One rainy day last year I decided to do the Internet a favor and digitize Peter Bagge’s brilliant, contrarian essay, “In Defense Of (And Praise For) Mike Love.” Ever since, I’ve been waiting for the right time to post it, and the 50th anniversary of the band seems like as good an opportunity as any. It was originally published in Hate Annual #2 back in 2001, and despite sincere disagreements about some of the points he makes–indeed, about his main point!–it’s still hands-down the best piece of Beach Boys writing I’ve ever come across, capturing much of what makes the…
From Derision to Compassion: The Death of Junior Seau
It was like a switch was thrown. I was at an open gym, shooting baskets with a bunch of guys, talking about the news of the day: the apparent suicide of former NFL great and presumptive Hall of Famer Junior Seau. Many of the guys couldn’t believe that a man who was so famous, so rich, who had so much, could be depressed. What could possibly be so bad about his life that it wasn’t worth living? The tone of the conversation quickly became derisive. Seau must have been weak. Fragile. Pathetic. Then someone suggested that his brain may have…
The All-Seeing, Never-Seeing Google Goggles
And little by little, Google crafts a creature-comfort Terminator. Here’s a look into the anticipated Google Project Glass:
It’s not that these probably won’t be the norm in five years–it’s that I always wanted to be the Terminator, and yet this Terminator is so lame. This Terminator is still kind of a control-freak, a hollow-bodied, short-attentioned ukelele-lover. He’s not an explosive-toter, a renegade Savior–he’s a Manhattan dweller who still doesn’t know where the Strand is, much less can he remember when a show is, or how long ago his friend said he’d meet him for “Mud Truck”. Bah! That sounds just…
Gardner Taylor: Preaching to the Alienated Ones
When I’m 94, I hope I’m half as wise and cut-to-the-bone honest as the Rev. Dr. Gardner Taylor, known as “the dean of American preaching.” In a 2011 interview on “Preaching When Parched,” Dr. Taylor was asked how one can preach and minister during the “arid” times in life. His answer comes across with the bracing honesty we at Mockingbird try to encourage, the gut-level truth-telling which was a focus of our recent too-hot-to-handle-too-cold-to-hold (Vanilla Ice) NYC conference. (He also echoes some of PZ’s past thoughts on Kerouac and the task of preaching). Listen up, preachers:
Q: How do you preach from aridity without betraying…
Another Week Ends: Reddit Confessionals, Influencing Nick Cave, Deciphering Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Gospel-Centrism, Reinhold Bieber, White People Problems, Bat-Staches and Haidt on Colbert
1. Last week I mentioned a recent study exploring the physical impact of keeping secrets, and by implication, the biological necessity of confession (to say nothing of absolution). This week, that study has become manifest in an alarming way. A Reddit thread which asked the question, “What Secret Could Ruin Your Life If It Came Out?” has turned into a stomach-churning tour of the darkest recesses of the human heart and experience, with people anonymously confessing to things as innocuous as petty theft and faking an illness (e.g. “I once helped out my a female friend’s family by taking care…
Pulling John and Losing to Win
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…
Boomers and Stickers: Wendell Berry’s 2012 Jefferson Lecture
Last Monday, Wendell Berry, widely known as today’s quotable agriprophet, America’s modern man of letters, was given the prestigious honor of presenting the Jefferson Lecture, the nation’s highest prize for “distinguished intellectual achievement.” What he spoke of–beyond his grandfather’s h0meland loyalty and the tragic industrial legacy of James B. Duke, for whom Duke University is named–was an ethic of affection, a turning way from the Diaspora of Modern Mobility–our privatized and lonesome Babylon–a repentance and return to a culture of sympathetic humility to one’s own. Berry’s essay was titled “It All Turns on Affection.”
I am from Kentucky, my family has…
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
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…
The (Completely Serious) Mockingbird NBA Playoffs Preview
The East
Chicago Bulls
Joakim Noah is the living embodiment of the theology of the cross. No one with a jump shot that ugly should be playing in the NBA. And yet, there he is, bringing life out of death.
Miami Heat
Miami’s supporting cast has been playing more and more poorly, as though they, too, want LeBron to stew in his own juices for eternity. Miami will get to the East Finals, but “not four, not five, not six…” will continue to haunt more than the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
Indiana Pacers
Everyone’s wondering if a team without a legitimate superstar (and no,…
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
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…
The Law Kills: A Day in the Life of Werner Herzog’s Housekeeper
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…
My Heart Would Poison You, But God Wants My Poison Heart
Yitzhak Zuckerman
I just came across this quote from Yitzhak Zuckerman, who was a Jewish resistance movement leader in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II:
If you could lick my heart, it would poison you.
Wow! You see, although a hero of the resistance movement, plagued by survivor guilt, he became an uncontrollable alcoholic later in life. So despite rightly being celebrated for his wartime heroism, Zuckerman was in touch with the darkest parts of himself. (This quote, by the way, is originally from the French documentary Shoah, which—full disclosure—I have not seen.)
While allowing Zuckerman’s words to stew in my…
2012 NYC Conference Book Table
Recordings will all be available on Friday. Until then, here’s this year’s book table, with a couple of embarrassing omissions rectified. Every year it’s a little different, depending on speaker and theme, but overall, it’s safe to say that it doubles as something of a “Mockingbird Reading List.” Enjoy:
NON-FICTION
Alcoholics Anonymous – Big Book (little version)
Aronson, Elliot, and Tavris, Carol – Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
Brewer, Todd & Zahl, David – The Gospel According to Pixar
Capon, Robert Farrar – Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of…
Instagram Knowing: Why Little Sips Don’t Equal A Big Gulp
As if there weren’t enough people writing about it already, I suppose for posterity’s sake we’ll continue unfurling the scrolls. Apparently there’s an opinion out there that says that if we’re everywhere at once, we’re nowhere at all. That technology–most significantly the ever-presence of the smartphone, the synced life, the facebooked life–has kept anyone from knowing anybody. Why, though? Having a sister who lives 2,000 miles away, I’m glad I have a chance to watch my nieces and nephew grow up by way of her Instagram updates. Is there anything wrong with that? It’s a great way for me see…
Catch a Cannonball (to Take Me on Down the Line): In Memory of Levon Helm
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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