I will praise the name of God with a song, And will
magnify Him with thanksgiving.
(Psa 69:30 NKJV)
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Friday, November 19, 2004
Atmosphere
There is something about a little coffee shop that draws you in. It might be the dark wood tables and chairs. It might be the amazing, tantalizing smells. It might be the soft, glowing lights. It might be the bottles of coffee flavoring. It might be the coffee. It might be the smoothies. It might be a refuge from the shopping district, awash in tinsel, looking cheap in the bright sunlight. It might be the sandwiches, or the cookies. Or it might be the chance to have a good conversation. Or it might be the newspapers and magazines. Or it might be the teas...especially the chai. It might be the glass canisters of candy. It might be the icicle Christmas lights festooning the wood waist high. It might be (but probably isn't) the two taxidermically preserved deer heads, despite the fact both of them are very nice, at least five pointers. It might be the music. It might be the framed pictures and awards on the walls. Or it might just be the free wi-fi.
Personally, I think its a combination. But this is still way better than Starbucks.
Hooray for small local coffee shops (with wi-fi!)
Personally, I think its a combination. But this is still way better than Starbucks.
Hooray for small local coffee shops (with wi-fi!)
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Oh, please...
'SYRACUSE, New York (AP) -- Syracuse University students taking "Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen B@#$H101 -- The Life and Times of Lil' Kim" will have a guest speaker Wednesday -- the multiplatinum recording artist herself.'
"The Syracuse course requires students to read Kim's song lyrics as literary texts and analyze her iconography in videos and performances, according to the course description."
In connection to this, I was visiting a friend recently when she invited me to tag along to her afternoon art class. She assured me that her professor wouldn't mind, so I took her up on it, having been forewarned as to the focus of the class by viewing my friend's completed assignments-- straight A's. At least she has a sense of humor about them.
We arrived at the college campus, and reached the classroom. We were the first ones there, and sat down on tall stools around tables covered with a protective fabric-ish cloth. A few more students arrived, some friendly and talkative, others morose, or just shy. But this, it turned out, was a class where all were required to give input-- a great way to force them into thinking about the pieces in an elements of design fashion.
Class started, with only five students there at the beginning. More trickled in, leading up to a total of eight. Then, we started going around the room and each student would tell us all about their piece, and everyone would talk about it, and give input and praise and criticism.
We started with an elephant, made, like all of the pieces, out of wire, then a few other pieces, then my friend's piece, then IT.
IT was supposed to be an aspen tree, but it looked like flying fish suspended by wires, or flying tennis rackets. I didn't figure out it was an aspen tree until he explained his "piece."
I like aspen trees a lot, and I object to him saying that mass of wires looked like one. The teacher offered some technical criticism, but didn't seem to have a problem with the chaos of the piece.
So what do classes studying the the lyrics and music videos of Lil' Kim and classes that produce "art" like this have in common? They both fail to recognize standards, because, as secular centers of learning, they deny God's standards...and embrace the appreciative study of hip hop music videos and "artistic" chaos.
"The Syracuse course requires students to read Kim's song lyrics as literary texts and analyze her iconography in videos and performances, according to the course description."
In connection to this, I was visiting a friend recently when she invited me to tag along to her afternoon art class. She assured me that her professor wouldn't mind, so I took her up on it, having been forewarned as to the focus of the class by viewing my friend's completed assignments-- straight A's. At least she has a sense of humor about them.
We arrived at the college campus, and reached the classroom. We were the first ones there, and sat down on tall stools around tables covered with a protective fabric-ish cloth. A few more students arrived, some friendly and talkative, others morose, or just shy. But this, it turned out, was a class where all were required to give input-- a great way to force them into thinking about the pieces in an elements of design fashion.
Class started, with only five students there at the beginning. More trickled in, leading up to a total of eight. Then, we started going around the room and each student would tell us all about their piece, and everyone would talk about it, and give input and praise and criticism.
We started with an elephant, made, like all of the pieces, out of wire, then a few other pieces, then my friend's piece, then IT.
IT was supposed to be an aspen tree, but it looked like flying fish suspended by wires, or flying tennis rackets. I didn't figure out it was an aspen tree until he explained his "piece."
I like aspen trees a lot, and I object to him saying that mass of wires looked like one. The teacher offered some technical criticism, but didn't seem to have a problem with the chaos of the piece.
So what do classes studying the the lyrics and music videos of Lil' Kim and classes that produce "art" like this have in common? They both fail to recognize standards, because, as secular centers of learning, they deny God's standards...and embrace the appreciative study of hip hop music videos and "artistic" chaos.
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