My Tribute

So, I was walking home from the Blue Moon, the only coffee shop available in Hastings (that’s fairly important–I’m in Hastings right now) today. I stopped at a video rental place, and, while I was there, I noticed someone familiar: ex-Husker quarterback Joe Dailey was here. Apparently, his girlfriend goes to Hastings College (and by the way, there is some speculation that he will transfer to Hastings College for that very reason–you heard it here first), so he frequents my hometown. As I was trying to determine if it was, in fact, him, he saw me staring a couple of times. I felt stupid, but mainly, I felt an overwhelming sense of pity for him. Poor kid, his failures have drawn the attention of the nation and the disgust of the Husker Nation. I know he was terrible, but I really felt sorry for him.

Suddenly, a song came to mind appropriate to Joe and his situation. So, allow me to post my tribute to Joe, courtesy of Derek Webb.net. (Disclaimer: Just remember that I’m an angry member of the Husker Nation, too.)

Nothing is Ever Enough

She’s not real
She’s the spokes on a wheel
The way she moves
Will take you where you wanna go [Unless you want to go to a bowl game]

You’re the one
That she steals from
But if not you
She’s gonna find somebody else [Who apparently will be Zac Taylor]

‘Cause nothing is ever enough
Nothing is ever enough
and you love her
But you know you got to leave her
She’s leaving you with
With no way out [I'd say that about sums up a fourth-string position]

And she’s a jewel
In the nose of a fool [Well, we'll just see how Callhan pans out]
She’s beautiful
But she don’t know who she is [West Coast? Option? A mix???]

And you’re a wreck
Because you suspect
She’ll never be
Who she was years ago [Oh, wait, that's everyone who lives in Nebraska]

‘Cause nothing is ever enough
Nothing is ever enough
and you love her
But you know you got to leave her
She’s leaving you with
No way out
and you love her
You know you got to leave her
She’s leaving you with
With no way out

Maybe you don’t see it
but she’s waiting everywhere you’re gonna go
in the faces of the people
Who look at you like someone that they know [That's me!]

And you love her
But you know you got to leave her
She’s leaving you with
No way out
and you love her
But you know you got to leave her
She’s leaving you with
No way out [Enjoy being a Bronco, Joe!]

Disappointment

I have lost all faith in the possibility of good Christian fiction this side of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. On the recommendation of a good friend (who shall remain nameless in order to protect the innocent), I read Ted Dekker’s Thr3e. It certainly had its moments of brilliance and interest; however, I honestly wanted to quit reading the book with ten pages left–only my obsessive-compulsive tendencies kept me reading long enough to finish this trash.

First, the good. I’ll grant that Dekker wrote a page-turner. The man can be a good writer. For example, the first sentence of the book made me want to cry: “The office had no windows, only electric lanterns to light the hundreds of spines standing in their cherry wood bookcases” (1). On the whole, though, the book was a downward spiral (reminiscent of a toilet flushing, come to think of it) of cliches of writing, plot, and material. Basically, if you have seen a certain existentialist movie (I’m not talking about I Heart Huckabees, but a different, more Kafka-esque movie which I will not reveal, because doing so would completely ruin Dekker’s book, in case some of you still want to put yourself through the torture of reading it) and know anything about Sigmund Freud (not so much the sexual stuff, but his id, ego, and superego ideas), you have read this book. So disappointing.

How did C.S. Lewis write unapologetically Christian fiction that didn’t completely suck? How did J.R.R. Tolkien write fiction that reeked of Christianity without having anything to do with it, all the while writing the best and most influential fantasy series known to literature? Is it because they made us think? Is it because they were good writers? Is it because they were literary geniuses? Is it all those things? I was very excited to read this book, because I’ve heard so many people say that Ted Dekker is the one bright light in the dark abyss of “Christian” fiction, which otherwise includes the Left Behind series and what I call “Christian girly-books”; if so, we’re doomed.

Do we no longer have creative ideas? Do we no longer have good writers? Have the doctrines of Christianity become so dumbed-down and trite that they no longer inspire us to the beauty of truth?

So many questions; so few answers.

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And for any other blogspot blog owners interested in this feature, check out Audioblogger.

And for any other blogspot blog owners interested in this feature, check out Audioblogger.

"God’s Grandeur"

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

– Gerard Manley Hopkins

Out of this world

The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster

Awesome. Simply awesome.

Think You’ve Had a Bad Day?

D’oh!

(Be sure to watch the video.)

Mix Me!

As some of you know, I’m heading to England and France in about a week. And now I’m inviting you to come with me! Sort of.

Here’s my request: a six song mix for listening to in either London or Paris. Either post a comment listing the songs, or email me (let me know via comment if you need my email address.) I’d prefer that you pick songs I already have, or are purchaseable via iTunes. Special preference also goes to people who explain why they picked the songs they did (i.e. “I listened to this track while riding the Paris Metro and it fit the mood well,” etc.)

And maybe I’ll pick a winner to get some wonderful prize (although I have a feeling that will be too difficult, given the quality of the mixes put together on the Minneapolis trip.) Of course, this requires people to participate, so if you can/want to, please do!

(If you absolutely have to, I’ll accept (heh…”accept”…as if this is I’ll have loads of entries) more than six songs, but try to keep it under ten.)