Annie Dillard, For The Time Being:

There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no formerly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens, and so it has always been: a people busy and powerful, knowledgeable, ambivalent, important, fearful, and self-aware; a people who scheme, promote, deceive, and conquer; who pray for their loved ones, and long to flee misery and skip death. It is a weakening and discoloring idea, that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time—or even knew selflessness or courage or literature—but that it is too late for us. In fact, the absolute is available to everyone in every age. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less. There is no less holiness at this time—as you are reading this—than there was the day the Red Sea parted, or that day in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as Ezekiel was a captive by the river Chebar, when the heavens opened and he saw visions of God… In any instant the sacred may wipe you with its finger. In any instant the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in a tree. In any instant you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture. Purity’s time is always now.

Via and via.

I find that I often have to keep thoughts like these in mind, being the natural pessimist and cynic that I am. And that’s even truer now that I have a child of my own.

My pastor once said that having children is an act of hope, and a defiant one at that, I might add. It is an act that says you believe this world, against all odds, has enough going for it that you’re willing to bring some new helpless life into it, and that their life will be better than yours in the long run.

Yes, they’ll experience bumps along the way, but in any case, life, hope, faith, and love eventually triumph. Cyclones and juntas and earthquakes and rising oil prices and corrupt politicians and terrorists and torturers alike may do their best to tear it all down, but their time is passing and soon, they’ll be little more than a faint memory of a bad dream.

Christ and Pop Culture has recently become a favorite website of mine, and reviews like this one of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed by Carissa Smith, are a reason why. From the review:

Those who don’t recognize Ben Stein’s name will probably recognize his voice, best known for intoning “Bueller? ...Bueller?” in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. However, Stein has also been a speechwriter for Nixon and Ford and a conservative economics columnist. In his newest role as actor and co-writer in the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, he uses Michael Moore-esque tactics to raise important questions about Intelligent Design, academic freedom, and the power of ideas. However, the movie can’t decide which of these Big Questions it’s about and ends up giving us flippant and/or irrelevant footage instead of deep inquiry.

...The most flawed—and yet most interesting and compelling—part of Expelled begins when Stein interviews a scientist (and atheist) who argues that Darwinism inevitably leads to the belief that there is no God and no life after death. This scientist said, proudly, that if his brain tumor recurred, rather than suffering and waiting to die, he would shoot himself in the head. It’s a heartbreaking scene, and it introduces the section in which Stein ponders whether the theories of evolution and natural selection lead to euthanasia, abortion—and, yes—the Holocaust.

I’m torn about this argument. On the one hand, I’m afraid that this kind of thinking (Hitler believed in Darwinism; therefore, Darwinism led to the Holocaust) is exactly the sort of logic [Richard] Dawkins and his kind use to argue that Christianity inevitably leads to the Inquisition. If Christians support this logic, it could come back to bite us in the backside.

 

Personally, I’m hesitant to see the film, precisely because of the issues that Smith—and other reviewers—have mentioned. I’m not a fan of Michael Moore-esque tactics even when Moore himself does them, and so I’m not so certain I should rush to see a movie that, from all appearances, employs them to make a point that many of my fellow Christians support.

I dislike throwing around the term “propaganda” because it’s so loaded and dangerous, but the more I see and hear about Expelled, the more the term seems to fit. And propaganda is never a good way to make a point, even if used to make a point that is—on the surface, at least—in-line with your beliefs.

The Intelligent Design/Evolution debate is a serious one, and as such, it requires clear discussion and communication, as well as grace and humility from both sides. I’d love to see a reasonable and gracious dialog between proponents of both theories, one that traded flag-waving and disdain for honest discussion. But I guess that’d be about as probable as a presidential candidate candidly talking about some skeleton in their closet.

Much like the Flying Spaghetti Monster meme of yore, I have a feeling that people will take from Expelled exactly what they bring into it. No minds will really be changed. Rather, I suspect that most folks will leave the film with their preconceptions and suspicions confirmed even more solidly, confident in their belief that they are absolutely right and that the other side are complete tools.

And all for the low, low price of a movie ticket.

Just the other day, Trent Reznor announced that Nine Inch Nails was now free from all major label entanglements, and that he was looking forward to dealing directly with his audience however he saw fit.

Last week, Radiohead announced that their new album, In Rainbows, would be released without the benefit of a label. Rather, the band would be selling copies directly to the fans—and the fans could name their price.

And in July, Prince basically gave away three million copies of his new album to newspaper subscribers and concertgoers in London.

It’s a trend that is spelling disaster and ruin for the recording industry, or at least that part of it occupied by the major record labels. Who are being revealed as increasingly superfluous into today’s economy with each passing day.

Robert Sandall writes more in the Times Online:

What looks like commercial suicide is, in today’s reality, sound business sense. Records, CDs or downloads now have all become downgraded to the status of promotional tools—useful to sell concert tickets and fan paraphernalia. While there is still good money to be made in music, and particularly on the concert circuit, the record business—blame it on piracy, too many CD giveaways or the advent of the recordable CD—is a busted flush.

A revealing story doing the rounds in America tells of a young rock band who decided to stop selling their CDs at gigs after they discovered that by offering their CDs for $10 they were cannibalising sales of their $20 T-shirts. The truth now is that a rudimentary cotton garment with a band logo stamped across it that has probably been manufactured for pennies in a Third World sweatshop costs about twice as much as an album recorded in a state-of-the-art western studio. And even at that price, recorded music isn’t selling.

I’ve never been a big fan of the major labels—and their reactionary and paranoid behavior over the last few years has done nothing to change that opinion. True, they won’t be going away anytime soon, but the more their influence lessens and the more consumers realize how unnecessary they are, the better off everyone—artists and audiences—will be.

There are times when I’ll come across an article and, as a web developer, find myself saying “Amen brother, preach it.” SEOmoz’s “How to Ruin a Web Design - The Design Curve” is one such article. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run into the exact same scenario it outlines, on both professional and freelance projects.

Here’s an excerpt:

As a professional web designer I’ve noticed a consistent trend in the majority of the projects I’ve worked on: The more time that is spent dissecting, analyzing, and critiquing a design by the wrong kinds of people the worse that design gets. The same trend applies to the number of people involved in the design process.

It’s funny because it’s true. That’s also why it’s sad.

Please, for the love of all that is holy and pure, turn off those damnable Snap previews. What are Snap previews, you ask? They’re the little pop-up windows that appear when you mouse over a link, and display a small screenshot of the website said link is pointing to. (You can find more info here.)

They look cool, but I tell you, it’s annoying as hell when part of the text that I’m trying to read suddenly becomes obscured by an obnoxious screenshot that doesn’t really tell me anything useful other than what the linked-to site might look like—as if that’s really important.

Here’s how you turn them off:

1) Log into your WordPress Dashboard.
2) Click on the “Presentation” tab.
3) Click on the “Extras” tab.
4) Make sure that “Enable Snap Preview Anywhere on this blog” is not checked.
5) Click the “Update Extras” button.

See how easy that is? Please, I beg of you, follow those steps. Doing so will improve your blog tenfold, no joke.

Last week, it was announced that NBC would stop selling their television programs via iTunes after December, when their current contract runs up.  Their reasons included dissatisfaction over not having more control over pricing (currently, episodes are $1.99 each), concerns of DRM and piracy, and bundling.

There’s a word to describe this, and it’s “idiotic”.

This is a textbook example of a big media company finding something that works—as others have pointed out, iTunes has been instrumental in the success of NBC programs such as “The Office” (now one of the network’s most popular programs)—and deciding to get greedy and screw it up for their customers.

NBC wanted to increase the per episode price from $1.99 to $4.99.  That’s right—they wanted to charge five dollars for episodes of “The Office”. Actually, they wanted the ability to offer a range of pricing, but do you really think NBC wouldn’t try to profit more from its biggest titles, such as “The Office” or “Heroes”?

It’s worth noting that the other 50+ networks signed up with iTunes will continue to offer their shows for $1.99/episode.

Like I said, idiotic. It’s all a matter of simple arithmetic, really. You can currently watch “The Office” or “Heroes”, or any of the other shows that NBC offers, for free. Or you can buy the DVD sets when they come out, which in the case of “Heroes”, which currently costs $39.99 (plus shipping) on Amazon, would work out to roughly $1.74/episode. But if NBC had their way, you would have to pay three times that amount for a single episode.

I have no illusions about Apple being this charitable, altruistic organization. They’re a business, and they’re out to make money, just like everyone else. And I know that other companies and studios chafed under Apple’s heavyhanded pricing structure. But here’s one case where I have nothing but appreciation for Apple basically telling NBC to not let the door hit them in the ass on the way out.

Related Links

• It Is Estimated That NBC Could Not Have Screwed This iTunes Thing Up Any Worse
• An Open Letter to NBC re: Leaving Apple’s iTunes Store
• Translation From PR-Speak to English of Selected Portions of Cory Shields’, Executive Vice President of Communications for NBC Universal, Response to Apple’s Press Release Regarding NBC’s Pricing Demands on the iTunes Store
• iTunes Store To Stop Selling NBC Television Shows

Does anyone know if the Coup Clutz Clowns have an Omaha chapter?

A Neo-Nazi group called the National Socialist Movement is planning to protest on Saturday in front of the Mexican Consulate building. I wonder if anyone will attempt something like the Nazi-depantsing that took place in Knoxville, TN back in May, where a group of counter-protesters dressed up like clowns and attempted to join a Neo-Nazi/KKK march with their own made-up signs and skits.

This fighting hatred with humor is just brilliant, revealing these hate-filled folks as the ridiculous fools that they are and their diatribe as the pathetic joke that it is. Now, if only someone would do something about those Westboro Baptist Church folks.

Take that $8 you were going to spend on Spider-Man 3, and instead, use it to buy a ticket for The Host or Hot Fuzz.  Both of which are movies much more deserving of your hard-earned cash, and both are movies that probably won’t be around here much longer (in fact, this is the last week to catch The Host).

I realize this probably comes too late for most of you, but after having seen Spider-Man 3—which is so underwhelming, I’m tempted to reevaluate Daredevil—I have to warn who I can.