project rednoW

Compassion Fatigue (Part II)

Mon, 12 May 2008 18:17:21 +0100

Something strange has been happening the last two days. It is insignificant in our everyday lives, our eating and drinking and working and sleeping lives. Yet, the ramifications of this phenomenon are far-reaching, and hold sway over what

The Wonder of Conversation: Purple State of Mind

Mon, 12 May 2008 17:51:02 +0100

If you have a Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) account, there are two questions within your profile that you either spent significant time contemplating or little to no time bypassing all together: religious view? and political view? Two questions that inevitably communicate more than anyone would ever desire. If your political view reads liberal...

Bon Iver's Gift

Fri, 02 May 2008 19:18:10 +0100

Attempting to describe the debut album from Bon Iver is not unlike describing the magnolia tree currently blooming in my back yard. I could write about the colors and smells and the way the lawn under the tree turns white when a storm disturbs its petals. But it’s still just a tree until you...

Grand Theft Auto IV: Perfect Paradox

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:41:59 +0100

“It's a satire of not only New York, but of American consumerism and culture…” Those words came from Lazlow Jones (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90041944) , one of the creators of Grand Theft Auto IV, which hit stores yesterday. Now, take that quote and lay it next to the fact that GTA IV is the most highly anticipated...

Everything's Gonna Get Lighter

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:21:50 +0100

"Everything's gonna to get lighter, even if it doesn't get better."* That's a big promise Mates of State are making in their new single "Get Better" which was just released today. And it all begins with the line "forget your politics for a while." Not an easy thing to do in presidential...

My Human Footprint

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:14:26 +0100

Ever lament that no one would notice if you just disappeared? After watching Eric Kuiper (music/album/sad-and-lost-apostles.html) and I were discussing the possibility of not creating any physical waste (i.e. not throwing anything away) for an entire week (Eric and his wife Kate at one point aspired to do this). But the...

Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:39:37 +0100

Counting Crows, in their latest release Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings walk the razor line between reinvention and recapturing the past. The album, built on the theme of frenetic Saturday nights and restoration -- or lack thereof -- on quiet Sunday mornings, is their first studio recording since Hard Candy in 2002. The six...

Wondering about Capitalism: The Story of Stuff

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Shopping. What image is forefront when you contemplate the act of shopping? For me, it's the Galleria in Dallas, TX - a large 4 story, glass laden shopping center (http://www.dallascvb.com/visitors/images/display.php?id=3060) in the heart of downtown Dallas. I did not grow up in Dallas, but my family regularly vacationed there at summer's end...

Horton Hears A Who: Experience Trumping Logic

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:05:44 +0100

Walking into see the newest big-budget animated movie, Horton Hears a Who, I was expecting my 2.5 laughs out loud and waiting for the inevitable scene where animated animals dance in unison to some mid 90’s classic from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. The obligatory dance scene didn’t show up, but the...

Sad And Lost Apostles

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:34:49 +0100

It usually takes me several listens to an album before I feel like I have even begun to process it. Considering that R.E.M.’s Accelerate just hit the market this Tuesday, I’m not sure where I am yet in the process of processing. But we here at rednoW have never been about processing things...

The Cost of The Cool

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:00:00 +0100

I've long defended Kanye, Jay-Z, The Roots, Nas, etc. when people said that all hip-hop is just junk, a glorification of all that is wrong with our world. Obviously those people haven't listen to the whole catalogs of the above artists. But it's hard to defend the majority of hip-hop,...

Wondering about Capitalism: The One Percent

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:34:11 +0100

The economy. Two words that once-upon-a-time simply described the system in which goods and services are consumed or exchanged within a particular people group. Today, these two words embody a world of emotions, questions, and fears. Today, they are generally perceived to be "bad" news: Dollar at record lows (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101 sid=ajJ9KcBYUV9E...

43

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:44:43 +0100

Psalm 43

A Dancing Absence

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:50:21 +0100

The brilliance of the images that Sam Beam (aka Iron Wine) creates is found in the subtly. It isn't exactly easy to create images that reflect pure joy or pure tragedy, but it might be even more difficult to create images that reflect the ambiguity that encompasses most days of the week....

Why is this Friday 'good'?

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:32:01 +0100

For people who call themselves Christians of followers of Jesus, one day of the year is called particularly 'good.' Strangely, it's the day of Jesus' death. That seems quite odd, if not outright morbid. What'

The Apple Identity Experience

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:32:23 +0100

Wouldn't you have loved to be in the meeting when the ad people pitched the idea to Apple for their current line of commercials? Maybe it went a little something like this: -"So all we're gonna do is pick a cool new song and lay it overtop of close up images...

The Celebrity of Jesse James

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:17:37 +0100

Andrew Dominik’s western takes place in the volatile days following the American Civil War. Adapted from Ron Hansen’s 1983 novel of the same name and starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, the film did not make much of a dent at the box office even though many critics included it in their top films...

Jesus for President

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:39:25 +0100

I recently picked up a fascinating book by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw called, 'Jesus for President.' I know that not everyone that finds their way to rednow would consider themselves to be a Christian, but even if you

Chronological Snobbery and a Passing Afternoon

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:32:42 +0100

Welcome to the advancements of the modern world: the internet, ipods, cell phones and all your favorite TV shows on DVD. So much has changed since our parents were kids. With so much information at my fingertips it's hard for me not to think that I am better educated and have a...

Questions and Experiences: The Select Fit

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:35:49 +0100

One of the primary interests of rednoW are the questions in which a particular piece of art asks of us - asks of humanity. Though it is a reasonable argument that art does not always exist for these purposes (to ask questions), it is often a starting point. If you take on...