Brant,
What a waste of talent. You’ve got a crappy Xanga blog! It’s 2006! There are more fish in the sea, you’re better than that, and other cliches as well.
Hosting a blog as well-written, hilarious and profound as yours on Xanga is like marrying a supermodel off to the likes of Billy Joel, Rod Stewart or Rick Ocasek. You could do worse of course. But you’re doing badly enough that total strangers point and ask louder than they realize, “What the?” as you stroll along the information superhighway completely obvious to how badly mismatched the two of you are.
I’m not bashing you here, Brant, or your partner; just taunting you publicly in hopes that you’ll break out of your unequally yoked-ness, divorce that inferior ugly duckling Xanga and hitch up with the kind of leggy super hottie you deserve. How about just dating or even making out a little withTypepad, Blogger, Wordpress or Moveable Type? You know if you blog with any of these Technorati will take notice, point and scream loudly to her millions of friends, “Oh my gosh! Did you see who Brant’s with? You, like so have to check him out!” She does that sort of thing. I’ve seen it. Next thing you know you’ve got a picket fence, a golden retriever and a little plot of page rank up on a hill in a neighborhood called “Influence.”
God knows we could sure use more of your kind in that community. We’ve got plenty of neighbors around here with billion decibel bullhorns and nothing much to say.
I’m a simple man, brant. All I want is universal access to your rants for all inhabitants of earth. You know it’s not just your wife and three friends who could use some golden insights and laughs like these:
“I don’t think lots of people agree with me on this. I sense this, because lots of people say, “I don’t agree with you on this.” I’ve got antennae for subtlety like that. I pick up on things.” - from “Ticking People Off”
“Your Listener is an Idiot. And I know this is true, because I’ve listened to enough Christian radio. I figure we on-air people know our listener best, and a lot of us are consistently treating her like an idiot, ergo she’s an idiot. Apparently, we think the Christian radio listener needs everything explained. So make sure you make it obvious when you’re being funny. She needs it explained that you’re “just kidding”. That way she knows: you were kidding! She’s not very bright, so it relieves her to know that was just a joke! Whew! J/K! You may want to fake some laughter, too.” - from “Krusty Spirit of Radio”
“I’m judging a culture that takes it for granted that we’re supposed to have a very, very high standard of living. The idea of driving an old car, or living in a slightly cramped, older house with only one bathroom, not buying a nice TV - that’s just out of the question for many. Let’s be honest about it. I think we then retro-fit many choices like how we raise our children based on our material expectations...Smart, wise, discerning parents aren’t all going to home-school. The question isn’t, ultimately, “Where did your kids go to school?” It’s “What did you value as a parent?” And that’s not measured by what we say, but what we actually do.” -from Interview With Me: Homeschooling”
Now I WOULD listen to Christian radio if every DJ talked like THIS on the air. Must be why you recently won an award for being the best on-air personality in your station‘s genre. Congrats, Brant. Really, way to go. Someone out there obviously likes what you have to say and how you say it. Now, how about saying it on a blog people can actually find out about and benefit from?
Hugs and kisses,
Shaun Groves
Internet Consultant/Thorn in the Side
What else could have been done with the $40,000?
A small army of Christian men organized the 8th annual Soulstock in Athens, Alabama yesterday. Several thousand people attended the outdoor music festival and funnel cake feeding frenzy for free.
I did not. I attended for $3000.
$3000 paid for a rental van, two tanks of gas, Brian to road manage and book the gig, my manager, three musicians to accompany me, per diem for all of us and a large gift to Uncle Sam. That’s a lot of money.
Add to my fee the cost of the gigantic stage, the rental of the field, the crew running the top-notch sound and lighting rigs, catering, bottled water, the cost of artists pricier than I and a preacher - and well, we estimate the total cost of the event at around $40,000.
This money was donated by local businesses who miraculously came together from different industries, different denominations and churches to fund, imagine and volunteer for this annual event whose purpose is to “convert” people.
Musicians play and a pastor preaches. An alter call is given and prayers of contrition and surrender to Jesus are offered up.
Conversion.
And as I participated in the day’s events I was at the same time applauding and appalled. Applauding the zeal and unity of the men putting together Soulstock for the 8th year running. Applauding the fun and excellent music in the air mingling with the fragrance of french fries and chili dogs. Applauding the feel of family among strangers believing in the same God. Applauding the small crowd coming forward to pray with counselors, “rededicating” their lives to Christ or praying for Him to save them.
Appalled that $40,000 and all this cooperation was poured into a field and a few hours of music and talking because it was believed by local pastors and concert organizers to be the best representation, the most convincing announcement, of the true of the story of Jesus. It best represented God to man - they thought. It would bring about conversion.
The festival was fantastic. Well done. Well intentioned. It was good. But I found myself imagining great. What would great have looked like?
What if…
Read more
Long criticized by conservative Christians for profiting from violent or sexually graphic films that corrupt the young, Hollywood is starting to see there is money to be made catering to those critics.
“On Sunday, 43 percent of America was in church,” Jonathan Bock, head of a movie marketing company that specializes in religious audiences, said at a panel discussion on “What Would Jesus Direct?” at the Tribeca Film Festival this week.
“For studios to not recognize that’s an audience is like them saying, ‘We’re not marketing movies to men,”’ Bock said.
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He and others on the panel, including a 20th Century Fox executive, said the turning point was Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie “The Passion of the Christ,” which surprised many in Hollywood by grossing more than $370 million in the United States.
“Until two months before it was released, it was pretty much known as the least commercial property in Hollywood,” said Michael Flaherty, whose production company was behind “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Because of Winn-Dixie,” both with strong spiritual or moral messages.
“There’s a lot of people in the faith community who are looking for these films that are uplifting,” Flaherty said.
While “The Passion” is credited with knocking down the door for religious-themed films in Hollywood, Bock said the growing interest was clearly linked to politics. He noted President George W. Bush, a born-again Christian, was elected twice with solid backing from conservative Christians.
‘GODSPLOITATION’
Ralph Winter, a producer at 20th Century Fox Films, said Fox’s home video department was leading the way in pushing for films for religious audiences.
“They’re very interested in opening up that market so we have been making $2 million or $3 million movies based on (Christian) books,” he said.
Winter said studios are looking for projects based on good stories likely to make entertaining movies, without being obvious efforts to proselytize and convert people.
Read the rest here.
(HT:BS)
My good friend Randy just had to go and post this while we’ve been talking about this and this here at SHLOG.COM.
Don’t boycott his blog if you disagree with him though (thhat means you Cachinnator); just go to another blog instead. Or you could do something very strange and revolutionary: Go to his blog every day and contribute to the conversation there.
I don’t know much about this film, honestly. I know that Kyle Lake‘s family is behind it, providing the film makers with hours of home video from Kyle’s life. I know that proceeds from the film will go to support a college fund for the three children he left behind for us to care for. And I know the trailer, the second one, made me turn my computer off for the day and blow bubbles with my kids. See it for yourself and support this film if you can.
