Conversations@Intersections

SIGNS: Geocaching Barber

2009-11-08T00:15:00.001+13:00

Spencer, Indiana

SIGNS: Dick & Main

2009-11-05T00:08:00.001+13:00

Hamilton, Ohio.

International Date Line

2009-11-04T03:33:00.007+13:00

It's a weird thing to think about, but often, when we travel across the International Date Line, we have no alibi for a certain day on the calendar. Other times we live a day that never seems to end! It's a weird thing.

It's especially fun to try to explain all that to children.

Imagine a conversation in the plane

across the Pacific Ocean.

"Daddy, what day is it?"

"Well, do you mean where we've come from or where we're going?"

"Daddy, just answer the question."

"Hmm, legally we start functioning on arrival time but biologically we are in limbo, and then if we were to have to return to our departure city then . . . ."

"Mum, what's today's date?" . . . .

Another funny thing is trying to navigate between dates

when communicating via the internet knowing that the date of your writing may be before or after the date of the one reading.

For example, in the US it is the birthday of my friends Cheryl & Cindy. Judith's birthday is the same day but because she lives in Zimbabwe, her birthday is nearly over.

Marcus & Jaime's birthdays are on the 4th which is today in New Zealand but tomorrow in USA.

Now another dilemma arises. Do we celebrate our birthday on the date & time of the city in which we were born or by the calendar and time zone in which we live?

I think I was born in the wee hours of the morning, so I rarely think of celebrating it at the time, but you get my drift.

Hope I won't need an alibi for any of those days spent enroute.

Wikipedia explains it thus:

The first date line problem occurred in association with the circumnavigation of the globe by Magellan's expedition (1519–1522). The surviving crew (a mere 18 men on 217 who departed) returned to a Spanish stopover sure of the day of the week, as attested by various carefully maintained sailing logs. Nevertheless, those on land insisted the day was different. This phenomenon, now readily understandable, caused great excitement at the time, to the extent that a special delegation was sent to the Pope to explain this temporal oddity to him.
The effect of ignoring the date line is also seen in Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days, in which the travelers, led by Phileas Fogg, return to London after a trip around the world, thinking that they have lost the bet that is the central premise of the story. Having traveled the direction opposite to the one taken by Magellan, they believe the date there to be one day later than it truly is. Lest anyone accuse Fogg of cheating by obtaining one extra day, this is not so. On average, each travel day was 18 minutes short of a full 24 hours, accumulating to one full day, which they failed to correct as we would by setting our calendar back a day in mid-Pacific.
The date line is also a central factor in Umberto Eco's book The Island of the Day Before, in which the protagonist finds himself on a becalmed ship, with an island close at hand on the other side of the International Date Line. Unable to swim, the protagonist's writings indulge in increasingly confused speculation of the physical, metaphysical and religious import of the date line.The International Date Line can cause confusion among airline travelers. The most troublesome situation usually occurs with short journeys from west to east. To travel from Tonga to Samoa by air, for example, takes approximately two hours but involves crossing the International Date Line, causing passengers to arrive the day before they left. This often causes confusion in travel schedules, like hotel bookings (unless those schedules quote times in UTC, but they typically do not since they must match domestic travel times, local transport, or meeting times).
FYI: The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line on the surface of the Earth opposite the Prime Meridian where the date changes as one travels east or west across it. Roughly along 180° longitude, with diversions to pass around some territories and island groups, it mostly corresponds to the time zoneboundary separating −12 and +12 hours Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) (Greenwich Mean Time – GMT). Crossing the IDL travelling east results in a day or approximately 24 hours being subtracted, and crossing west results in a day being added.

Faith: More challenge than comfort or crutch

2009-11-04T00:03:00.004+13:00

NEWSWEEK: So to you, faith is not a comfort?
MADELEINE L'ENGLE: Good heavens, no. It's a challenge: I dare you to believe in God
NEWSWEEK: Many people see faith as anti-intellectual.
MADELEINE L'ENGLE: Then they're not very bright. It takes a lot of intellect to have faith, which is why so many people only have religiosity.

MADELEINE L'ENGLE May 17, 2004 Newsweek

L'Engle also said, 'If the book will be too difficult for grownups, then you write it for children.'
She was author of more than 60 books, including A Wrinkle in Time and some that adults could read.

Chesterton echoed some of L'Engle's ideas, but years before she was born.

Love means to love that which is unloveable, or it is no virtue at all;
forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all;
faith means believing the unbelievable, or it is no virtue at all;
and to hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.

G.K. Chesterton

SIGNS: Santa Barbara, CA

2009-11-02T00:15:00.000+13:00

In the restroom of the little dive where we ate lunch.

Full & Empty

2009-11-02T00:01:00.001+13:00

Art is not a plaything, but a necessity, and it's essence, form, is not a decorative adjustment, but a cup into which life can be poured and lifted to the lips and be tasted.

Rebecca West Black Lamb And Grey Falcon

It has been said that television is called a medium because it is neither rare nor well done.

Phil Hartman (quoting Ernie Kovacs) Emceeing the 1993 CLIO Awards

Man of Sorrows

2009-11-01T00:25:00.002+13:00

by Jill Carattini

"Please—Mr. Lion—Aslan—Sir?" said Digory working up the courage to ask. "Could you—may I—please, will you give me some magic fruit of this country to make my mother well?"

A child in one of the Narnia books, Digory, at this point in the story, had brought about much disaster for Aslan and his freshly created Narnia. But he had to ask. In fact, he thought for a second he might attempt to make a deal with Aslan. But quickly Digory realized the Lion was not the sort of person one could try to make bargains with.

C.S. Lewis then recounts, "Up till then the child had been looking at the lion's great front feet and the huge claws on them. Now in his despair he looked up at his face. And what he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and wonder of wonders great shining tears stood in the lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the lion must really be sorrier about his mother than he was himself."

Dickens often spoke of his characters as beloved and "real existences." I have often wondered if the "safe but never tame" Lion ministered to C.S. Lewis half as much as this Christ figure has ministered to others. Lewis was a boy about the age of Digory when his mother lay dying of cancer and he was helpless to save her.

"My son, my son," said Aslan. "I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another…"

The tremendous figure that fills the Gospels towers above all attempts we have made to describe him. Yet had we been in charge of writing the story of God becoming man, I doubt it would have been Christ we described: "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3). He was not the stoic, man of nerves we might have imagined. Nor was he the ever-at-peace teacher we often describe. He was, among other things, a man of sorrows.

There is, for me, immense comfort in a Christ who wasn't always smiling. As I picture his face set as flint toward Jerusalem, my fear is unfastened by his fortitude. As I imagine the urgency in his voice as he defended a guilty woman amidst a crowd holding rocks, my shame is freed by his mercy. And as I picture him weeping at the grave of Lazarus, and sweating blood in the garden of Gethsemane, my tears are given depth by his own cries. I don't grieve alone.

"But you, O God," cries the psalmist, "do see trouble and grief." Becoming man, the character of God was not compromised or misrepresented in any way. God cannot be something other than Himself. As Jesus knew tears, the heart of God is one that knows grief: "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4). "Then [Pilate] released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified" (Matthew 27:26).

Perhaps mourning hearts are blessed because they are at this point closest to the deepest wound of the heart of God. "My son, my daughter, I know."

Found Art

2009-11-01T00:06:00.001+13:00

Beautiful to the end.

Do it again!

2009-10-31T00:05:00.000+13:00

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

G.K. Chesterton Orthodoxy

Spiritual Art

2009-10-30T00:51:00.000+13:00

A glass labyrinth.
Louisville, KY

Chameleon Christianity: Moving Beyond Safety and Conformity

2009-10-30T00:37:00.004+13:00

A BOOK REVIEW of Dick Keyes' Chameleon Christianity: Moving Beyond Safety and Conformity, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1999), 121 pp

Reviewed by Ron Toews

Dick Keyes believes one thing keenly: that Jesus’ call to serve as salt and light in a decaying, dark world is largely being ignored by Evangelical Christians in the Western world. While Jesus’ salt and light metaphors are radical and interactive and call for a critical engagement of culture, Keyes asserts that Evangelical Christians have handled the metaphors badly and fallen prey to one of two wrong approaches: (1) they have become saltless salt. A distinctive Christian identity is lost, and the believer has nothing to offer the world that the world does not already have. Or (2) they have become a light hidden under a bushel basket and fallen prey to Christian tribalism. In this error, Christian distinctiveness is contained within a Christian ghetto or subculture.

It is into this morass that Keyes wades with Chameleon Christianity. The grist for the book has surely been Keyes’ work over three decades with student-oriented L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland, England, and Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard University and Westminster Theological Seminary, Keyes’ areas of particular interest include apologetics, the intersection between psychology and theology, and Christianity and culture. He has written several other books, True Heroism (1995) and Beyond Identity (1984, 1998), also primarily intended for the young adult reader intent on regaining a more biblically countercultural strategy of engagement. Apologists Francis Schaeffer, C. S. Lewis, and G. K. Chesterton have evidently been Keyes’ mentors.

Compromise and tribalism are not new to the people of God; Keyes briefly illustrates their existence in the biblical literature before providing a more thorough analysis of the present-day church. He concludes by {197} arguing that (1) the recovery of apologetics, and (2) the recovery of the church as community, will restore the church to Jesus’ salt and light objectives. Regarding (1) apologetics, Keyes asserts that it is not possible to engage people with the gospel until one has first understood their arguments, and so he argues passionately for Christians to listen seriously and lovingly to peoples’ ideas, beliefs, objections, gripes, doubts, and struggles. The flip side of the issue is that Christians who do not understand the Scriptures will have nothing at all to say to unbelievers.

Regarding (2) the church as community, Keyes asserts that the Western church has become a lifestyle enclave. The New Testament church was by far more diverse than ours but corralled chaos through a common commitment to Christ’s lordship. Keyes argues that a recovery of the biblical concept of the church as community will pull the church back from the twin dangers of compromise and tribalism. “Our hope,” he concludes, “lies in being open to the challenge of the Bible in our individual and collective lives” (113).

Ron Toews is Senior Pastor, Dalhousie Community Church, Calgary, Alberta

SIGNS: Cane Valley, KY

2009-10-29T00:33:00.000+13:00

Between Campbellsville & Columbia

Listen, Speak

2009-10-29T00:07:00.000+13:00

If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
Frederick Buechner Now & Then

God spoke to Balaam through his ass... I believe God still speaks through asses today...So if God should choose to speak through you - you needn't think too highly of yourself.
Rich Mullins Lufkin, Texas August 1997

U2's Global Webcast

2009-10-28T00:11:00.000+13:00

The world's greatest band on the world's largest stage - U2 on YouTube. Watch the rebroadcast of the full live streaming performance from the Rose Bowl. Recorded on Sunday, October 25th.

Maturity is long sighted

2009-10-28T00:01:00.000+13:00

Painting is so much more satisfying than ministry, well, in the short run it is. When I finish painting a room or a wall, I stand back and say, "Wow, look at the difference!"

You can see the result! Everything is fresh and clean and bright. There's a sense of accomplishment.

With ministry, or teaching or nearly any people oriented helping profession, there's often a lag time, a gap between the planting and the harvesting. With much of what I do there's a need for hope and patience and perseverance.

While I find great significance and meaning in what I do, sometimes I temporarily think of returning to painting for the immediacy of the satisfaction. But then, like mowing the grass or taking out the rubbish, some refurbishments need to be done repeatedly and are not permanent or eternal.

SIGNS: 1880 Center of US Population

2009-10-27T14:42:00.000+13:00

Covington, Kentucky

What's Wrong?

2009-10-27T00:05:00.000+13:00

When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word.

Garrison Keillor We are Still Married

When an article in The Times of London proposed the question "What's Wrong with the World?" the late G. K. Chesterton, an extremely imaginative and teachable sinner replied, "I am. Yours truly, G. K. Chesterton."

Charlie Peacock At The Crossroads

Why do you speak Portugeese?

2009-10-27T00:01:00.001+13:00

Africa held many attractions for the European powers during the late 1890's. While explorers including Livingstone, Stanley and Speke had mapped out most of the continent during the 1850's, much of Africa was not under direct European control. But the 1890's marked an era where European powers, namely the British, French, Portuguese and Germans, decided that grabbing land for themselves and setting up colonies was an economic and political necessity. Africans did not consent or even realise their land was now in the hands of foreigners.

"The Berlin Conference was Africa's undoing in more ways than one. The colonial powers superimposed their domains on the African continent. By the time independence returned to Africa in 1950, the realm had acquired a legacy of political fragmentation that could neither be eliminated nor made to operate satisfactorily."
de Blij, H.J. and Peter O. Muller Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997. Page 340.

Ever wonder how we got here? I don't mean here on earth or here at this website, but here, politically, socially, linguistically, from wherever in the world you are reading this? Why do you speak English, of whatever flavour or accent, and other normal people think and speak in French or German? What of hearing an African speak with a European accent and the perfect grammar of an European language? Fascinating, yet the story behind it is full of greed and manipulation of man-made boundaries and borders. Read on.

Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to Divide Africa: The Colonization of the Continent by European Powers

By Matt Rosenberg, About.com

In 1884 at the request of Portugal, German chancellor Otto von Bismark called together the major western powers of the world to negotiate questions and end confusion over the control of Africa. Bismark appreciated the opportunity to expand Germany's sphere of influence over Africa and desired to force Germany's rivals to struggle with one another for territory.

At the time of the conference, 80% of Africa remained under traditional and local control. What ultimately resulted was a hodgepodge of geometric boundaries that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries. This new map of the continent was superimposed over the one thousand indigenous cultures and regions of Africa. The new countries lacked rhyme or reason and divided coherent groups of people and merged together disparate groups who really did not get along.

Fourteen countries were represented by a plethora of ambassadors when the conference opened in Berlin on November 15, 1884. The countries represented at the time included Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway (unified from 1814-1905), Turkey, and the United States of America. Of these fourteen nations, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal were the major players in the conference, controlling most of colonial Africa at the time.

The initial task of the conference was to agree that the Congo River and Niger River mouths and basins would be considered neutral and open to trade. Despite its neutrality, part of the Congo Basin became a personal kingdom for Belgium's King Leopold II and under his rule, over half of the region's population died.

At the time of the conference, only the coastal areas of Africa were colonized by the European powers. At the Berlin Conference the European colonial powers scrambled to gain control over the interior of the continent. The conference lasted until February 26, 1885 - a three month period where colonial powers haggled over geometric boundaries in the interior of the continent, disregarding the cultural and linguistic boundaries already established by the indigenous African population.

Following the conference, the give and take continued. By 1914, the conference participants had fully divided Africa among themselves into fifty countries.

Major colonial holdings included:

Great Britain desired a Cape-to-Cairo collection of colonies and almost succeeded though their control of Egypt, Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan), Uganda, Kenya (British East Africa), South Africa, and Zambia, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), and Botswana. The British also controlled Nigeria and Ghana (Gold Coast).
France took much of western Africa, from Mauritania to Chad (French West Africa) and Gabon and the Republic of Congo (French Equatorial Africa).
Belgium and King Leopold II controlled the Democratic Republic of Congo (Belgian Congo).
Portugal took Mozambique in the east and Angola in the west.
Italy's holdings were Somalia (Italian Somaliland) and a portion of Ethiopia.
Germany took Namibia (German Southwest Africa) and Tanzania (German East Africa).
Spain claimed the smallest territory - Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni).

Now you know how Africa got its borders and the people learned from foreigners.
Now you know how a hand full of people in Europe determined the destiny of people in Africa who were not consulted or even informed.
Some people look at Africa and think it is all much the same from top to tip. Africa is rich in culture, variety, smells, sounds & tastes.
It is idealistic to wish it had never been influenced by Europe, but it is intriguing to think how it would be different. As it is, Africans keep reclaiming parts of their continent, for better or worse.

Twisted Humour

2009-10-26T00:31:00.001+13:00

Blemishes: Badges of Battles

2009-10-26T00:19:00.002+13:00

In my preparation for talking to a group of ladies about true beauty, I found this essay by Mike Bellah of Best Years blog. Your comments are welcome.

The Myth of Beautiful People

Her skin is hairless and without blemishes: no pimples on this beauty queen. Body contours are perfect; eyes and teeth sparkle. Her hair is immaculate; not a strand out of place. Everything is flawless. Welcome to the world of Scitex.

Scitex is a brand name which has become a catchall term for computer retouching systems. According to Mary Tanner writing in the New York Times Magazine, almost every commercial photograph now contains some computer-generated enhancement, changes so subtle and artful that most people believe they are real. Says Tanner, "Even though we know by now that the computer can altar images--can even splice together the photograph of two people who have never actually met, posing them in a city neither of them has ever been in--we can't help giving credence to the end product."

I agree with Tanner; modern commercials have caused us to subscribe to what I call the myth of beautiful people, a myth that says one can be perfect--physically, emotionally, and circumstantially.

Clearly these smiling successful people, who pass our way daily via the television screen and magazine, have no lack of money for paying their bills, no invalid mother in a nursing home, no lost job or career, no struggling marriage, no estranged children, no serious illness, no addiction to alcohol or nicotine, no weight problem, no chronic aches or pains, no bouts with depression--none of the real struggles faced by real people.

And there are consequences to accepting the illusion. I'm convinced the myth of beautiful people has caused modern Americans, especially midlifers, to struggle with unnecessary shame. According to Dick Keyes in Beyond Identity, "Shame is what you experience when you suddenly realize that you have fallen short of your models."

Too often in our commercial-saturated society we adopt these "beautiful people" for models, a decision destined for disappointment. All we have to do is experience one imperfection--and in a normal life there are many--and we feel shame.

"Something must be wrong with me," we say; "normal people don't experience these things." But normal people do; in fact, heroic people do. In fact, truly beautiful people do.

In Amusing Ourselves To Death Neil Postman reminds us that there are no extant photographs of a smiling Abraham Lincoln. A man who experienced many personal tragedies, not to mention the strain of a nation at war with itself, the midlife Lincoln was given to long bouts of depression.

One wonders if the 19th century political packagers had possessed the technology of their 20th century counterparts, would they have airbrushed the character lines from Lincoln's face? Would they have hidden his personal tragedies from the public? Would they have created a Scitex Lincoln? If so, they would have destroyed the beauty of one of this nation's truly beautiful people.

For the truly beautiful are not made perfect by the computer, but by successfully navigating the real struggles of a real world. And those with blemishes--be they physical or emotional--have no cause for shame. These tell us only that we are truly alive, and in some cases (like the scars on a war veteran), that we have fought and won some hard battles.

Reason & Paradoxes

2009-10-25T00:08:00.000+13:00

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
Galileo

When I get honest, I admit that I'm a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and I get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel

Music Links & Tips

2009-10-25T00:03:00.002+13:00

Jason Gray writes on his blog:

Three of my friends released really cool new records this week that you should check out:

Thad Cockrell, “To Be Loved” – warm, hymnlike, tunes with elegant and honest lyrics. Part Paul Simon, part Ryan Adams, part Daniel Lanois. Don’t miss this record, it’s a treasure you’ll return to over and over. (Thad is one of my favorite writers, I wrote “When The Sun Falls From Your Sky” that’s on the Special Edition of my new CD) Get it at iTunes or http://thadcockrell.com

Phil Wickham, “Heaven And Earth” – I fell in love with Phil (in a brotherly way :-) when he was out with us at the beginning of this tour. This record is full of amazing vibe, it has a great production value. Modern pop/rock worship from one of the most passionate vocalists in Christian music. iTunes or http://www.philwickham.com.

Downhere, “How Many Kings” – Well, if you followed me the last several years, you know I’ve done 4 tours with these guys and that I love them like brothers. Following the success of their Christmas song, How Many Kings, they decided to make a whole Christmas record. It’s full of what you’d come to expect from them – solid pop/rock with beautiful melodies and amazing voices to sing them. It’s also their most playful record. iTunes or http://www.downhere.com

My friend Tiffany first introduced me to Downhere when I visited her in Australia. Let's see, an American visiting Australia from New Zealand hearing Canadians sing about The Real Jesus. Too funny.

Anyway, here are the lyrics and the video.

Lyrics to The Real Jesus :
Jesus on the radio, Jesus on a late night show
Jesus in a dream, looking all serene
Jesus on a steeple, Jesus in the Gallup poll
Jesus has His very own brand of rock and roll

Watched Him on the silver screen
Bought the action figurine
But Jesus is the only name that makes you flinch

Oh, can anybody show me the real Jesus?
Oh, let Your love unveil the mystery of the real Jesus

Jesus started something new
Jesus coined a phrase or two
Jesus split the line at the turning point of time
Jesus sparked a controversy
Jesus, known for His mercy, gave a man his sight
Jesus isn't white

Jesus loves the children, holds the lambs
Jesus prays a lot
Jesus has distinguishing marks on His hands

If anybody walks behind the Good Shepherd
If anybody holds the hands that heal lepers
And if you recognize the eyes that see forever, please...

Jesus, Jesus
Oh, can anybody show me Jesus
Oh, let Your love unveil the glory, the real Jesus

Oh, can anybody show me the real Jesus?
Oh, let Your love unveil the glory of the real Jesus, the real Jesus

I gave the "Why?" but not the "What?"

2009-10-24T00:05:00.000+13:00

I was kicking myself after a presentation, driving home and telling myself all the things I should have said. I called my dad for the company and perspective. A public speaker and consultant himself, he often has useful and insightful advice.

He said, "Some of my best talks were the ones I gave as I drove home after a presentation."

That sure fit my situation. I had been factual, answering questions as yet unasked, but not connecting on an emotional level with my audience at all. I hadn't provided the "Why?" only the "What?" and had left empty handed and frustrated. Phooey.

While I know it is not all about me and how I perform, I also knew I had not done my best and that I'd do things differently next time.

At this point, that's the best I can do. Live and learn.

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-10-23T00:03:00.001+13:00

What's your favourite children's story? Mine is probably Suzy the Squirrel as it was a lovely picture book my grandmother bought for me when I was a little girl. I also love James Whitcomb Riley poems, Winnie the Pooh and Happy Hollisters, but those are not usually found simply as picture books.

Another friend of mine answered this question in a group setting one time and said it was Where the Wild Things Are. I had never read the story, so I didn't know what he was talking about.

The story has now been made into a film with live actors rather than animation. Where the Wild Things Are is an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's story, where Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world--a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler.

Enjoy the following review and then a YouTube version of the book with animation.

Karen O and the Kids [DGC / Interscope; 2009] Reviewed by — Stuart Berman, October 8, 2009

Like Wild Things' young protagonist Max, Karen O understands the power of imagination in transforming your mundane surroundings into something spectacular; witness the former Oberlin College student trying to make her way as a folksinger in a unitard, before refashioning herself into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' beer-spitting, mascara-smeared mouthpiece. Unlike most lead singers with a reputation for physically extreme performances, Karen O's onstage behavior is never really subjected to psychoanalytic interpretation, nor should it be: That giddy, childlike smile she routinely flashes lets us in on the make-believe fantasy of it all, reminding us once again that rock'n'roll is really just the grown-up version of building a fort or playing with dolls. Sure, you could look at Karen O's name on the soundtrack to the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are and chalk it up to a convenient byproduct of her close relationship with the film's director, Spike Jonze. But really, there's no one better qualified for the job of translating Maurice Sendak's bedtime-story classic into song.

So for Karen O, Where the Wild Things Are isn't just a soundtrack gig; it's a vessel through which she can again redraft her surroundings. This time, she plays the head mistress of a freak-folk dream-team (christened the Kids) that includes fellow Yeah Yeah Yeahs Nick Zinner, Brian Chase, and Imaad Wasif; Deerhunter's Bradford Cox; Aaron Hemphill of Liars; and Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence of the Dead Weather. Strangely, the Wild Things trailer that's been burning up YouTube for the past month features not a note of music from this soundtrack album, instead luring us into the movie's magic animal kingdom through the choral grandeur of Arcade Fire's "Wake Up". But that track provides a cue for what Karen O and her Kids are aiming for here: a balance of the folky and fantastical, with immediate, all-together-now hooks designed for maximal campfire communalism.

Children's music, in other words-- though, barring the forced simplicity of lead single "All Is Love" (presented in a simple sing-along and a more dramatic, Funeral-ready form), it's music that's direct and participatory enough to engage the kids without aggressively pandering to them; it won't be hard to get your young'un to shout along to the gleeful, wordless hollers on "Rumpus", but the forceful stomps on which they're delivered serves to remind us that, for all their cheek-pinching cuteness, kids can be nasty, destructive little buggers. While the song titles reference the movie's events and characters, the lyrics rarely do; strip away the requisite film-dialogue snippets, and this set could've been a bonus acoustic companion disc packaged with It's Blitz!. In a sense, this soundtrack serves a similar function for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as the "MTV Unplugged" series did for grunge acts in the mid-90s-- an opportunity to strip down, but also get more elaborate and pile on the vibes, woodwinds, and other acoustic textures.

However, while the spell-it-out chant "Capsize" and the dust-up jam "Animal" tap into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' feral energy, they ultimately feel like alternate, restrained versions of songs that would sound more effective and natural in amplified form. And, inevitably, there are a handful of incidental acoustic instrumentals that probably sound better when paired with Jonze's widescreen imagery. But the Wild Things soundtrack boasts enough illuminating, atypical turns from Karen O that make it worth experiencing independent of its source. The languorous lullaby "Hideaway" may be the least kid-friendly song here-- both in its strung-out, hazy-headed performance and my-baby's-gone subject matter-- but is a marvel nonetheless, a come-down sequel to "Maps" that the broken-hearted can comfort themselves with after the tears have dried. And it's no discredit to Karen's efforts to say that the soundtrack's most affecting moment is its lone cover-- for a film concerned with the complicated, conflicted relationship between childish whimsy and the real world, there's no better representative than Daniel Johnston, whose beautifully bruised ballad "Worried Shoes" is given a lovely, touching treatment by Karen. Like Johnston, Karen O has used music to access a fantasy world more exciting than the everyday one. The former's eccentricities put him in a mental hospital; the latter's got her on magazine covers. But the appearance of "Worried Shoes" on this soundtrack underscores the fact that, while our wildest fantasies are uniquely personal, the insecurities that inspire them are universal.

Hope, Gladness, Hunger

2009-10-22T14:36:00.001+13:00

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the souland sings the tune without the words and never stops at all and sweetest in the gale is heard and strong must be the storm that could abash the little bird that kept so many warm. I've seen him in the chillest land and on the strangest sea -yet never in extremity he took a crumb from me.

Emily Dickinson

The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

Frederick Buechner , in Wishful Thinking