One of these things is pretty much like the other

This morning on the way to the LA Central Library (which I highly recommend), I heard on the radio about Scientology leader David Miscavige naming Tom Cruise the “chosen one” of the religion.* While drinking coffee before the library opened, I had a conversation with a likeable man named Dash, who told me that when [...]

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Van Haggard

I saw a clip of Eddie Van Halen the other day, and I thought, man, Eddie makes Keith Richards look like Kathy Lee Gifford.
The Coachella headliners are, once again, 1995’s hot ticket item. I went to see U2 with a friend in 92 or 93 (whatever that tour was before it blossomed into ZOOTV), [...]

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Appetite for Construction

Ken used this great quote from G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy this morning:
It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has [...]

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Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution

MLK’s sermon at the National Cathedral came up yesterday in class, as we discussed the sermons of anti-apartheid pastor Peter Storey. Storey says, “sometimes we let our institutions do our sinning for us.” Here are a few exerpts from King, or read the whole thing, where he stands in our national pulpit and takes on [...]

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The Future is Now

I just figured out that I was posting from the future (the two posts below this one were originally dated tomorrow). All this time I should have been noting the weather, or put in something from the Business section.
It occurred to me this week that if every valley will be exalted and every mountain will [...]

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Let’s Think of Something to Do while We’re Waiting

My wife showed me a clip of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” she’d watched with the young’un about what people call their grandparents. First, he played a recording on a tape recorder (which is not magic, and Mister Rogers did not go into and talk out of, but somebody invented) of grandparents telling what their grandchildren call [...]

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MLK

If you didn’t already take time to hear the Reverend Dr. King speak, it’s always a good day to do it. If you’re not a TV watcher, Larry James posted the text of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” on his blog.
When I’ve tried to illustrate what difference the biblical vision makes [...]

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I’m it.

Something about this feels like everything that is wrong with the web. However, since Tyler invoked the sacred rules of netiquette, I feel obliged to respond to my tag. Five things one of you might not know about me (fungus-free edition):
1. The first LP I asked for and owned was Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits Vol [...]

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God in the Corridor

As long as we’re talking about TV, here’s Bono being interviewed with the Edge by Dave Stewart for that HBO thing a few months ago.
DS: [When you are writing], are you channeling words?
Bono: You’ve been in California too long, Dave.
We’re just trying to get to the right channel. I think that’s what it is.
And [...]

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Graced In the Middle

Little Children writer/director Todd Field was briefly interviewed on Sunday Morning Shootout. He was asked about happy endings, and reflects on Tom Perrotta’s book on which the film is based:
“I don’t believe in happy endings. I think that happy endings are stories that aren’t really over. I do believe in moments of grace.
“The thing that [...]

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