i am paradox

Who gives a @#$% about profanity?

Via CNN:

"You probably hear these words often, and more than ever before. But even though we can't print them, we can certainly ask: Are we living in an Age of Profanity?

Nearly three-quarters of Americans questioned last week -- 74 percent -- said they encounter profanity in public frequently or occasionally, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. Two-thirds said they think people swear more than they did 20 years ago. And as for, well, the gold standard of foul words, a healthy 64 percent said they use the F-word -- ranging from several times a day (8 percent) to a few times a year (15 percent).

Just ask Joe Cormack. Like any bartender, Cormack, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, hears a lot of talk. He's not really offended by bad language -- heck, he uses it himself every day. But sometimes, a customer will unleash the F-word so many times, Cormack just has to jump in.

"Do you have any idea how many times you've just said that?" he reports saying from time to time. "I mean, if I take that out of your vocabulary, you've got nothin'!"

Read the rest here

Rent

Took a few friends to go see a live, touring production of Rent yesterday in Vegas. It's the 10 year anniversary since it first opened on Broadway. We were a little disappointed b.c we were hoping to see the original cast, many of who are in the movie. Yet the performance was still amazing, you would be surprised by what they can do with such a small and simple set.

Rent is a modern musical which takes place in New York and follows a group of young adults as they protest consumerism and homelessness, and struggle with many of their peers dying from AIDS. Jonathan Larson, the creator, lived for Rent for several years, making several rewrites and changes and writing hundreds of songs for the show- 44 are in the final version. Even as the show solidified, it proved insanely popular. Unfortunately, Larson would not live to see its true success: he died from an undiagnosed aortic dissection, just a few hours after the musical had its final dress rehearsal.

Daily Show Theology, Part 2

Jim Wallis was on the Daily Show last year, promoting his book God's politics. Jim, and his organization Sojourners are really picking up momentum. Their website finally has the video clip, which is pretty amazing. "Jim joins Jon in the tradition of Hebrew prophets who use humor and truth-telling to make their point."  You can also listen to and download 3 free samples from the audio book.

Jim Wallis and the Daily Show Clip

Soprano Spirituality

If you are a Sopranos fan like I am, and watched the last 2 episodes of the new season, then you will like this article that I came across on beliefnet. If you haven't seen any of the new season, then be warned: spoilers alert below.

"The metaphysical motif of the final “Sopranos” season rolled on last night, as a comatose Tony, shot by his Uncle Junior, chose not to “walk into the light,” even as he was driven toward it by Paulie Walnuts’s yammering at his bedside.

As revealed during last week’s episode, Tony's mind, in his coma, is replaying his life, though this version is far different than what actually happened. In his reverie, Tony, some sort of salesman, is in possession of a briefcase belonging to a Kevin Finnerty. Checking into a hotel, he is asked to present ID, and having no other ID, he uses Finnerty’s. At that point, a group of Buddhist monks accost him, demanding accountability for a bum heating system Finnerty sold their monastery.

Forward to this week’s episode, and Tony finds himself served with papers by the Crystal Monastery. Hoping to uncover the true identity of Kevin Finnerty, he seeks out the monks, who chuckle each time he tells them that he isn’t Finnerty. If you haven’t gotten it by now, Tony’s new name is a thinly veiled reference to the concept of infinity. One of the merry monks explains that, in the end, everything is one, but for now, someone needs to be responsible--for the heating system, in this case. Tony has also been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and therefore, isn’t sure whether or not he really isn’t Finnerty, so he heads to a Finnerty family reunion in search of more answers."

Near Death in Newark

Are kids too plugged in?

"It's become routine for kids to conduct IM conversations, watch TV and do Google searches at the same time.Today 82 percent of kids are online by the seventh grade, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The big finding of a 2005 survey of Americans ages 8 to 18 by the Kaiser Family Foundation is not that kids were spending a larger chunk of time using electronic media -- that was holding steady at 6.5 hours a day (could it possibly get any bigger?) -- but that they were packing more media exposure into that time: 8.5 hours' worth, thanks to "media multitasking" -- listening to iTunes, watching a DVD and IMing friends all at the same time.

Human beings have always had a capacity to attend to several things at once. Mothers have done it since the hunter-gatherer era -- picking berries while suckling an infant, stirring the pot with one eye on the toddler.

Nor is electronic multitasking entirely new: We've been driving while listening to car radios since they became popular in the 1930s.

But there is no doubt that the phenomenon has reached a kind of warp speed in the era of Web-enabled computers, when it has become routine to conduct six IM conversations, watch American Idol on TV and Google the names of last season's finalists all at once.

But what's the impact of this media consumption? And how are these multitasking devices changing how kids learn, reason and interact with one another?"

CNN Summary of Time's Cover story

Daily Show Theology ?

I must say my curiousity was peaked on this once again when watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Last week or so, Jon's special guest was Bart Ehrman, a New Testament Scholar and author of Misquoting Jesus. It looks like a great read, though I haven't actually got a copy yet. Anyway, here is a link for the video clip of the interview.  Make sure you click on the one with his name, Bart Ehrman.

Daily show clip

Oscar Predictions

Best Picture
Brokeback Mountain

Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote

Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney, Syriana

Best Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener

Best Director
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain

Best Adapted Screenplay
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain

Best Original Screenplay
Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, Crash

Animated Feature
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Art Direction
Memoirs of a Geisha

Cinematography
Batman Begins

Costumes
Memoirs of a Geisha

Documentary Feature
March of the Penguins

London gets Sexual Theme Park

"Move over, Eros. Developers announced plans Friday to open a multimillion dollar sexual "theme park" near London's Piccadilly Circus, home to the much-photographed statue of the Greek god of love.

Backers say the London Academy of Sex and Relationships, due to open next spring, will not be a sleazy sex museum, but an educational multimedia attraction that will teach visitors to become better lovers and provide valuable information about disease and sexual problems.

Located within the Trocadero entertainment center — just around the corner from Soho, London's red-light district — the $8.3 million project will feature unspecified "high tech and interactive exhibits."

Alex Rayner, a spokesman for the project, said it was "committed to avoiding the sleazy image that the sex industry usually conjures."

"Titillation is not the goal," he said. "It's meant to be educational. It's meant to be informative."

Sounds, um, interesting?

God tells Bush go to War in Iraq

" President Bush allegedly said God told him to invade a new BBC documentary will reveal, according to details.

Bush made the claim when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and then foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003, the ministers told the documentary series to be broadcast in Britain later this month.

The US leader also told them he had been ordered by God to create a Palestinian state, the ministers said.

Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, said: "I'm driven with a mission from God.

'God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan'.'

"And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq...' And I did.

"'And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God I'm gonna do it'," said Shaath."

Wow. I'm speechless.

Article Link

Teen Sex Stats: Wake-Up Call

Americans received a much need wake up call this past week when a new teen age sex study was released, the most comprehensive national survey of sexual behaviors ever released by the federal government. Included in it were the facts that slightly more than half of American teenagers ages 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex, with females and males reporting similar levels of experience. The report released by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the proportion increases with age to about 70 percent of all 18- and 19-year-olds. That figure is considerably higher for those who also have engaged in intercourse. Several leaders of organizations that study or work with youth expressed surprise at the level of girls' participation. "You assume that females are more likely to give, males more likely to receive," said Jennifer Manlove, who directs fertility research for the organization Child Trends. "We were surprised that the percentages were similar."

I think we can go to extremes with this personally. On one hand, some parents will think "not my kid'.  And then the other extreme is thinking that every teen they know is guilty of the above stats. As the church, we have got to come to grips with how society really is and not be afraid to talk about sex, both the good, the bad and the ugly.

Perhaps we have only discussed sex negatively, or only when a sexual topics course is given, instead of making it part of our community life together. How long will it take us to learn?

Teen Sex Study/Stats