Film/Music/TV
Auden on Heroes, (Christian) Art and Wishing the Iconoclasts Had Won
Art / Literature

Auden on Heroes, (Christian) Art and Wishing the Iconoclasts Had Won

by David Zahl on May 3, 2012 • No Comments

A trio of gems from W.H. Auden’s essay on “Christianity and Art”, which can be found in the collection The Dyer’s Hand:

To a Christian, the godlike man is not the hero who does extraordinary deeds, but the holy man, the saint, who does good deeds. But the gospel defines a good deed as one done in secret, hidden, so far as it is possible, even from the doer, and forbids private prayer and fasting in public. This means that art, which by its nature can only deal with what can and should be manifested, cannot portray a saint. – pg…

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The Best Part about Confession: Absolution
Forgiveness / Grace in Practice / Music / Radio

The Best Part about Confession: Absolution

by Mockingbird on May 3, 2012 • 2 Comments

This piece comes from Jason Redcay:

I’ve been enjoying gettin’ a little funky (for a pasty white guy) with the Snap Judgment Radio Show – “Storytelling with a Beat”. You can check out the host Glynn Washington at the next This American Life live event on May 10th.

These stories offers real, raw, and honest relationships about absolution. The opening story about the girl with the lingering stench following her through the bus makes for an interesting illustration of our relationship with Jesus. How many times have we denied Him and refused Him a seat next to us in that seat on…

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Pulling John and Losing to Win
Film / Sports / Theology

Pulling John and Losing to Win

by Nick Lannon on May 2, 2012 • 3 Comments

 

I’m addicted to documentaries; tiny ones that no one has ever heard of. Netflix Instant has been a godsend for finding my fringe documentary fix.  The last two I watched were Running the Sahara, the story of three men who, you guessed it, ran across the Sahara Desert, and Pulling John, the story of three of the premier arm wrestlers in the world.

John Brzenk (the “John” of the title) became the world arm wrestling champion in 1983 and didn’t lose an arm wrestling match (a “pull”) for the next 25 years.  You might recognize him from the 1987 Sylvester Stallone arm…

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Espera: Hope on a High Floor
Forgiveness / Music / Suffering

Espera: Hope on a High Floor

by Mockingbird on May 2, 2012 • 18 Comments

This post comes from Mockingbird friend and jazz fan Morris Middleton.

As a jazz pianist I’m always on the lookout for a beautiful song, and in Esperanza Spalding’s haunting song, Espera, I found one.  But in it I heard something even more haunting. The human cry for help.

The word espera derives from the Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese infinitive esperar, “to hope, wait or expect.”  The talented Spalding’s eponymous Espera is labeled a song of hope, yet its lyrics paint a picture as haunting as the minor key in which it is written.

Its lyrics paint a bleak and hopeless picture of…

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Film

This Isn’t A Car: New Dark Knight Trailer

by David Zahl on May 1, 2012 • 3 Comments

Not sure how this could look any more awesome (or set off any more “Passion of the Batman” alarms):

 

When Happiness Stalks You: Get Huge Like The Hulk!
Addiction / Film / Identity / Law

When Happiness Stalks You: Get Huge Like The Hulk!

by David Browder on May 1, 2012 • 2 Comments

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. - Galatians 1:11

In honor of the release of The Avengers this week, Muscle & Fitness Magazine has fortified us with another brilliant analogy of the impossibility and allure of the unattainable.  This month’s issue sports an impressive picture of The Incredible Hulk right next to the promising tagline: “Get huge like the Hulk with our real-life routine!”  The article exposes the incredibly neurotic belief that happiness always lies at the next level up.  Funny how it is always just beyond your grasp.

Speakeasy…

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“It’s You I Like” by Fred M. Rogers
Children / Grace in Practice / Music / TV

“It’s You I Like” by Fred M. Rogers

by Matt Schneider on May 1, 2012 • 8 Comments

I was probably familiar with this song when I was a kid, but I recently ran across it again… for the first time. Its words of gratuitous unconditional love may seem a bit flaky at first, but if Mr. Rogers can’t pierce our cynicism, no one can! The lyrics are on par with that scene in Bridget Jones’ Diary when Mark Darcy tells Bridget Jones, “I like you very much. Just as you are.” (As opposed to who you think should be). Love that is not interested in attributes or works, but the person themselves, warts and all – we…

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Ernest Hemingway and the Failure of Art
Art / Books / Death / Law / Literature / Theology

Ernest Hemingway and the Failure of Art

by Matthew Stokes on Apr 30, 2012 • 4 Comments

From Paul Johnson’s amusing and enlightening book Intellectuals, a lengthy summation of the tragic façade that was the life of Ernest Hemingway:

“Why did Hemingway long for death? It is by no means unusual among writers. His contemporary Evelyn Waugh, a writer in English of comparable stature during this period, likewise longer for death. But Waugh was not an intellectual: he did not think he could refashion the rule of life out of his own head but submitted to the traditional discipline of his church, dying of natural causes five years later. Hemingway created his own code, based on honour, truth,…

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Music / Playlist

May Playlist

by David Zahl on Apr 30, 2012 • 2 Comments
  1. Tighter, Tighter – Alive ‘N Kickin’
  2. Tell ‘Em Willie Boy Is Comin’ – Tommy James
  3. Weeds – Pulp
  4. You Came, You Saw, You Conquered – The Ronettes
  5. The Weakest Shade of Blue – Pernice Brothers
  6. My Saddest Day – Reg Austin
  7. Wonder – Embrace
  8. Run to Me – The Bee Gees
  9. AM 180 – Grandaddy
  10. Hollywood Blvd – Neil Merryweather
  11. Teenage Dream – T. Rex
  12. Ballad of Maxwell Demon – Shudder to Think
  13. Hey, Hey Helen – ABBA
  14. Glad and Sorry – The Faces
  15. The Caves of Jericho – The Band
  16. Dreams – Slaid Cleaves
  17. So Long You Pretty Thing – Spiritualized
  18. Beyond the Sunset – Hank Williams
Another Week Ends: Celebrity Body Image, Depression Chemistry, the Burden of Secrecy, Fitz Allison, Ryan Gosling, Community, Game of Thrones, and Spiritualized
Celebrity / Film / Humor / Music / Psychology / Science / Suffering / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Celebrity Body Image, Depression Chemistry, the Burden of Secrecy, Fitz Allison, Ryan Gosling, Community, Game of Thrones, and Spiritualized

by David Zahl on Apr 27, 2012 • 5 Comments

1. On Slate, Emily Shire asks, “Should Celebrity Body ‘Struggles’ Make Us Feel Better About Ourselves?” and her insightful little response doubles as quite the treatise on the function of Standards (of beauty etc) and how attempts to allay judgment often backfire, i.e. that the notch on the scale isn’t the issue so much as the scale itself:

Allure’s feature is only one of the latest in a long line of magazine stories about female celebrities “bravely” grappling with their “physical imperfections.” A growing number of publications are trying to pass off barely-clad celebrities strutting their stuff as an inspiring act…

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2012 NYC Conference Recordings: Honesty, Humility and the Grace of God
Addiction / Bible / Children / Conferences / Everyday / Film / Grace in Practice / Humor / Identity / Law / Literature / Music / Poetry / Psychology / Relationships / Religion / Suffering / Theology / TV

2012 NYC Conference Recordings: Honesty, Humility and the Grace of God

by Mockingbird on Apr 26, 2012 • 6 Comments

A major thank you to everyone who helped put on this past weekend’s conference in New York! We could not be happier or more grateful for how it all went. We are offering the recordings free of charge again this year; we only ask that those who were not able to attend this year *consider* making a donation to Mockingbird to help cover the cost of the event. Download links are followed by an in-line player for each recording.

Thursday April 19th

Devotion 1 – Jacob Smith

“The Zoolander Antidote: Telling the Truth (About You)” – Aaron Zimmerman

Friday April 20th

Devotion 2 – Jacob…

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The Law Kills: A Day in the Life of Werner Herzog’s Housekeeper
Celebrity / Film / Humor / Law

The Law Kills: A Day in the Life of Werner Herzog’s Housekeeper

by David Browder on Apr 26, 2012 • 5 Comments

In keeping with Werner Herzog discussing chickens (one of the funniest clips of all time), we now have a letter the famed filmmaker wrote to his housekeeper. I will delay no longer.

Rosalina. Woman.

You constantly revile me with your singular lack of vision. Be aware, there is an essential truth and beauty in all things. From the death throes of a speared gazelle to the damaged smile of a freeway homeless. But that does not mean that the invisibility of something implies its lack of being. Though simpleton babies foolishly believe the person before them vanishes when they cover their eyes…

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Pete Campbell: With Success Comes Sadness
Identity / TV

Pete Campbell: With Success Comes Sadness

by Aaron M. G. Zimmerman on Apr 25, 2012 • 5 Comments

Slate recently interviewed Vincent Kartheiser (aka Pete Campbell on Mad Men). In case we needed any reminders that human beings need love, not love-based-on-achievement, there’s this:

Slate: [Your character's] a man of ambition, but he seems to get more unhappy the more he achieves. He’s achieved many of his goals—Trudy had the baby, he got a bigger office, he’s dominating Roger—but he seems to get crabbier by the week. Do you understand why he’s so unhappy?

Kartheiser: With success comes a level of sadness. You think, “I’ll reach this goal, and then I’ll feel a sense of completeness, of wholeness. I’ll feel…

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Catch a Cannonball (to Take Me on Down the Line): In Memory of Levon Helm
America / Music / Suffering

Catch a Cannonball (to Take Me on Down the Line): In Memory of Levon Helm

by David Zahl on Apr 24, 2012 • 11 Comments

The Mockingbird office in Charlottesville is decorated with a collection of proud mementos. An inspiration constellation, if you will. Most prominently, there’s the foldout from the ET: Picture Book record, which has Michael Jackson posing for what seems like a school photo with the ExtraTerrestrial himself. There’s the 7-inch Slash figurine, complete with adjoining Marshall stack. There’s the framed original poster for The Muppet Movie. There’s the bottom piece of Lucas Cranach’s Marienkirche altarpiece in Wittenberg, which depicts Martin Luther preaching the crucified God. There’s the six-panel insert to All Things Must Pass of George Harrison looking like the haggard…

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Who Put That Hole in My Bucket? The Difference Between Bruce Springsteen and Hank Williams
Bible / Grace in Practice / Music / Suffering / Theology

Who Put That Hole in My Bucket? The Difference Between Bruce Springsteen and Hank Williams

by David Browder on Apr 23, 2012 • 11 Comments

A few weeks ago, DZ brought our attention to the terrific keynote speech given by Bruce Springsteen at this year’s South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX this past March, in which he basically spent an hour going over his musical influences. It’s really great. At about the 37 minute-mark, he begins to talk about country music and (one of my heroes) Hank Williams. Says The Boss:

I remember sitting in my little apartment, listening to Hank Williams Greatest Hits over and over. And I was trying to crack his code because at first it just didn’t sound good to me.…

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