As a follow up to that previous post, here’s the trailer for the Johnny Bunko book that Garr’s presentation is about. It’s a whole new take on the career guide:
Johnny Bunko trailer from DHP on Vimeo.
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TrackbackI love seeing a well done presentation. I know, it’s sort of a weird, nerdy thing but, there you have it. Garr Reynolds is a master when it comes to presentations (check out his website Presentation Zen to see what I mean), and I think this is an excellent example of a well-done stand-alone presentation. Plus, it resonates a little with my personal career angst.
Check it out:
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Self-portrait of the artist as a middle-aged man. Actually, this looks pretty creepy, let’s not call it a self-portrait.
Comments rss Trackback Comments rss TrackbackI first posted about this guy back in 2006. He’s still going strong, and he still makes me smile. Thanks to the Thinklings for reminding me and bringing a smile today.
Comments rss TrackbackThe fingertips on my left hand itch and tickle at the same time. My guess is that that is a good sign, it means callouses might be starting to form which in turn means that my fingertips won’t start hurting after just 15 minutes of 
trying to form chords on a guitar.
I have a red guitar. It’s really nothing like the one pictured. It was actually my brothers when he was a young teen and wanted to be a rock star. My guess is that it was purchased at Sears back in the day, this would have been 30 years ago - before the age of Wal-Mart was ushered in and ‘big box’ retailers ruled the day.
Now I have the guitar and neither my brother nor I have become rock stars. But I like to strum and my wife and kids seem to enjoy it when I do, so I’m trying again to learn a few simple songs. And now my fingers kind of itch and tickle all day long.
That’s really all I have to say about it. Nothing profound. Just that.
Comments rss TrackbackLet me start by saying that I’m feeling a little ADD today, a fact I even posted in my Facebook profile. By the way, social networking and the Internet in general are either the greatest things ever for someone like me, or they are the worst thing that could ever have happened. All that to say, if I post a bunch of stuff that is totally random and doesn’t really make much sense it’s because I’m pretty easily distracted and - ooh look, Curt Schilling is needing surgery.
What I really wanted to say, as alluded to in the title to this post, is that there are some people in this world that are just simply cool. I’d nominate Tom Waits as one of the all time coolest people on the planet, but honestly, right up there would be someone like David Crowder as well. Check out this short article he wrote for Catalyst. Here’s a quick quote to whet your appetite:
John is an elderly black man who has no home. He is one of Waco’s
homeless. He is my neighbor. He comes around and wants to pick up the
sticks in my yard. He says, “David, I’ll just get these sticks out of
your yard if you can spare a few dollars.” We do this often, rid the
yard of sticks. It’s really helpful – you can imagine – the ability to
move about your yard without the obstruction of sticks.
Comments rss TrackbackAt times I believe that I am a creative soul trapped in a very unresponsive body. I’ll write more about that later including the influence of 1950s conservative Wheaton, IL and my natural Scandinavian tendency to stuff my hands in my pockets during worship rather than clap or (heaven forbid) raise them in worship!
Meanwhile, I stumbled on this list of ten steps to boost creativity. I really like #7:
Don’t watch TV. Experiments performed by the JPB Creative Laboratory show that watching TV causes your brain to slowly trickle out your ears and/or nose. It’s not pretty, but it happens.
Comments rss TrackbackExplanations with no stories are theologies with no churches. It is story that drives the river into the mountainside that Moses strikes and wets the whistles of the Israilite whine. It is story that shames young people into not making fund of their elders lest som Elisha send two bears to maul them. Without story history is lost in its facts; it is Paul’s epistles with no hair mopped Jesus of Gospels.
The Matthew’s House Project has a brand new look and a wonderful interview with David O’Hara, co-author of From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy.
Put me firmly in the camp of those that believe that story is often the most powerful tool in communication that we have, and this from someone who was an avowed non-fiction reader for several years. I have come to believe though, that there is some part of us that is ‘wired’ to hear the truth in story in more powerful ways than we hear it in facts and figures. We need a resurgence of story tellers in our culture.
We need a resurgence of story tellers in evangelical Christianity, and I don’t mean of the Left Behind variety. Can evangelicalism claim any really great story tellers? Flannery O’Connor was a Catholic as was Walker Percy and Tolkien. C.S. Lewis was Anglican. Frederick Buechner is a Presbyterian, but I don’t think he would consider himself part of the evangelical fold.
Is there room in evangelicalism for this kind of storytelling or is it too risky, too uncontrolled, too messy? I hope that’s not the case. The evangelical message can be told very compellingly through the likes of Leo Bebb and Hazel Motes.
There are small voices within the evangelical movement that working toward a willingness to engage good stories rather than run from them. L’Abri, started by the Schaeffers, and the Francis Schaeffer Institute at Covenant Seminary. Ransom Fellowship, and from what I can tell sites like The Matthew’s House Project are really seeking to engage the culture and the culture’s stories.
Then again, I suppose that one sign of a good story would be that you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was an evangelical who wrote it, you would just be captivated by the characters, enamored with the plot, and drawn toward the Truth.
P.S. One thing I don’t like about the new Matthew’s House site is the inability to link directly to the article. You’ll just have to get to the site and look around til you find it.
Comments rss TrackbackAha! Someone else understands and has written a book
One of the problems that has always frustrated me (and I’m sure those around me) is my seeming inability to really make up my mind about what I’m doing with my life. I went through 7 majors in college, finally getting a degree in “Interdisciplinary Studies”. As I progressed through studies in philosophy and theology, one of the things that most irked me was recognizing that I was going to need to narrow my focus to some specialization. I’ve always had a hard time deciding what I want to be when I grow up. And as a result I’ve always (vaguely sometimes, acutely at others) felt like there was something wrong with me.
Well, according to this person, I simply have a Renaissance Soul.
What IS a Renaissance Soul?
Short answer: A Renaissance Soul doesn’t ask, “What color is my parachute?” but rather “What colors are my parachutes“!
That sounds about right, I tried to read this book
I took the little quiz at the Get Unstuck website (that’s the official website for the book), and answered yes to almost every question, which seems to qualify my as a Renaissance Soul.
Anyway, this looks interesting, if nothing else as a balm to my soul so I think I’ll check it out.
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