This is an early iTues post due to my "tech-fast" next week. As mentioned in my last post I will be listening only to instrumental music for the week. I created an iTunes playlist and dragged in a large portion of the instrumental stuff in my library and saved that as the only music on my iPhone.
To give you a taste I shuffled the playlist and took the first 10 tracks as a compilation mix for you to download here. I didn't have time to sequence the tracks as I would have liked but figured I'd share anyway. You're welcome. Seek out the artists you like the sound of, buy their stuff, yadda yadda yadda...
Btw, I didn't intentionally include one of my own tracks in there... like I said, I just shuffled the playlist. Whilst I'm happier with the track that came up than I am with some others, it's still probably not what I would have picked if I had included it intentionally!
Here's the playlist:
1. Ennio Morricone - "Sequence 7"
2. Akira Yamaoka - "Alone In The Town"
3. Bass Communion - "Three Pieces For Television: Grammatic Fog"
4. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - "Stairway To Heaven"
5. Dirty Three - "Rain On"
6. Mogwai - "Mogwai Fear Satan"
7. Monolake - "Cubicle"
8. Pennies For The Ferryman - "Escapees"
9. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - "Martha's Dream"
10. Pelican - "Winds With Hands"
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Now playing: SoiSong - Koi Ru
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Switching Off To Switch On
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. (Daniel 6:18 ESV)
This coming week I will be undertaking a "tech-fast". This means that I will be abstaining from things such as TV, the internet, etc. for the purpose of sharpening my focus in relation to studying God's word (and other Christian texts) and talking with Him. These are things I do daily, but I have found myself somewhat distracted of late (by everything and nothing in particular) and as such I don't feel like I am efficiently doing all that I could and should.
Here are the guidelines:
1. Computer use for work only. No home computer use, no personal use of work computer. Allowance to check personal email once per day only & respond only in urgent necessity.
2. No television.
3. No movies (cinema or DVD).
4. No video games on any platform.
5. All non-native apps removed from iPhone except for Bible/reading apps and essential utilities.
6. iPhone calling/messaging use only where there is genuine necessity.
7. No music with lyrics.
This last point may seem peculiar, however as I often use my iPhone both for reading and listening to music on my commute and can usually successfully do both, I wish to remove the possibility that I become distracted by an idea conveyed in the lyrics of a song that I hear. Instrumental music (which I love anyway) can play in the background without creating that same type of potential disturbance and enables me to avoid the suffering a music-free week would bring. (I don't want to resent this "tech-fast" idea and thereby cause it to fail.)
I am looking forward to this week and if I feel it is a successful endeavour, may make it a regular, periodic undertaking.
Do you have something that you feel technology is distracting you from? A project left unattended perhaps? Something you "never get around to"? Maybe you would benefit from trying this for yourself. Go on... I dare you.
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Now playing: Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan
This coming week I will be undertaking a "tech-fast". This means that I will be abstaining from things such as TV, the internet, etc. for the purpose of sharpening my focus in relation to studying God's word (and other Christian texts) and talking with Him. These are things I do daily, but I have found myself somewhat distracted of late (by everything and nothing in particular) and as such I don't feel like I am efficiently doing all that I could and should.
Here are the guidelines:
1. Computer use for work only. No home computer use, no personal use of work computer. Allowance to check personal email once per day only & respond only in urgent necessity.
2. No television.
3. No movies (cinema or DVD).
4. No video games on any platform.
5. All non-native apps removed from iPhone except for Bible/reading apps and essential utilities.
6. iPhone calling/messaging use only where there is genuine necessity.
7. No music with lyrics.
This last point may seem peculiar, however as I often use my iPhone both for reading and listening to music on my commute and can usually successfully do both, I wish to remove the possibility that I become distracted by an idea conveyed in the lyrics of a song that I hear. Instrumental music (which I love anyway) can play in the background without creating that same type of potential disturbance and enables me to avoid the suffering a music-free week would bring. (I don't want to resent this "tech-fast" idea and thereby cause it to fail.)
I am looking forward to this week and if I feel it is a successful endeavour, may make it a regular, periodic undertaking.
Do you have something that you feel technology is distracting you from? A project left unattended perhaps? Something you "never get around to"? Maybe you would benefit from trying this for yourself. Go on... I dare you.
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Now playing: Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Inception
I have just returned from seeing Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' & other than recommending it to all, I haven't dissected it enough yet to say much more. However, here is a link to a short clip from the Film & Theology series at The Resurgence which I think is worthwhile.
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Now playing: The Unbeheld - New Monsters
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Now playing: The Unbeheld - New Monsters
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
iTues #1 - Introduction / Pennies For The Ferryman
Now, I imagine you have looked at the title & thought, hang on, he's pinched a Trade Mark from Steve Jobs & his merry men at Apple!... And, he's spelled it wrong!! Well, no. You see, I want a regular music post to be a feature of this blog (in addition to the "Now Playing" links at the bottom of each post) as I like music & am willing to bet most of you do too (just doin' my bit to create common ground for us to stand on). At first I thought about a "Music Monday" (simply due to alliteration being such a beautiful thing), but realised that I was being influenced by Twitter. And we can't have that. Then it struck me like a bolt of lightning from the shower head (the shower being where all my best thinking happens, which is handy considering I can't write anything down in there!) that if I bump it to Tuesday I can use the witty, clever device you see before you in the title. (Ah yes... I can hear the pennies dropping - but more on those after the next aside.)
Don't jokes just suck when the teller insists on explaining them like you're an idiot?
The pennies here refer to Pennies For The Ferryman which is a solo music project I was toying around with in '08/'09 (& which was always going to make an appearance on this blog somewhere) but which, after 11 EP "releases" (the way a racehorse which is released by the gate chooses not to run) I have put on indefinite hiatus.
The sound is a mixture of ambient, soundtrack-type atmosphere with post-rock structures & assorted electronic noodlings. All the music is available via this Bandcamp link for free download at the highest quality bitrate (the quality-level of the music you'll have to determine for yourself). It's not music for playing in the car with the windows down, but there's plenty of other music out there for that!
(Cue sound of a dead (race)horse being flogged...)
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Now playing: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Memory
Don't jokes just suck when the teller insists on explaining them like you're an idiot?
The pennies here refer to Pennies For The Ferryman which is a solo music project I was toying around with in '08/'09 (& which was always going to make an appearance on this blog somewhere) but which, after 11 EP "releases" (the way a racehorse which is released by the gate chooses not to run) I have put on indefinite hiatus.
The sound is a mixture of ambient, soundtrack-type atmosphere with post-rock structures & assorted electronic noodlings. All the music is available via this Bandcamp link for free download at the highest quality bitrate (the quality-level of the music you'll have to determine for yourself). It's not music for playing in the car with the windows down, but there's plenty of other music out there for that!
(Cue sound of a dead (race)horse being flogged...)
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Now playing: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Memory
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Blinded By The (Pixellated) Light
RELEVANT is a magazine that features the tagline: "God. Life. Progressive Culture." and serves up pretty much what it says on the tin, directed to both Christians and non-. I guess I hope a similar thing could be said about this li'l blog, in time. I provide this introduction simply because I expect there will be more than this post that comments on material found within the pages of RELEVANT. I do not wish to seek to be a portal for their content (they have their web presence under control without me!) but feel that their content is worth pointing out to those unfamiliar with it.
This brings us to an article upon which I seek to make comment here. Have a read of "Finding The Line" (excerpt) then come back and see me (I'll wait)...
There is an ongoing discussion about Christians being "in the world, but not of it" (John 17:14-15) where the "world" is defined as our current physical location which is ruled by Satan. (One need only open a newspaper or turn on the television (NOT just the news programs) to see the evil inclinations of this world.) The Christian, despite having had their heart cleansed from these inclinations still exists in a world defined by them and still has their human nature to deal with when making choices. This is where some Christian sects decide that it is better to detach from the world as much as possible in order to avoid being polluted. The error here is that a problem can't be fixed by turning from it or by observing it from a distance - one has to get one's hands dirty. (At this point I could inject a Gulf oil spill reference, but that would be off-topic, so I won't.)
As stated in the article, the choices one makes over which movies to watch, etc. are inevitably going to be subjective with differing criteria used by different individuals. A point that I return to is whether or not it is worth digging through the trash for a morsel of food when the need is not there to do so. For example: I have not watched 'Avatar' (2- or 3D) because I don't find the negative spiritual aspects of the storyline worth sitting through, just for the pretty CGI pictures. I don't find myself missing out either; I don't find myself wondering if I should just take a peek because after all this time I'm still hearing people raving about it. (See an awesome CGI film below to see why I don't feel like I'm missing out.) Upon my "Return" I found the desire for watching certain movies and TV programs just dissipating, sometimes for no other reason than that they were wasting my time.
If you're not a Christian - thankyou for getting this far - you may be wondering why you should care about content choices, as you don't need to worship any god and can watch what you want... right? Just consider that whenever you spend time following contestants on shows like 'Survivor', 'Big Brother', 'Masterchef', et al, you are worshipping minor gods or "idols"... hell, one program even uses the word in their name! Movie characters are the same. Movies now are not "films" but "franchises" - brands built to string you along for years dollar by dollar. Storylines shot-through with holes, Swiss cheese style, just to they can plug them with endless sequels and prequels which, despite being panned by critics, still make millions on opening weekend. Tell me if any of the (pre-) teen girlies currently screaming to be bitten by 'Twilight's Edward (read: demon) would, if given the chance, do anything other than pee their pants and run screaming...
Anyone who is a responsible parent would be choosing carefully the content they allow their children to view. The thing is, the 'Twilight' fans are not just the teens, but their mothers (the same ones smitten with a bespectacled boy sorcerer previously). We all rue getting older because we still feel so young... in fact, in many ways we're all kinda still children. Perhaps we need a Father to guide us...
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Now playing: The Black Crowes - A Conspiracy
This brings us to an article upon which I seek to make comment here. Have a read of "Finding The Line" (excerpt) then come back and see me (I'll wait)...
There is an ongoing discussion about Christians being "in the world, but not of it" (John 17:14-15) where the "world" is defined as our current physical location which is ruled by Satan. (One need only open a newspaper or turn on the television (NOT just the news programs) to see the evil inclinations of this world.) The Christian, despite having had their heart cleansed from these inclinations still exists in a world defined by them and still has their human nature to deal with when making choices. This is where some Christian sects decide that it is better to detach from the world as much as possible in order to avoid being polluted. The error here is that a problem can't be fixed by turning from it or by observing it from a distance - one has to get one's hands dirty. (At this point I could inject a Gulf oil spill reference, but that would be off-topic, so I won't.)
As stated in the article, the choices one makes over which movies to watch, etc. are inevitably going to be subjective with differing criteria used by different individuals. A point that I return to is whether or not it is worth digging through the trash for a morsel of food when the need is not there to do so. For example: I have not watched 'Avatar' (2- or 3D) because I don't find the negative spiritual aspects of the storyline worth sitting through, just for the pretty CGI pictures. I don't find myself missing out either; I don't find myself wondering if I should just take a peek because after all this time I'm still hearing people raving about it. (See an awesome CGI film below to see why I don't feel like I'm missing out.) Upon my "Return" I found the desire for watching certain movies and TV programs just dissipating, sometimes for no other reason than that they were wasting my time.
If you're not a Christian - thankyou for getting this far - you may be wondering why you should care about content choices, as you don't need to worship any god and can watch what you want... right? Just consider that whenever you spend time following contestants on shows like 'Survivor', 'Big Brother', 'Masterchef', et al, you are worshipping minor gods or "idols"... hell, one program even uses the word in their name! Movie characters are the same. Movies now are not "films" but "franchises" - brands built to string you along for years dollar by dollar. Storylines shot-through with holes, Swiss cheese style, just to they can plug them with endless sequels and prequels which, despite being panned by critics, still make millions on opening weekend. Tell me if any of the (pre-) teen girlies currently screaming to be bitten by 'Twilight's Edward (read: demon) would, if given the chance, do anything other than pee their pants and run screaming...
Anyone who is a responsible parent would be choosing carefully the content they allow their children to view. The thing is, the 'Twilight' fans are not just the teens, but their mothers (the same ones smitten with a bespectacled boy sorcerer previously). We all rue getting older because we still feel so young... in fact, in many ways we're all kinda still children. Perhaps we need a Father to guide us...
The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.
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Now playing: The Black Crowes - A Conspiracy
Friday, July 9, 2010
A Welcome
Greetings
This blog has been a long time coming. Well, not for you – you’ve just found out about it, unless you’re one of the few poor souls to whom I’ve been crapping on about starting it without actually doing so. To define: “long time” is as long as it feels; in this instance more than a month & less than a year.
Around the tail end of last year I found my way back to God & fortunately He’d left the door open. I’ve never felt more sane or complete. We have some history (if you’ve seen the t-shirt, I’m the guy who stuck Jesus down behind the couch in the first place… but, no matter how far out of sight, I always knew He was there) & part of this blog will see me sharing my layman’s discoveries & clearing out the muddle in my mind. I don’t profess to have any new ideas, but if I’m knowingly borrowing I’ll let you know.
For those surprised old friends who didn’t get the memo or for anyone who’s stumbled in here after becoming lost amongst the interwebz & isn’t particularly looking for “God stuff”, fret not as I am also into many of the same things as “normal” people are & will be posting various reviews, links & commentary on assorted cultural phenomena along the way.
So welcome… click the button to add me to your reader or, if you’re not ready for such a commitment, just stop in anytime as this door is also always open.
-nick-
ps: the picture up top is mine... it might stay, it might go (I'll be tidying up the look as time goes on)
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Now playing: Ryan Adams - Touch, Feel & Lose
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