New York Times | Mockingbird

Posts tagged "New York Times"

Prostitot, The New Accessory by Marc Jacobs

by Ethan on May 2, 2012 • No Comments

And he said, “Let the little children come to me.” A New York Times article that gives us an amazing portrayal of the lengths to which we go to accessorize and craft an identity that will justify us. Interestingly, Jesus tells us, like Charles James, that we must become little children: “Most American fashion is based on older women trying to look like babies.” Ironically, this trend towards the accessorization of children, and the fashion industry’s relevance-seeking chops, has inverted the biblical paradigm–and children are becoming adults, way too soon.

In the last year or two, Lanvin, Gucci, Stella McCartney and…

A Night to Marimba!

by Ethan on Jan 17, 2012 • 3 Comments

Commentary abounds! The NY Times has interviewed him, it was on CBS Nightly News, YouTube videos have been made to recreate the experience of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony overrun by the all-too-commercialed Marimba ringtone; it all seems to be a nose-snubbing witch hunt. Who hasn’t been here in some way, shape, form? The nameless “Patron X”–the infamous front-row iPhone bandit–came to hear the New York Philharmonic last Tuesday, as he had done numerous times before, as he had enjoyed numerous time before. A guy with a taste for classical music, he had numerous connections in the Philharmonic, had a subscription for…

America / Identity / Psychology / Suffering

Fancies of Satisfaction: A Psychoanalysis of Pain, Pleasure, and the Good Life

by Ethan on Nov 9, 2011 • 5 Comments

The New York Times blog snagged a brilliant interview with British philosopher and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips on Western culture’s fixation with happiness. According to Phillips, this notion that a good life is a happy life is a detrimental misnomer that consequently drives the individual into deeper dissatisfaction. Insofar as pain happens regardless, the pursuit of happiness is an unachievable end, an ideal unrealized. This cultural philosophy is fundamentally hedonistic, “evacuating pain” and caulking the holes with something more palatable. It sees pain as a privation–an appetite–and in fear seeks to substitute the appetite with an overfeeding of the wrong kind…

Addiction / News / Politics

"Lonnie Loosie" on the Bound Will

by Jeff Hual on Apr 7, 2011 • 1 Comment

An article that appeared in Monday’s New York Times discussed something absolutely fascinating to me. I had no idea of the problems that the New York City cigarette tax has created for so many New York residents.

According to the article, an average pack of smokes now costs $12.50 in Midtown Manhattan, a price that is outrageous. Even with the salary premiums that New Yorkers enjoy when compared with other parts of the country, such a high price is going to price people out of the habit…or should price people out. But instead, it simply turns them to…

Music / Religion

Tender Are The Ashes

by David Zahl on Mar 9, 2011 • No Comments

Happy Ash Wednesday… from Honeybus:

Church / Humor

Scumbags Welcome

by David Zahl on Mar 7, 2011 • 2 Comments

Two thumbs up. Details here:

Everyday / Film / Grace in Practice / Literature

Narrative and the Grace of God: The New ‘True Grit’

by Bryan J. on Dec 30, 2010 • 4 Comments

Stanley Fish is doing our job for us over on the New York Times Online OpEd Section. Fish, an academic known for his postmodern literary criticism (think interpretive communities) and guest writer for the NYT, wrote a piece entitled Narrative and the Grace of God: The New ‘True Grit’ which sounds like something Nick Lannon would write about here at Mockingbird. Be Warned: Dr. Fish’s article contains spoilers though this post does not!

I haven’t seen the new Coen Brother’s movie yet, but rest assured that will be remedied in the next few days. Until then, I figured…

Church / News / Religion / Sermons

DJ Jazzy Theology and What’s Wrong with Churchgoers

by Aaron M. G. Zimmerman on Aug 13, 2010 • 3 Comments

Do you remember that feeling when you were on the receiving end of a parental lecture: That compelling desire to escape, combined with a growing resolve to completely reject all the counsel, advice, and nuggets of wisdom coming from the lecturer’s mouth?

I got that feeling the other day.

It came when I was reading an op-ed column in the New York Times. Oddly enough, it was written by a guy in my profession, a Christian pastor.

The author’s point was that the problem with Christian congregations is that they want to be “soothed and entertained” in churches that feel like theaters.

Now, I’m…

Interviews / News / TV

An Interview with the Writers of LOST

by Todd Brewer on May 17, 2010 • 2 Comments

A few MB-related highlights from a recent New York Times interview with LOST writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. If you are interested in the show at all, the interview is worth the full read.

On their literary influences:“One of the things that we completely own is that in many ways “Lost” is a mash-up/remix of our favorite stories, whether that’s Bible stories from Sunday school or “Narnia” or “Star Wars” or the writings of John Steinbeck. Carlton and I both had to take philosophy classes when we were in college, and we talk about philosophy, so when certain ideas…

Law / News / Politics

Going green isn’t the problem…

by Kelty on Jan 17, 2010 • 9 Comments

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/science/earth/18family.html?pagewanted=1&hp

I found this article on the New York Times today and thought it gives a telling account of what happens when we try to change others by demanding that they do this or that. While our intentions may well be very good and noble (in this case, saving the planet), our demanding that they change their ways can at best prove Law to our friends, loved-ones, and spouses.

I think it interesting that this article calls bickering about environmental issues a ‘new’ kind of relational trouble, but the end result is the same as ever: saving the planet becomes Law that…

Music / Theology / Year In Review

Top 10 things on my iPod Touch

by DPotter on Dec 21, 2009 • 2 Comments

As the year comes to a close, I’ll be the first to kick-off the obligatory ‘Top 10′ lists with the Top 10 things on my iPod Touch. (Yes, I needed to indicate that it is a ‘Touch’ simply because other models cannot download apps). They are, in no particular order…

1. Daily Audio Bible (podcast): The host, Brian Hardin, reads through the Bible in a year. Each day contains a passage from the OT, NT, Psalms and Proverbs. His commentary at the end often goes in a different direction than I would, but I’m only interested in…

Everyday / Identity / Law / Music

Pandora as Judgment-Free Zone

by R-J Heijmen on Oct 22, 2009 • 3 Comments

There is a very interesting article in this week’s New York Times Magazine about Pandora, the free internet music service that creates custom playlists based on your personal music preferences. I am a huge Pandora fan.

Most interesting, for Mockingbirds, is how the absence of judgment (i.e. law) in Pandora creates the space for love (of music) to flourish. Pandora’s entire system depends on a group of music experts evaluating songs in the most objective, least judgmental way possible, which often leads to unexpected musical connections for listeners, as is recounted in the following humorous anecdote:

Westergren (Pandora’s founder) likes to tell…

Theology

Gustaf Wingren on Vocation, Good Works, And Sanctification

by MM on Aug 8, 2009 • 1 Comment

“In heaven, before God, vocation has as little to contribute as do good works. Good works and vocation (love) exist for the earth and one’s neighbor, not for eternity and God. God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does. It is faith that God wants.”

Film

Director John Hughes has Died

by Sean Norris on Aug 6, 2009 • 4 Comments

A legend died Thursday in New York. 59 year-old writer and film director John Hughes suffered a heart attack while he was taking a walk in Manhattan. You can read the report here.

Hughes was in many ways the voice of teen consciousness during the 1980s. His movies include the modern classics of Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Breakfast Club. During the early 90s he went on to direct more family oriented movies like Home Alone and Uncle Buck. Other classic Hughes’ movies you might remember: National Lampoon’s Vacation, Weird Science, Pretty in…

Humor