The Weekly Town Crier
The Weekly Town Crier exists for one sole purpose (yes, that purpose might change depending on my mood writing this introduction from week to week but that’s not really the point): to make your life better. Don’t waste your time and energy wading through the muck and the mire of the internet, let me be your guide. I’ll point out to you which flowers to smell, which plants to taste and which ones will make you sick. It’s a tough job, but it’s the least I can do, literally. Enjoy, here are some of the things that caught my eye this past week:
Read about Julian Lennon selling his stake in John Lennon’s share of the Beatles‘ catalog.
Read this interview with Rosie Thomas about her departure from Sub Pop records.
Browse the blog The Best Media in Life is Free, a guide to free online resources (ht: lhb).
Visit the new Acts 29 website which features blog entries.
Read the announcement of ESV’s upcoming “Literary Study Bible.” The announcement notes that it: “approaches the Bible as literature and shows how the application of literary tools of analysis helps tremendously in reading and understanding the Bible. Readers are introduced to the literary features of each book of the Bible and to each section within each book (ht: jt).
Read about the zookeeper who was mauled to death by an anteater.
Read this piece by Michael Medved which uses Scripture to argue that favoring the poor is actually a perversion of justice.
Read Cal Thomas’ thoughts about the hypocrisy surrounding the firing of Don Imus.
Read about researches who say it’s time to scrap the Internet and start all over.
Visit “My Name is John Daker,” a collection of quite interesting video clips from a local access television show from Peoria, IL (thanks Eldon, via Andrew Osenga).
Read about the hippie grandma who is liveblogging . . . the war in Iraq.
Be careful about taking rattlesnake pills. They may taste like chicken, but they might just kill you.
Learn how much the President pays in taxes.
Visit Andrew Beaujon’s blog, author of Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock.
Read about the “Puerto Rican boy band” Menudo re-forming for a reality TV show (sort of).
R.I.P. theologian Meredith Kline.
Read about the discovery of what appears to be the oldest church in North America.
Read as Books & Culture examines the “moral univese of film noir.”
Read this report which claims that the Virgina Tech murderer left a note.
Read this piece which wonders if the Imus debacle will bring any reform to the world of hip hop and how women are portrayed.
Read author N.T. Wright’s review of C.S. Lewis‘ classic Mere Christianity.
Read John Piper’s thoughts on headship and submission.
Browse Al Mohler’s suggestionf for 10 great Christian biographies.
Read ABC’s report of the last J.R.R. Tolkein book, The Children of Hurin, completed by the author’s son.
Read about Paste’s band of the week, Menomena.
Read Al Mohler’s thoughts about a recent surge in British doctors refusing to carry out abortions.
Read Christianity Today’s review of the new “best of” compilation of Over the Rhine, Discount Fireworks.
Read about the 20 endangered rabbits which were recently released back into the wild. 14 of the were promptly eaten.
Follow the trend of sanitizing “secular” trends and watch “wholesome” videos at Godtube.com.
Read about the Supreme Court giving the go-ahead for an important ban on abortion procedures and read about the reaction from abortion advocates.
Read this report that the VA gunman sent material to NBC between shootings.
Read about continued campus reaction.
Read this report that the video actually reenacts scenes from a movie.
Read Hugh Hewitt’s thoughts on NBC’s decision to air the video. Hewitt wonders if this was “The Single Worst Editorical Decision in the History of Broadcast News?”
Read this piece which also argues that showing the video was a mistake.
Watch this video of Jerry Falwell identifying Calvinism as heresy.
Read this piece which argues that argues that if college campuses were not “gun free zones,” fewer people would have died in VA. Read this piece which also argues that we must fight to bear arms as the law allows.
Cheer for Gunny’s thoughts on cheerleading.
Watch this video which wonders what might happen if Microsoft redesigned the iPod packaging (read this report which claims the video actually originated within Microsoft itself).
Though it originally ran in 2006, read this review of the Mac ads from Slate which concludes: “As usual, Apple hopes to shift the debate away from a battle over specs and value and toward a battle we can all understand: cool kid versus nerd. But these days, aren’t nerds like John Hodgman the new cool kids? And isn’t smug superiority (no matter how affable and casually dressed) a bit off-putting as a brand strategy?”
Read about the recent no-hitter thrown by White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle against the Texas Rangers.
Read about Asia’s richest woman leaving all her wealth to a fortune teller.
Browse the week in photos from Yahoo.
Read Tim Challies’ review of the new book Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas.
Read Doug’s thoughts about “Rediscovering Mister Rogers‘ Neighborhood.”
Read James’ thoughts about Jonathan Edwards‘ narrative of the Great Awakening.
Read Brady’s thoughts about the Gospel and his fork.
Browse Joe Thorn’s suggesting for consistently picking movies you’ll enjoy.
Read about the trial of Mary Winkler, who is accused of killing her husband who was a TN preacher. Instead of arguing her innocence, she is arguing the husband’s guilt.
Browse as Matt Perry gathers some helpful reactions to the VA shootings.
Read Eddie’s thoughts on music tastes and the aging process.
Ponder as Matt begs the question about begging the question.
Read this report that adding alcohol to fruit may increase fruit’s antioxidant levels.
Read this piece from C.J. Mahaney on “Interrogating the Legalist Within.”
Read Jim’s thoughts about the continued rise of blogs as a cultural commodity. Jim concludes: ‘I still think it’s better to have a forest of mediocrity where some trees can stand out, rather than relying on an information aristocracy.”
Read Jeremy Casella’s thoughts on nearing completion on his latest album, one I’m definitely looking forward to hearing.
Check out Matthew Smith’s tourdates.
Read Timmy’s thoughts about the growing enrollment at my former seminary, Southern.
Browse Chad’s suggested resources on preaching and biblical theology.
Browse the Westminster Bookstores sale on “Reformed Classics.”
The fork analogy is awesome, thanks!
I loved the Microsoft iPod video. That will come in handy to illustrate things for my work.
Also, I’m still trying to figure out what I think about GodTube. The copying aspect is definitely cheesy, but at the same time I have serious reservations about children accessing YouTube unsupervised. With the new Windows Vista and the delayed, but coming OSX Leopard, parents are getting great tools to control their children’s internet use. Parents should learn how to use these tools and decide for their families which web sites should be off-limits.
I hope that the six remaining endangered pygmy rabbits breed like rabbits.
The Weekly Town Crier certainly does make my life better. Just for starters, my mood lifts and I smile upon seeing the crazy town crier costume of the week.