The Weekly Town Crier
Hear ye! Hear ye! this happened and then the other thing and then I read something but then I heard something and after that I clicked on something and read something else and then I saw some things and heard some other things and here it is all for your browsing pleasure. The Weekly Town Crier is simply a collection of the things that caughty my attention this past week.
Read Al Mohler’s article about the media furor surrounding his recent piece on the genetics of homosexuality.
Read about Sam Brownback supporting General Pace’s comments about homosexuality being immoral. Read this piece which notes that, with little surprise, both Hillary and Barack disagree (ht: PR).
Read this Reuters piece which notes that despite the boom in online digital audio sales, indie labels still primarily focus on physical compact disc sales ht: lhb).
Read this piece which wonders why the Jesuits love Tom Waits while the Pope dislikes Bob Dylan (lhb).
Read about the thousands of Christians who recently gathered in D.C. for an anti-war rally.
Read about a recent study which found that “Adult men who grew up in single-parent households are twice as likely as other men to have been sexually abused during childhood”.
Read about the art scholar who committed suicide because of the Da Vinci Code.
Browse the week in photos from Yahoo.
Read this piece which claims that “People who play car racing video games may be more prone to drive recklessly and get into accidents”.
Read Al Mohler’s piece about America’s one and only professing Atheist congressman.
Watch a British version of the “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads and watch all of the U.S. versions.
Read Barna’s claim that the “unchurched” population in the U.S. has reached 100 million.
Read this piece which cites a study which claims playing music makes people smarter.
Read this report that Google is developing its own phone.
Read as Sufjan Stevens‘ posts his thoughts on “friend rock”.
Read about the judge in the Anna Nicole Smith proceedings who was busted for smoking pot in a city park under a tree.
Read about the Supreme Court hearing the “Bong Hits For Jesus” “Freedom of Speech” case.
Read about Amazon’s move to pursue the oft-neglected classical music market with it’s special “Blowout” section with CD’s $4.99 and less.
Watch the “Hillary 1984″ ad which parodies the famous Mac ad. Read this piece which claims Obama’s campaign had nothing to do with the ad. Read this piece which identifies the ad’s creator.
Read as Books & Culture asks “Who Gets to Define Islam” by examining the book The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright.
Read Books & Culture’s treatment of N.T. Wright’s latest offering Simply Christian and examines the new book’s relationship to C.S. Lewis‘ classic Mere Christianity.
Read about Rosie O’Donnell’s implications that at least part of the 09/11 attacks were orchestrated in order to destroy files to protect Enron.
Listen to the messages from February’s “Different By Design” conference. Messages include sessions by Russell Moore, J. Ligon Duncan, Wayne Grudem and C.J. Mahaney.
Visit the new Blood: Water Mission blog.
Read about the 219 “civil unions” that have taken place within the first month of New Jersey’s new law.
See my family’s updated blog!
Read about the 13-year old girl who apparently had the stinkiest shoes in the whole country.
Read this piece which wonders about “critic proof” bands.
Read Al Mohler’s thoughts on Sam Harris‘ latest op-ed piece in which he refers to Christians as “God’s dupes”.
Visit Monergism’s new feature “Take Up and Read,” a regular book review resource.
Read about the federal judge who recently struck down a 1998 U.S. law that makes it a crime for commercial Web site operators to let children access “harmful” material.
Read about Hillary saying that if she is elected, she will make Bill “ambassador to the world, because we have a lot of work to do to get our country back in the standing it should be.”
Read about the Oregon biology teacher who was fired for using biblical references.
Read about the discovery of Chopin’s final piano concerto.
Read about the community college chess team that’s beaten Harvard and Yale.
Read about the South Carolina bill requiring women seeking abortions to first review ultrasound images of their fetuses.
Download a ton of helpful D.A. Carson resources (ht: JT).
Read Jeremy Casella’s continuing account of the recording of his new album.
Read Jim’s “Proper Introduction” to his new blog, and not just because it mentions me (though that doesn’t hurt)!
Welcome Charlie Groza!
Help Matthew Smith “Vote to Save Lives in Africa.”
Read Matthew Hall’s thoughts “On Reading” which fall quite close to Mortimer J. Adler’s hints on How to Read a Book.
Sign up for eMusic. Discover an exciting new world of DRM-free music and help me earn free downloads in the process.
Brent,
I have sermon collections from Wayne Grudem, CJ Mahaney, Bruce Ware, Sam Storms, Duane Sheriff, Ken Sande, Sinclair Ferguson, Terry Virgo, Acts 29 Ministries, Sovereign Grace Minstries of Churches with MP3 Sermons and Newfrontiers Ministries.
Take a look.
Sincerely,
Paul Schafer
Some Brent Thomas trivia: The Hillary 1984 ad, is a parady of an ad for Macintosh computers done in the early 80’s, which I believe was produced by another Brent Thomas (not Pastor Brent Thomas or me, Brent J. Thomas).
Actually, a guy named Brent Thomas was the ad agency art director, not producer, involved in the Mac 1984 ad. There is an interesting article on this ad at curtsmedia.com , wherein I read that the ad almost didn’t play, was directed by the talented Ridley Scott of Blade Runner fame, that skinheads were playing the dystopic denizens, and that a model auditioning for the hammer-throwing part was so off balance that she almost hit an old lady, who was out for a walk, with the hammer.
Let’s see here.. we have multiple Brent Thomas’s and a Paul Schafer. Could we have any more name confusion on this post?
At least with the Brents, there’s only one with the top Google result for “Brent Thomas”. :)
…and, Jim, Pastor Brent’s blog is deservedly at the top of Google results. I always look forward to the Weekly Town Crier, with eager anticipation. A visit each day to Pastor Brent’s blog is inspiring, interesting, thought provoking. It is always good to find out about a new corner of the world of creative endeavor, and Pastor Brent’s suggestions are within a shared Christian world view.