tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35436402009-08-31T12:07:54.789-04:00Threshing FloorAn attempt to separate wheat from chaffjameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comBlogger533125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-47617375134600904852009-07-08T08:09:00.001-04:002009-07-08T08:11:26.476-04:00After a long absence, i am back, but not at this location any longer.Anyone wishing to follow the new adventure is welcome to visit me here.jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-45788897639856078222008-05-25T20:27:00.001-04:002008-05-25T20:27:39.587-04:00This is a test.jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1135270996425303492005-12-22T11:52:00.000-05:002005-12-22T12:03:16.440-05:00hiatusThe posts have been less and less frequent over the past month, and with the exception of the highly entertaining cyber-discourse between myself and Luke about Creed and Scott Stapp, there hasn't been much for readers to, well, read.i have always enjoyed the blog format, but it occurs to me that there are other projects, namely a book, some music and an essay or two, i have in the wings jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1133972161577525782005-12-07T11:06:00.000-05:002005-12-07T11:17:11.840-05:00PricelessMy 8-year-old son brought home his report card the other day and the comments from his various teachers were good to read. Overall he was evaluated as being a good student with academic talent at the appropriate level. He was described more than once as "enthusiastic."i began to wonder if "enthusiastic" was a code word / euphemism for something else. My suspicion was heightened after jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1133874796509329842005-12-06T08:07:00.001-05:002005-12-06T08:13:16.510-05:00More JazzLuke comments:I agree with Tim's take on the book. I bought and reccomended Jazz for a couple people a year or two ago. I think that his writing took a bell shaped curve, from the searching of VW, hit its stride at the top with Jazz, and now is starting to lose some attraction for me with Searching, as he goes from wanderer to pilgrim to preacher in his tone, across the three books. it'sjameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1133874743422422102005-12-06T08:07:00.000-05:002005-12-06T08:12:23.436-05:00More JazzLuke comments:I agree with Tim's take on the book. I bought and reccomended Jazz for a couple people a year or two ago. I think that his writing took a bell shaped curve, from the searching of VW, hit its stride at the top with Jazz, and now is starting to lose some attraction for me with Searching, as he goes from wanderer to pilgrim to preacher in his tone, across the three books. it'sjameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1133812659464129002005-12-05T14:54:00.000-05:002005-12-05T14:57:39.476-05:00Blue Like Jazz . . . Tim comments: I felt Miller's politics coming through more in his subsequent book, Searching For God Knows What, than in Jazz. That may be why I liked the latter much more than the former. Blue Like Jazz is the "cool thing" these days it seems, but I actually read it more than 2 years ago now, having been familiarized with Miller's writing through his first book, Prayer and jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1133459735082491402005-12-01T12:48:00.000-05:002005-12-01T12:55:35.096-05:00Potatoes : Half-Baked but Warming UpLeslie comments:James, it was hard for me... I REALLY, REALLY wanted to like this book 100% w/o reservations. Everyone I asked about it.. everything I read. Miller's writing is excellent. One chapter almost brought me to tears while I was reading it in the hospital cafeteria.... It's his personal beliefs that I have a problem with... politically I'm on the jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1133448709967427052005-12-01T09:42:00.000-05:002005-12-01T09:51:49.980-05:00More Food for ThoughtLeslie comments: you need to read the book... i'll loan it to you.... i half liked it.... sorta like a half baked potato.In keeping with the "food" motif, Leslie mentions a half-baked potato as her description of Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz, which certainly doesn't give me a burning desire to read the book. As a writer who longs one day to author books and such as a way of jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1133362170922306152005-11-30T09:42:00.000-05:002005-11-30T09:49:30.933-05:00Food For ThoughtUpon visiting Barlow farms i found some comments from Jon regarding Christianity and Culture, specifically as it related to teaching a class in which the discussion focused on Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz.i have not read the book, so i am only responding to Jon's quick posting on it. As a parenthetical at the end of Jon's post he wrote this:(In the current climate, just to head jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1132148834767775132005-11-16T08:45:00.000-05:002005-11-16T08:47:14.776-05:00Is it a game?Luke writes:its a video game. involves dancing. i couldn't tell what this was a picture of right away, so i made a guess. its a sport of some kind? mostly kidding.good question, actually. some would call it a Passion; life itself. if one is to refer to it as a "game," we prefer to call it "The Beautiful Game."jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1132068937772949872005-11-15T10:29:00.000-05:002005-11-15T10:38:18.460-05:00In response to my picture of Michael Owen scoring a goal against Argentina, Luke writes: i didnt know you were such a fan of Dance Dance Revolution.What does that mean?jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1131974484222950552005-11-14T08:20:00.000-05:002005-11-14T08:21:24.426-05:003 Lions Roar : 2 goal hero Michael Owen.jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1131548467156987172005-11-09T09:59:00.000-05:002005-11-09T10:01:07.166-05:00Criticsi feel lately i have been surrounded by more and more critics; could we possibly need any more critics?So many people i have encountered over the last week or two seem so strongly opinionated in how things ought to be and the failures of others.It reminds me of this famous Teddy Roosevelt quote known as Man in the Arena:"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1130961554903788182005-11-02T14:50:00.000-05:002005-11-02T14:59:14.916-05:00Problem With Authority?i just returned from a business trip to New England and every person i met there who had any sort of uniform on for any reason whatsoever seemed foul tempered. i was surprised, at least a little. but i shouldn't have been.i know Philadelphia gets its share of knocks for being a mean place; full of jerks, many say. but at the airport, the security folks in Philly were jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1130440102406905092005-10-27T15:03:00.000-04:002005-10-27T15:08:22.420-04:00Under WaterLuke comments:thank goodness, maybe now they can get back to playing more nickelback and creed.i dont really mean it, but i'm just not sure you'll do this without me anymore. does that make you the co-dependant, for needing me to comment, or me, for needing to think that you need me?thanks for the comment, Luke, and for reading. all i can say right now is that life and work are so busyjameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1129732302065469332005-10-19T10:29:00.000-04:002005-10-19T10:31:42.070-04:00Gladin case anybody cares, i am SO glad the 885 album countdown on WXPN FM is finally over.jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1129226918977295942005-10-13T14:05:00.000-04:002005-10-13T14:08:38.983-04:00CommentsLuke tells me Blogger comments are the new Sensus Plenior _ in fact, they aren't even new.well, that may be, but i just stick with what works. i found SP and stayed with it.as for pressing COMMENT every 108 minutes, i like that idea, it certainly means getting a steady stream of interaction on the blog.jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1129207608807797282005-10-13T08:38:00.000-04:002005-10-13T08:46:48.813-04:00LostLuke comments:I'm new to lost, I'll be getting season one soon, but I must say I find the 108 thing very interesting. is it real, is it an experiment? you notice how easily some people (desmond, locke) were talked into the necessity of "pushing the button" with so little information? but i look forward to seeing other parts of the island and cast that haven't recieved as much screen time yet jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1129147492150871492005-10-12T15:59:00.000-04:002005-10-12T16:04:52.150-04:00Scott Stapp, Tinfoil and Orangutansyes, the flogging of the dead horse which is the conversation about how much Luke hates Scott Stapp continues.i commented at his blog that, like him, i am disappointed with Alias this season. Parenthetically, Lost isn't much better right now as far as i am concerned. That bunker and the 108 minutes thing is weak. But, i'm willing to give a little time: about 108jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1129146788743082972005-10-12T15:50:00.000-04:002005-10-12T15:53:08.750-04:00Guess Who Came To Dinner?i know it sounds like some bad joke on the order of: a priest, a rabbi and a minister are riding in a car; but seriously, the other night out to dinner at a fine Italian restaurant the conversation turned to politics and the mix was: Republicans, an Independent and a Socialist.The conversation was lively and fun, actually. The entertaining aspect was that all of us have jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1129060848288466732005-10-11T15:57:00.000-04:002005-10-11T16:00:48.296-04:00Bono, Scott Stapp and BeyondPerhaps you thought we had run out of things to say about Scott Stapp _ and we might be well advised to leave it alone, but Luke is so fun to talk to, i had to find a way to continue the discussion.Luke tells me he feels bad for not having anything more to say (check the comments on the previous post). But i get the feeling he will have plenty to say when he visits jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1129049362854738802005-10-11T12:37:00.000-04:002005-10-11T12:49:22.860-04:00BonoLuke adds:it may not be the same one, but the interview that i read from that time frame seemed to imply that Bono felt that calling oneself a christian creates a whole lot to live up to, and he wasnt sure that he felt worthy of that. The interview to which i am referring covered lots of ground; the band spoke at length about its work and answered some questions about its "faith." The jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1128971193771382142005-10-10T14:50:00.000-04:002005-10-10T15:06:33.780-04:00To Bono or Not To Bono, That is the Question:Luke defines "Anti-Bono":In my opinion:Bono: writes great songs, often with a bit of faith thrown in (thinking of the bulk of his work, post-gloria, pre-Yahweh) and from that perspective. When pressed on it, he would say "well, we have our beliefs but we dont like to cram it down people's throats"Stapp: Wrote songs that were actually quite blatantly jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543640.post-1128966022438207152005-10-10T13:34:00.000-04:002005-10-10T13:40:22.443-04:00Scott Stapp SmackdownLuke, again:i want extra points for increasing your blog output many-fold.scott stapp is the anti-bono. i mean that as an insult.Luke does indeed get extra points for increasing my blog output. But, on to the more exciting part of his post.i never intended all these posts to turn into a defense of Scott Stapp. And yet, such harshness from Luke makes me _ almost _ want to. i jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06663298474435211042noreply@blogger.com