A Surprisingly Unsung Bard

I find this amusing, especially given our blatant lack of knowledge about the person generally known as William Shakespeare. Despite what the residents of Stratford-Upon-Avon would have you believe, we really don't know much about the playwright who crafted the body of work that is attributed to Shakespeare. So, I'm not sure anyone is in any sort of position to proclaim what Shakespeare would and would not approve of. That's like saying Homer would be totally down with violent, gory movies, simply because the Iliad features loads of descriptive violence, or that Robin Hood would support redistribution of wealth in modern society. (Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore...)

"He is on the hunt."

Ok, so I'm usually not into the 80's style of music, and I haven't been all that attracted to the Smiths in the past, but I thought I'd check out some music by Morrissey, the singer from the Smiths, who went on to pursue a solo career. So far, it's been interesting. I'm listening to his first solo album, Viva Hate. The one thing I like about him is that he isn't afraid to use ALL of his voice. He really sings, and sings pretty well. A lot of singers(and I use that term loosely) don't actually tap into the full potential of the human voice, which is just stupid. Morrissey actually sings in a way that sounds full and expansive, which is rare, at least, in my experience. Interesting stuff. Not exactly my usual fare, but a change of pace is always nice.

I've been playing around with my grandfather's old Yashica rangefinder camera, a Yashica Electro 35. I'm not used to the way rangefinders focus, so it's a little different, but I kind of like it. The lens does pretty well indoors, and can take good exposures(at least, according to the meter) without a flash. It's a really fun camera, and I'm glad I've been able to mess around with it a bit.

Leaving for Britain on Tuesday, more later.

Hail Blog, King of Bashan

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeeeeaaaah.

Anyways, hullo. I am currently preparing for my trip to the UK, which begins on June 2nd. Pretty awesome. I should probably be packing right now. Nah.

On a completely unrelated note, Ashton Kutcher will never be taken seriously. Ever. I cannot look at him without seeing one word blatantly plastered across his face: Kelso.

I've found a new band. Actually, it's not exactly a band. It's one of those deals where it's really only one guy who does the music and the recording, but he tours with some people who play all the instruments. Anyways, it's called Say Hi. It used to be called Say Hi To Your Mom, but the opportunity for "your mom" jokes must have been too tempting for some people, and the dude probably got pissed off and just changed the name. Something like that. I dunno. The sound is basically what you'd get if you took the Strokes, Death Cab For Cutie, and Conor Oberst, put them in a blender, pressed the "liquefy" button, and poured the resulting concoction into a frosty glass. The music is indie pop/rock of a pretty chill sort. Nothing completely mind-blowing, but it's nice to find some indie music that isn't overly angsty, doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's written by some guy wearing skinny jeans and a flamboyantly ridiculous tie. It's catchy, fun to listen to, and talks about cool stuff like vampires and robots and things. What's not to like?

YEEEEEAAAAAAH

The government is my friend

This is really sort of silly. So, to begin with, everyone is caught up in this notion that the internet is now where everything is happening. Putting things on the internet is the only way to everyone's attention, especially if you're talking about young people. The internet is where everyone gets their news, information, ideas, etc. Well, that's the premise, anyways. Political campaigns have recognized the usefulness of the internet as a more or less free source of advertising, and the most recent Presidential campaign saw the use of YouTube as a campaigning tool come into play. So, the United States government has seen fit to create a YouTube account. Look at this, it's crazy: USGovernment. They've got the EPA, FEMA, the White House, State Department, Social Security Administration, FBI, NASA, USDA... pretty much all manner of governmental alphabet soup organizations. Kind of silly if you ask me. YouTube will probably be on the out sometime in the next five years or so, and it will all be for naught.

Needless to say, I sent the U.S. Government a friend request.

An Open Letter to the Church in America

Brothers and Sisters:

We screwed up bad, guys. We've got some work to do.

Love,
Andrew

I don't think I need to comment on this.

Strange Times

You can always tell what a culture worships by its blasphemy laws, the things that you aren't allowed to say. Blasphemy laws in America, whether on the legal books themselves or merely stigma present in society, are turning against God's truth. That's all there is to it. America's god is not God. America's god is Man's ability to rebel against his creator. As someone who is studying to be a Christian educator, will be going to seminary, and possibly entering the ministry, these sorts of trends are scary because of the fact that within the next twenty years, certain aspects of my profession will almost certainly be criminalized on the federal level. This should be scary for all Christians, really. But even so, I welcome this turn of events. The church has always flourished under the rod of persecution, and this will be no exception. As America continues to descend into the pit of atheism and despair that Europe has fallen into, Christ Triumphant will make his church stronger than ever.

"Though there be those who hate her,
And false sons in her pale,
Against both foe or traitor
She ever shall prevail."

A Thought

I keep finding people whom I've met at school on Facebook, and these individuals say on their profiles that they are Christians. I would have never guessed from the way they act. This caused me to wonder. Could the same be true of me? This is a simple realisation, but it is a very serious one, and will no doubt give rise to circumspect reflection on my part. In fact, this is something for all Christians to consider, regardless of age or spiritual maturity. We must always be on our guard against assimilation.

"Give us those nice bright colours..."

I've finally ventured into the realm of film photography. My weapon of choice is the Nikon F5:

This camera is really awesome. The autofocus is insanely fast, the body has the durability of an ironclad war-elephant, and the shutter speeds are, like the autofocus, ridiculously speedy. It makes my D60 seem like a toy, it really does. I can honestly say that despite the slight inconvenience of developing film, I'd much rather pick up my F5 and shoot with that as opposed to my D60. The glass I've got on the F5 is a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, which is a really great budget prime lens:

It does a good job in lower light conditions and gives me a lot more breathing room when it comes to shutter speeds. Also, the depth of focus is incredible. Shooting wide open at f/1.8, the background is completely blurred, leaving only the subject in focus. Really great stuff. I've already shot one roll of Fujichrome Velvia 100(Not Paul Simon material, apparently):

I'm going to get it developed tomorrow, so we'll see how it turns out. I'll have a digital CD made along with the prints, so I'll be sure to post the photos on here.

A House Divided Against Itself

BBC News

Some American Christians seem to think that things are getting worse for believers in this country. And while the United States is certainly not receptive to the Church and her ways as a whole, we are in paradise compared to Europe. An entire continent, which had once been the bulwark of Christian civilisation, has now been overcome by despair and atheism. When Christians in both Europe and the United States find themselves unable to take Biblical stances on issues like abortion and homosexuality, as the Church of Scotland is on the verge of doing, we are going to have problems. If Christians allow wholesale murder to continue on their very doorsteps, without saying a word against it, how can they expect to further Christ's kingdom? As for me, I will continue to pray for the church in Africa and Asia, because when our time comes, and our churches are in need, we will have brothers and sisters in those parts of the world that were once dark. We are not immune. American Christianity is a mile wide and only half an inch deep, European Christianity is under assault, and those places which we once ministered to are now beginning to reach out towards us. We must not concede ground. Even if our nation won't listen to us, we cannot conform. As long as portions of the Church are willing to give in to post-modernism, we, as the catholic, universal church, will not be able to move forward.