people to add footnote commentary from the future. You can read more about it here. Douglas explores lots of interesting ideas on his blog.
Artchive : this site is loaded with tons of great information about art including many historical bios with images to put certian works of art in context with an artist's life. I keep going back because there is so much there.
Jerusalem Perspective : This site has some great historical information about the 1st century. I have heard Rob Bell talk about some of this information and I think he put the link in the bibliography of Velvet Elvis.
Integral Naked : enter the often strange and always brain bending world of Ken Wilber. A living philospher trying to articulate a map of reality that unites the divergent paths of science, spritiuality, the nature of experience, and the kitchen sink. I got some heat from some of the more judgmental vistors to my site for having a link to this site so that should make it worth checking out. Although I don't agree with(or maybe don't even understand) all that he says, at least He gives me a hope that there is something beyond post-modernism and its over-sensitive, politically correct paralysis.
The image above, of Brian Mclaren, points to a short little video piece from ABC news about the emerging church in the US. They feature two communities with commentary from Brian. I have reaad a few of Brian's books and I think he is a very wise and prayerful writer. I had the chance to sit down over lunch with he and Barry Taylor a few years ago at an Emergent conference in San Diego (back whem Emergent was running their conferences like a PoMo circuswith clowns and freaky dancing) during that conversation I really felt his heartfelt pain for the divisions and ignorance within the body of Christ. Online they are calling him a postmodern guru. I think that is interesting given that he functions in a very traditional role as a pastor of a small conservative and mostly traditonal church. He is not sporting tattoos and piercings lighting things on fire for effect. He is just simply applying his considerable intellect and insight to the state of Christendom in our modern world. I have seen some pretty harsh criticism online directed at him and his writings. Why do we always want to shoot the messenger when the message hits too close to home? Oh, I forgot, that is the price of sin: death and ignorance.
Here is the link to the article that I wrote on John Cox and Bahamian identity. Check out the site for lots of great articles exploring the effects of globalization on culture, spirituality and more. Also check out popopstudios to see more of John's work.
A few weeks ago I got to hang out with my buddy Shane. He is becoming famous(or infamous depending on who you ask) In and earlier post I mentioned visiting him at his home in Philly during a circus camp they were doing. This time our meeting was in a more tropical environment. There are so many things about Shane that I love and so many things about him that challenge me. His commitment to the poor in Philly, his spending time with Mother Theresa, his kick-ass firebreathing skills. These things inspire me and bring a smile to my face. His going to Iraq days before the impending US "shock and awe" invasion, his courage to put his own life on the line for what he believes, these things challenge me. We got a chance to chat about his first book that is coming out from Zondervan in the new year. Not only does he name corporations and executives that practice injustice but he has also committed to give away all of the proceeds from the book sales. On top of that he also is releasing his book for free on the simple way website. Click the image above to see their site. Designed by another kick-ass guy Micheal Brix! Peace to north Philly!
I got the chance to meet Spencer Burke the creator of theooze.com this weekend. he is a great guy with tons of energy and insight! He came down with Barry Taylor(speaking of energy and insight!) We had a great time! Click the image above to see the ooze.
I was flipping through channels on the Devil's Fishbowl a few nights ago and saw Bob Dylan on three different shows. I went into a panic, thinking that he must have died to be getting all this press. Then I landed on the PBS documentary No Direction Home by Martin Scorcese. I realized that Bob wasn't dead, he was just lingering back into the pop cultural landscape. This time not as the young punky revolutionary but as the wise old guru. The narative that was presented was so inspiring. It centered around his development as an artist. One of the most exciting and even awe inspiring things was the way he faced boo-ing crowds with such power and confidence. He taunted them and then played so loud that their boo's were drowned out. I think that, more than any other songwriter, Bob Dylan has given me permission to write what I feel. I just wish more songwriters had an ounce of his talent.
This picture was taken during last week's sunday gathering of New Providence Community Church. While I was taking a few pictures for an upcoming magazine article about our community's vision, I was reminded how much I loved being a part of NPCC. Last night we had a Creativity and Spirituality discussion about the work of Nick Cave. The discussion centered around, among other things, the difference between spirituality being mediated and controlled by religion and true spirituality calling people together in loving community. Christianity has been practiced as a power-based religion of power and oppression for so long that many people cannot see the power of authentic community. They are always looking over their shoulder expecting the long arm of heirarchy to smash them into line.
i am proud to be a part of a Christian community that has no desire for power and control but is in love with Jesus. I am not at NPCC out of any feeling of religious duty but out of a genuine desire to share my life with others as we learn what it means to lvoe God, ourselves and each other. Today I am thankful! |
Christianity is not intellectual suicide! After taking part in a very disturbing and close-minded dialogue about creation vs evolution, I was reminded again that lots of people are convinced that they have the right to tell you what you should think and believe. As if becoming a christian was the same as agreeing to never doubt or question. Why are christians so fearful? Why does their faith need to be proved or why is it threatened by different interpretations?
On Saturady I took part in a very open-minded dialogue with a Jewish scholar and I was floored by the differences in the way Jews and Christians relate to their faith, the scripture, and God. Within Judaism there is this prevailing idea that God wants us to wrestle together to seek after Him. How did that openness and diversity fall away from the christian faith? The link above is a great blogring of christians who are willing to question and wrestle with their whole beings (body, mind and soul) with the deeper issues of life on God's terms. Check out the dialogues if you have the faith.
Everyone had to learn from someone. I learned to play the guitar, and explore the soul of music, from Jonathan Kreisberg. I am glad to see him working so hard to keep making his own music. Click the image to see his website and listen to some of his brillant jazz tunes.
Recently the writer/director of the wildly popular Matrix trilogy, admitted that his inspiration for the ideas in the movie came from noted(and reclusive) philosopher Ken Wilber and his integral (AQAL) writings. Ken's work is an endeavor to reunite all of the divergent paths of inquiry that have risen out of modernity. Rather than taking a postmodern/deconstructionist view of reality, Wilber has tried to integrate it all together into one grand map of reality. In this book No Bounderies, He takes on the idea of religion and spirituality. I love the way he retells the story of the fall of man. Instead of original sin being any specific action or behaviour, he describes it as the process of creating conceptual dividing lines that separate one Ultimate Reality into many differentiated parts. These dividing line(both external and internal) are the route of all abuse and suffering in our world. I have been reading a few books by Wilber and i am really enjoying his writing. His wesite is even better. Click the image above to go to www.integralnaked.org - it is pack full of videos, essays and lots of things that will blown your head off. You can also get one months membership for free!
Ever since I was a little twelve year old break-dancing fool, I have had a love for graffiti and street art. You can imagine my joy when I discoverd this wonderful website dedicated to capturing the street art/graffiti scene all over the globe. This site is run by a husband and wife living in NYC. Everyday they post images from all over, that inspire and challenge traditional views on art and culture. i have been introduced to many exciting artists through this site and you should visit now and see for yourself. Be sure to check out the VitaminF mixes(lower left side of the page) These mp3 mixes are created by street artists and reflect the kinds of tunes that they listen to when they are working. Creativity knows no limits!
I have been so moved by the life and writings of Father Thomas Keating. He is an 84 year-old monk who has retired and committed his remaining life to fostering inter-religious dialogue and promoting the lost practice of Centering-Prayer. I have been listening to a video series where he teaches the practice of centering prayer. I have been practicing centering prayer for three years now and he stated that anyone who has practiced for under ten years is still a novice. That's easy for him to say after 84 years of life! His website is packed full of wonderful spiritual insights. He also displays his amazing generosity by giving away the text to ALL of his 13 books(in the articles archive section) I wonder how he got his publishers to go for the idea of making his books availible for free online? What a wonderful gift. I recommend "The Kingdom of God is Like..." He takes the parables of Jesus and interprets them in very revolutionary ways. He is a true mystic in a time when mystics are needed most by the church to bring balance back to a faith that has been over intellectualized for the last 4-500 years since the reformation.
I wonder if, in his wildest crazy dreams, Vincent Van Gogh could have ever imagined that hundreds of years after his death Chinese people would be carving his image out of watermelons? It is truely amazing what kinds of creative things people will find to occupy thier time. I was beginning to feel a little strange for spending time making little clay people but now that I have seen this slideshow I feel much better about myself! You have to click the image above and go to this little slideshow of watermelon carvings. Not only is in a very unigue idea but the types of things that the artists decide to carve are out of the ordinary. My two favorites are the image above and a little cyclist(no doubt in honor of great chinese cycling hero Lance Armstrong.
