Helpful Reminders

I began reading Madeleine l'Engle's Walking on Water. The book contains her thoughts on Christianity and art. While not a new subject to me, it serves as a helpful reminder that we are all artists (to one extent or another) and that adding to the culture of this world is something deeply Christian.

I learn that my feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable. To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory. -Madeleine L'Engle

the proposal

I've been engaged for a month now. It's beautiful, difficult, annoying, and fantastic. When it comes to issues that I care about (my future wife), I don't necessarily like blogging about such things as I would prefer sharing in person. Yet I was filling in some of our "theknot" information (you know you're really planning a wedding when you actively seek out wedding websites) and just entered in our "engagement story". So for those of you I have yet to share with, here's my written account of the proposal:

Well, after purchasing an engagement ring on Etsy (per Jorjette's request) and receiving it on Friday, December 10th, I waited a total of one day to propose.

So, Friday evening (Silent Night for all you Taylor people), I dropped some flowers and a postcard (my preferred "note" medium) off at Jorjette's apartment, asking if she would spend the following day with me. She accepted.

Next, I picked Jorjette up and we headed down to Indy for the day. We began at Patachou, Jorjette's favorite diner spot in Indy. Lunch included French toast for Jorje and an omelette for myself. Despite being seated next to a group of late-20s aged women who enjoyed talking about babies rolling over and hair getting caught in vacuums, lunch was just perfect as we got to spend it together in one of our favorite spots.

After this, we took a little trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We visited the Lily House first, enjoyed its Christmas decorations, avoided the tour groups, and talked to Jorje's middle school teacher who works the front desk. We then proceeded to the museum.

Now I must confess that I had little planned besides taking Jorjette to the museum and proposing. So in just about every room of the museum, I considered getting down on one knee and proposing ... only to awkwardly linger and wait for the perfect moment. The moment did not present itself very well. I decided that I would have to make the moment happen on my own.While exiting the museum, I detoured us around the fountain out front (amidst the ever increasing rain), told Jorjette I loved her about 4 times, said I was just going to "cut to the chase", got down on one knee, and proposed.

After Jorjette responded with an "of course" and I stated how much of a fool I am for botching up important things like proposals, we decided the proposal was just as awkward as we are and thus fit rather well.

The rest of the day was spent with Jorje's family, calling people on the ride back to Taylor, and spending the night with friends.

I am now engaged to marry the love of my life. Nothing could make me happier.

That's my version of the story...

What makes good television?

There's a show coming out on MTV called Skins (trailer below). It's been running for 3 or 4 years now in England so, obviously, the US has to try to improve upon it. From what I can tell, the show is about teenagers. And it's supposed to be edgy, gritty, real - drawing upon real, live teenagers for inspiration.

The New Yorker has a short piece about it here and Paste Magazine lists it as one of their ten TV premieres they're looking forward to this month.

My question is: what constitutes quality television? The moral effect shows like this have on the viewer aside, is being "true to life" enough to make a show "good"? The assumption seems to be that as long as it stems from true-life stories of teenage craziness, it should be good... or at least interesting. Or perhaps it is the moral boundaries that it will be pushing that's garnering the attention.

For the fashion minded...

I suppose that if you cared, you'd probably already be following The Satorialist. The blog is simply shots of people on the street showing off their fashion. Below is a YouTube video documentary on the photographer that Intel put together for some sort of marketing campaign of theirs involving seeing the world differently.

Anyways, I enjoyed the 7-minute video and it serves nicely as a "moving-picture" accompaniment to the pictures typically on the blog. As the photographer says in the mini-doc, he's able to provide a "global park bench" for the viewer to people-watch.

To read

Being Christmas break, apparently I'm supposed to have time to read, both "for fun" and "for school". And do all the normal Christmas related things. Ha.

Anyway, I am trying to squeeze in some "for fun" reading into my break in some sort of half-hearted attempt at living a balanced lifestyle that includes leisurely activities like "pleasure reading". This endeavor has come in the shape of A.J. Jacobs's book, The Year of Living Biblically. The dude is a secular Jew who writes for Esquire magazine and lives in New York City's Upper West Side (yeah, he's quite the cliche).

The book details a year in which he attempts to follow every rule of the Bible (hence, his beard pictures above). While a little gimmicky in nature, I've enjoyed his reflections on the book I say I surround my life around. In general, there's always something pretty interesting about hearing an outsider's comments on one's lifestyle (religiously narcissistic?) when done in a relatively objective manner. An atheist guy did something sort of similar a few years back when he sold his soul on ebay and then visited a number of churches, only to get a book deal out of it. A.J.'s book is better written and is a little more comprehensive ("ebay guy" had some fascination with evangelical church's excellent public speakers). It also reads like someone writing from NYC - what I believe The New Yorker would read like even though I don't actually read The New Yorker. I'm only a third of the way through the book but I enjoy A.J.'s humor and candidness concerning Christianity and I suppose I think it's important that, as a Christian, I remain somewhat aware of perceptions held towards whatever subgroup I may fall into.

All this to say, I'd recommend the book if you're looking. I got a few other books for Xmas that will hopefully be read before 2nd semester (that Bonhoeffer book and some mentoring book I always allude to in my class papers but haven't actually read). Alright, have a splendid New Year's. Keep reading, it's good for you.

Christmas thoughts

As a semi-well educated, hip twenty-something, I'm fairly good at complaining. One such occurrence happens frequently whenever I hear someone (typically a pastor or a "Christian by trade") call the listener to remember the "reason for the season" and to "get back" to the true meaning of Christmas. My initial response, as a whiny young person, is to explain to everyone around me that Jesus' real birth most likely didn't happen anytime around December and that a call back to the meaning of Christmas would bring us back to some sort of Roman (or is it Greek?) pagan holiday which really has nothing to do with Jesus' birth.

I know, I annoy myself.

The next step in the conversation (one I rarely get to) should be about the redemption that can happen with holidays like Christmas. And hopefully, we can be reminded of the redemption that Christ can bring to all of life. That's something I can celebrate. So it is at this time of year that I would like to call everyone to remember not the true meaning of the holiday (I am neither Roman nor Greek and don't necessarily care to celebrate their pagan holidays), but rather to embrace the redeeming love brought through our lord Jesus that extends through our whole lives, even to our holidays.

Top 11 of 2010

On what could have been the "Top10 of 2010" (numeric alliteration, if you will), I chose to include 11 albums on my "best of" list for the year. I know, it could have been awesome, but I simply could not exclude any of these albums. It literally would have been a personal insult to the artist.

Now to the (usual) preface:

For me, Top10 lists are 100% subjective. Unlike the responsibilities magazines, websites, or "real" bloggers hold in being "objective", this is a list of personal favorites. Case in point: Arcade Fire's The Suburbs is certainly one of the best albums of the year yet I feel zero responsibility on including them in my Top10 when I didn't listen to or enjoy the album as much as my other choices. I feel especially inclined to include this caveat of an intro as a number of great indie rockstar albums came out this year yet they didn't make my list.

Anyhow, a ton of great music has come out this year and being out of school for the majority of it allowed me to listen to a lot of it. Here are my top picks and a brief reason why. Enjoy and, if I know you, link to your Top10 list in the comment section... I'm always looking for new music and new lists.

11. Beach House - Teen Dream

Dreamy. Swirly. Non-distinct. An album I had to include simply because of the number of times I ended up listening to it. I never got excited about it. I rarely even felt like listening to it. It just always found its way into being played. It's kind of like a crappy apartment that isn't really special in many ways but it finds a way into your heart because of its familiarity.

10. The National - High Violet

This band is just great at crafting songs filled with melancholy. I chalk it up to their lead singer's baritone vocals. Again, this isn't a band I get excited about. Rather, as with this album, I hit play and am instantly overwhelmed with well crafted songs and lyrics filled with fantastic imagery.

9. Tokyo Police Club - Champ

This was my first foray into TPC's music. Taking it back a couple of years, I get the same feeling from this band as I did from the Christian garage-rock band, Bleach (any takers on that comparison?). What I mean is that this band is great at making catchy jams that are easy to rock out to.

8. Vampire Weekend - Contra

Loved their first album. Love this album. A few more blips and beeps this time around. Catchy pop songs. Needlessly intelligent lyrics but that's besides the point, I'm not listening to VW for their lyrics. Sidenote: the fiancée bought us tickets to their show earlier this year and we grooved for a solid hour.

7. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz

It's about time. After waiting for a solid five years for a significant new album, Suf delivers the jams. And I mean jams. Leave it to the indie-king to change a lot of the instrumentation but keep what we all love about him. While most artists would most likely flub up, Sufjan creates sounds and atmospheres that will keep me listening for a long while.

6. The Drums - The Drums

I kind of started listening to this band as a joke. My little bro showed me a song called "Let's Go Surfing" which, as the name suggests, is pretty awesome. Little did I know that I would love the rest of the overly dramatic album as well. This one's perfect for a trip to the beach ... or wishing you were at the beach.

5. Sleigh Bells - Treats

Pretty voice. Distorted guitar. Heavy beats. It's like a mash-up created from scratch. I love the intensity of this band and the fact that it's the perfect album to throw on when in the car with a group of friends.

4. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt

Man, this guy came to Taylor my senior year and I missed the show ... then again, I really had no idea who he was so I can't really kick myself. I'm pretty sure he's not actually that tall but this album is great. Guitar and a fantastic voice. That's pretty much all it is. And it's perfect for background noise, for driving by yourself at dusk, for studying, for listening to.

3. Jonsi - Go

I was a little hesitant where this one was going to go. Jonsi's departure from Sigur Ros with Riceboy Sleeps had me literally sleeping so I didn't know what to expect from this release. I was pleasantly surprised. This album is large, joyful, exciting, fun, and an experience all around.

2. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

This new band consists of some young college kids from Florida. To a certain degree, that's all you need to know. The music is young, fun, and a good time - kind of like college. It also kind of makes you feel like Florida.

1. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

I was initially hesitant of listening to this band. For some reason, they just sounded too generic. After I got over myself, I absolutely loved this band and this album. I attended a show of theirs earlier this year and it may have been the best concert experience of my life. So much energy and it's all matched with a level of depth not always found in your usual album.

Honorable Mentions :: Yeasayer, Odd Blood :: Broken Bells, Broken Bells :: Best Coast :: Crazy for You :: The Radio Dept., Clinging to a Scheme :: LCD Soundsystem, This Is It :: Spoon, Transference :: Drake, Thank Me Later :: Phantogram, Eyelid Movies :: Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

The Social Network

8 reasons why you should see The Social Network:

1. You're reading a blog that was linked to through a social network and you more than likely clicked on that link that was on a social network which led you to this blog.

2. Justin Timberlake.

3. It has 97% on both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. For a movie that's not a documentary, foreign, or Pixar, that's saying something. But hey, maybe it'll be popular with critics today and then rejected 5 years from now... kind of like how Facebook was talked about 5 years ago and is now rejec....

4. I was thoroughly captivated for 120 minutes by a movie about a website and a few court cases.

5. Quick, smart dialogue.

6. Everyone is/will be talking about it. You might as well join the conversation with some sort of knowledge base.

7. Although Jesse Eisenberg is labeled "the rich man's Michael Cera" by Michael Goodrich (meaning he repeatedly plays the same character), he does an excellent job typifying many of our (assuming you're under 30) generation's negative characteristics.

8. Great story telling simultaneously including complex characters, recent history, and our current digital era without ever getting preachy.

and probably a few other reasons yet in my current state (1am and having a head cold), I'm not thinking of them.

Being Hip to the Hop

When someone like myself enjoys hip-hop, it can usually be perceived in two ways.
1. I'm simply an anomaly. A white, suburban kid who simply enjoys an eclectic selection of music.
2. I'm an indie-music-loving-kid-cliche who enjoys the idea of rap music because it doesn't make sense and either loves obscure "indie" rappers or digs super mainstream artists for irony's sake.

I'm a little bit of both.

The following are a few hip-hop albums I have recently acquired and would recommend. (For those of you with sensitive ears, please realize most of these albums are "R-rated.")

Artist: A Tribe Called Quest
Album: The Low End Theory
Hip-Hop legends from the late 80's/early 90's. They're kind of kings in the genre so I decided to check them out and I discovered some jazz influenced hip-hop that's done it's fair share of influencing. One of this album's singles: Scenario...

Artist: Big Boi
Album: Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son Of Chico Dusty

Half of the illustrious Outkast duo, Big Boi has some serious beats on this solo album. Maintaining a sense of otherness often thought to belong to Outkast's other half (Andre 3000), Pitchfork describes the album as "inventive, bizarre, joyous, and masterful;" hardly the grounded rapper he played in Outkast. Take a listen to his single: Shutterbug...

Artist: Drake
Album: Thank Me Later

Dubbed "the next big thing," Drake was signed by Lil' Wayne at the young age of 23. He's not exactly wise and mature ... but his lyrics do contain an honesty that I respect, an honesty that's oftentimes sad and depressing (oh, and an "honesty" often explicit). Album highlights usually occur whenever he's "spitting it," which, unfortunately, is not as often as I'd like. Listen to the album opener: Fireworks...

Artist: Shad

Album: TSOL

So this is my "indie-rapper" pick. Hailing from Canada, still pretty underground, he's not exactly a chart topper. I heard about him from the RELEVANT Magazine editor (via their podcast), which can be a hit or miss way of discovering music, but I am loving this album. His lyrics range from encouraging women to get in the hip-hop arena to rapping about his name: Shad, short for Shadrach, from the Old Testament. I'm super hesitant to mention that he may be a Christian (1. I'm not for sure if he is and 2. about 99% of Christian rap is absolutely dreadful) but his lyrics reflect a certain redemptive quality without having that preachy aspect that's so annoying in any CCM rap. For reals, check this guy out. Here's his single: Yaa I Get It...

That's it folks, any hip-hop suggestions?

Brazil: Joga Bonito

Brazil (or, Brasil, for you purists): they have all the makings of a team you could hate. A boat load of past championships, stacked teams, over-enthusiastic fans, always a favorite to win the cup. They could very well be the Yankees or Lakers of the soccer world.

But they're just so much fun to watch. And they have fun. And they're not major cry babies (yeah, I'm talking to you, Cristiano Ronaldo). And they help the other team up when they fall. And they're creative. And they're really, really good.

So while I'm not necessarily rooting for the Brazil team this year, I'm not not rooting for them.

Oh, and by the way, I'm loving the World Cup this time around. Having all the games streaming online relegates just about every morning to just watching beautiful soccer.