Wednesday, September 28, 2005
The First Time I Felt Old...
was when I saw an advertisement for the Toy Story 10th Anniversary DVD.
Music Review: Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound (4 of 5)
It was a given that the new Switchfoot CD would be oozing with professionalism ~ the quality, the sound mixing, all the various sound effects... it's a piece of art in itself. Unfortunately, it's not really all that exciting.
The music is hard to describe. It's anything but cookie cutter or formulaic. But at the same time it doesn't mean that everything they do works, either. It's professional, creative, and cool, but nothing with the instant catchiness of "Gone" or "Meant to Live." It's the sort of interesting, elegant stuff that builds up and comes down and grows on you after awhile.
I'm not sure what all the songs are about. At first glance, it seems to be nothing more than an everything-sucks album. "I want more than my desperation... Maybe I'm the one to blame... Everyone dies... My heart is darker than these oceans... It'll be a day like this one when the world caves in... I've got a wound that doesn't heal... Everything is broken... I am the crisis..." A far cry from the hope-and-encouragement message of Beautiful Letdown.!
If you look deeper, you realize that it's not so much "the world is falling apart and I'm depressed," but more like, "the world is falling apart and I want to be somewhere else." I can infer that "somewhere else" is heaven, but Switchfoot, while recognizing problems, doesn't really offer any real solutions. I think they're falling into the crossover paradox: You don't want to be too Christian, or you'll turn people off and you can't witness to them. But if you leave out the Christianity altogether, you're not witnessing to them anyway.
Two exceptions are "Golden," which is an encouraging you-are-worth-something song (although not nearly as powerful as "Dare You To Move,") and "Easier Than Love," which just frankly says that sex has pervaded our culture and media and is unfortunately easier than love.
It's obvious that Switchfoot is talented and has money to spend on professional sound quality and mixing. It's obvious that they realize the world's full of problems. But it's not obvious that they realize that God is the solution. We can only hope for that in the next album.
Edmond the Hun
The music is hard to describe. It's anything but cookie cutter or formulaic. But at the same time it doesn't mean that everything they do works, either. It's professional, creative, and cool, but nothing with the instant catchiness of "Gone" or "Meant to Live." It's the sort of interesting, elegant stuff that builds up and comes down and grows on you after awhile.
I'm not sure what all the songs are about. At first glance, it seems to be nothing more than an everything-sucks album. "I want more than my desperation... Maybe I'm the one to blame... Everyone dies... My heart is darker than these oceans... It'll be a day like this one when the world caves in... I've got a wound that doesn't heal... Everything is broken... I am the crisis..." A far cry from the hope-and-encouragement message of Beautiful Letdown.!
If you look deeper, you realize that it's not so much "the world is falling apart and I'm depressed," but more like, "the world is falling apart and I want to be somewhere else." I can infer that "somewhere else" is heaven, but Switchfoot, while recognizing problems, doesn't really offer any real solutions. I think they're falling into the crossover paradox: You don't want to be too Christian, or you'll turn people off and you can't witness to them. But if you leave out the Christianity altogether, you're not witnessing to them anyway.
Two exceptions are "Golden," which is an encouraging you-are-worth-something song (although not nearly as powerful as "Dare You To Move,") and "Easier Than Love," which just frankly says that sex has pervaded our culture and media and is unfortunately easier than love.
It's obvious that Switchfoot is talented and has money to spend on professional sound quality and mixing. It's obvious that they realize the world's full of problems. But it's not obvious that they realize that God is the solution. We can only hope for that in the next album.
Edmond the Hun
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Rita Clears Bush
The events surrounding Hurricane Rita should make it clear to everyone that it is ridiculous to blame Bush for his lack of response to Hurricane Katrina. In the case of Rita, local officials did everything necessary to forewarn and evacuate citizens, even if the highway clog was a mess. All Bush had to do was sit back and watch on giant TV screens and order a few federal troops in.
Katrina taught us to beware of incoming hurricanes, watch them develop and prepare accordingly. Rita proved that we learned. It also proved that the president doesn't have to get involved.
Edmond the Hun
Katrina taught us to beware of incoming hurricanes, watch them develop and prepare accordingly. Rita proved that we learned. It also proved that the president doesn't have to get involved.
Edmond the Hun
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Luke 21:25
On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
If the Media Was Unbiased and Consistent...
Oh my goodness!! Hurricane Rita struck the Keys! Where was Bush? Why didn't he come and do something? What's wrong with him? What's wrong with his administration? Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Supreme Court: Dems Dodge Doozy
It's just too bad. Just when Bush had the Dems where we wanted them, he goes and switches Roberts to be the chief justice, instead of replacing O'Connor. It looks like he's a smart guy and will get confirmed, blah blah blah. Except Roberts is only moderately conservative, replacing Rehnquist, who was extremely conservative. That means that under Bush's nomination we've already lost some conservative. And there's no way Bush is going to replace moderate O'Connor with a conservative to balance things out. No, by all appearances the court is going to become even more liberal, and Bush is the president who's nominating them!
It's not right! I don't get it! What is Bush thinking? Why can't we stop the Supreme Court from voting on conservative/liberal issues so it won't matter anyway! Isn't their something in the Declaration of Independence about when the government gets bad it's the right of the people to alter or abolish it? Why can't we just add a provision for ambigous court cases to go to Congress for legislation instead of a final one-time decision by nine people?
Edmond the Hun
It's not right! I don't get it! What is Bush thinking? Why can't we stop the Supreme Court from voting on conservative/liberal issues so it won't matter anyway! Isn't their something in the Declaration of Independence about when the government gets bad it's the right of the people to alter or abolish it? Why can't we just add a provision for ambigous court cases to go to Congress for legislation instead of a final one-time decision by nine people?
Edmond the Hun
Thursday, September 15, 2005
The World Gets Flatter...
It appears that AOL and MSN may merge. I don't know enough to start rambling about ramifications, but I do know one thing: if it happens, the world will get even flatter.
I'm referring to an excellent book called The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, in which he outlines the ways in the last few years that the world has been getting "flatter" as technology helps everything become so related and interconnected, leveling the playing field and empowering individuals as never before.
If this AOL-MSN merge happens, the playing field will be leveled on a new... level: Instant Messenging. Currently, Instant Messenging is very non-flat. Lots of people have AIM; lots of people have MSN Messenger. But unlike e-mail, where no matter who your provider is, you can e-mail anyone else and receive e-mails from anyone else, Instant Messenging is still localized. AIM users can't IM people using MSN Messenger.
If this merge happens, they'll all be brought together. Everyone will have to have a unique screen name, but they'll probably just add a suffix of sorts, similar to e-mail.
Let the flattening continue...
Edmond the Hun
I'm referring to an excellent book called The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, in which he outlines the ways in the last few years that the world has been getting "flatter" as technology helps everything become so related and interconnected, leveling the playing field and empowering individuals as never before.
If this AOL-MSN merge happens, the playing field will be leveled on a new... level: Instant Messenging. Currently, Instant Messenging is very non-flat. Lots of people have AIM; lots of people have MSN Messenger. But unlike e-mail, where no matter who your provider is, you can e-mail anyone else and receive e-mails from anyone else, Instant Messenging is still localized. AIM users can't IM people using MSN Messenger.
If this merge happens, they'll all be brought together. Everyone will have to have a unique screen name, but they'll probably just add a suffix of sorts, similar to e-mail.
Let the flattening continue...
Edmond the Hun
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