Another SITE Ends: Self-Restrained Aggression, Praise vs. Criticism, Cheesus Strikes Again, Galli on Substitution, DFW on Addiction and Self-Help, 3eanuts, Richard Ashcroft

THE NEW SITE: On Monday we will be launching our new website, www.mbird.com, which will be an integration and significant upgrade of everything we've been doing and have done thus far. We could not be more excited!! Hopefully there'll be very little that needs to be done on your end, i.e. this site/blog will redirect to that one, including all links, and everything that's here will be there as well. Of course, it means we'll be moving over the weekend, so there may be a few hours here and there where everything is down. Commenting will be turned off tonight at midnight (and back on Monday morning). Please bear with any broken links while we make the switch. For those of you who subscribe via a feed, check back to this address on Monday if your reader doesn't show our latest entries then.

This is a super exciting development and probably a long overdue one as well. We've loved this little blogspot, it's certainly treated us well, but I'm sure you'll agree that it's time to "up our game." See over there! Now, on to my final blogger entry... sniff sniff:

1. A Scientific American podcast/article brings to light an interesting study on the correlation between self-control and aggression, which ties in to JDK's conference talk about the thin line between threat and promise (recording coming Monday!), ht JD:

Past studies have shown that exerting self-control may increase irritability and anger. But the new research found that the increased aggression brought on by self-restraint has a much broader effect. The researchers studied different types of self-control and the subjects' subsequent behavior. For instance, participants who carefully controlled their spending of a gift certificate were more interested in looking at angry faces than fearful ones.

Dieters preferred public service ads that were framed in threats, such as "if funds are not increased for police training, more criminals will escape prison." Subjects who picked an apple over chocolate were more irritated by ads that used words like "you ought to" or "need to,” which sound controlling. They were also more likely to choose to watch a movie with a theme of hostility over other options.

2. Also on the social science tip, an absolutely fascinating/vindicating entry on the Harvard Business Review blog, "Why Does Criticism Seem More Effective Than Praise?" - emphasis on the "seem" - which draws the connection between the "regression to the mean" and our genuinely mistaken conclusions about criticism, ht NW.

3. Conference speaker Mark Galli drops yet another bomb over at Christianity Today with his thoroughly sympathetic recent column "The Problem with Christus Victor," (a fitting rejoinder to his excellent conference talks on chaos and control - did I mention they'll be up on Monday?!), rightly and pastorally guarding against the tendency to reject substitution as the model for atonement. Bravo!

4. A top-to-bottom fantastic article by Maria Bustillos on The Awl which takes David Foster Wallace's private papers, which were just donated to the Ransom Center at the University of Texas (clear eyes full hearts), as a jumping off point to discuss his relationship to AA and depression and his own talent, among other subjects. Read the whole thing:

Much of Wallace's work has to do with cutting himself back down to size, and in a larger sense, with the idea that cutting oneself back down to size is a good one, for anyone... The love his admirers bear this author has a peculiarly intimate and personal character. This is because Wallace gave voice to the inner workings of ordinary human beings in a manner so winning and so truthful and forgiving as to make him seem a friend.

The article includes a priceless quote, apparently from Wallace himself, talking about his own experience in recovery:

Six months in Granada House helped me immeasurably. I still wince at some of the hyperbole and melodrama that are used in recovery-speak, but the fact of the matter is that my experience at Granada House helped me, starting with the fact that the staff admitted me despite the obnoxious condescension with which I spoke of them, the House, and the l2-Step programs of recovery they tried to enable. They were patient, but they were not pushovers...


People at Granada House listened to me for hours, and did so with neither the clinical disinterest of doctors nor the hand-wringing credulity of relatives. They listened because, in the last analysis, they really understood me: they had been on the fence of both wanting to get sober and not, of loving the very thing that was killing you, of being able to imagine life neither with drugs and alcohol nor without them. They also recognized bullshit, and manipulation, and meaningless intellectualization as a way of evading terrible truths—and on many days the most helpful thing they did was to laugh at me and make fun of my dodges (which were, I realize now, pathetically easy for a fellow addict to spot), and to advise me just not to use chemicals today because tomorrow might very well look different.

5. Thanks to some detective work by the great Caleb Maskell, we've unearthed an interview with Verve singer Richard Ashcroft from 2000 in which he makes his religious convictions explicit:

" I can't pin myself on any fixed religion, really. I'm just one of those sad, early-century people who just drifts around and picks up a bit of this and a bit of that. Cuz we are a scanning culture. We are turning over local drug culture and we suck in as much as we can in that given time that we are given, you know. So really, I don't know. It's a celebration of Jesus Christ. But whether that means I'm with the whole [malarky] that happened after he died, or left us, who knows... But I'm intrigued by all that, by religions, I'm intrigued by Jesus Christ. It's all fascinating.

This blogger maintains that pretty much all of Ashcroft's solo work is criminally underrated, both musically and, yes, as a laudable example of spirituality done right in rock (he very well may be the rightful heir to Mr. Dark Horse himself). Instead, it's overshadowed by haters who wish he'd record Storms in Heaven over and over again. Sigh...

6. In TV, have you been watching Mildred Pierce on HBO? Not personally being much of a Todd Haynes or Kate Winslet fan, I've been pleasantly surprised by how superb it is. A harrowing study in mother-daughter dynamics, not to mention the self-seeking underbelly of the American/Hollywood dream, with some stunning setpieces. Think Chinatown by way of Betty Friedan and The Omen. And don't forget, Friday Night Lights: The Fifth Season came out this week on DVD, a full three weeks ahead of its debut on NBC.

7. Conference follow-up: Beyond the recordings, if you enjoyed the delicious food, we invite you to "tip" our chef Edward Crouse by backing his very cool new Kickstarter project "Between Folks and Forks". If it takes off, who knows - he might forgo culinary school abroad and serve us again next year...

8. Finally, in "humor", the inspired 3eanuts showcases the bleak worldview underpinning Schultz's classic strip. Or, as the force behind the site puts it: Charles Schulz's Peanuts comics often conceal the existential despair of their world with a closing joke at the characters' expense. With the last panel omitted, despair pervades all. Ht WV:

P.S. Don't miss FailBlog's "Bible Study Fail." Bye Bye!

The Law and Penguins

I recently saw the following comic strip in our local Newspaper (The Beaver County Times):

Eh, yup. That pretty much says it all...doesn't it?

Have a great Wednesday!

For a bigger version, click here.

From The Onion: Majority Of Americans Just Gotta, You Know, Get Motivated And Do It

Yet another shot of brilliance from our favorite publication:

WASHINGTON—According to a new report from the National Association of Just Getting Out There and Getting It Done, when it comes to making it happen, a majority of Americans just have to, you know, get motivated and do it. The group's findings, which indicate nearly 80 percent of the nation needs to give it a shot at some point because, hey, you never know, suggest that the country can talk about it all it wants, but when it comes down to actually doing it, well, there's talking about things and then there's doing things.

The study confirmed that there's not much more to say, really.

"The American populace needs to figure out what it wants to do and then get out there and, you know, do it," the report read in part, adding that, hey, look, the nation's gotta start somewhere, right? "Nearly half the country is currently sitting on the couch wondering if it's ever going to happen for them, and further data suggests that, to be perfectly honest, it's only gonna happen if they make it happen. See what we're saying?"

"Basically, the U.S. populace has to think about finally getting things in gear here because statistics point to the fact that the constant hemming and hawing is getting a little ridiculous. After all, nowhere in our research could we find what's stopping them or what they really have to lose," he added.

The study concluded that while this is going to sound corny, the truth of the matter is that if the citizenry doesn't step up to the plate and take a crack at it, they'll regret it for the rest of their lives. There is absolutely no doubt about that, the report confirmed. "Overall, a plurality of males and females from ages 18 to 57 need to ask themselves 'Why the hell not?' when considering if they should just do this thing already," the report's co-author Melony Steele said. "And it would seem many Americans have a motive to give it a go, because a vast majority said they didn't want to end up like their sibling or friend who had the chance once but let it slip away."

Though the study's recommendation to, you know, put your best foot forward because anything worth doing is worth doing right has inspired some citizens, most of the population reportedly still believes that the timing just isn't quite right. "Yeah, I dunno, we'll see," 34-year-old American Eagle retail worker Kevin Pratt told reporters. "I got some stuff I eventually want to do, but I don't really see the rush. I make rent every month and have enough money left over to hang out. And, you know, I'm still pretty young."

Tattoo Fail: Human Swagger Collapses Under Human Error

Oh, the irony.

(Found here, ht JH)

Speaking of regrets, don't let missing the 2011 Mockingbird Conference next weekend be one of yours! Register today!

The Law of the Book

. . . and the Book of the Law: "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Gal. 3:10

Another Week Ends: Japan, Facebook & Divorce, Preschool Litigation, more Galli on B(h)ell, The Beach Boys' Smile, Community

1. Two very moving additions to the coverage of the disasters in Japan. First, if you can decipher the google-translation, there's the story of a woman who sacrificed her life to warn a village of the impending destruction here. And two, the footage that made this all very real to yours truly. If it doesn't get you on your knees, nothing will (be sure to stick with it to the end):



2. An amusing report in the Guardian about Facebook and divorce. If ever there was an excuse to take a potshot at lawyers for having a shallow view of human nature...:

A 2010 survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) found that four out of five lawyers reported an increasing number of divorce cases citing evidence derived from social networking sites in the past five years, with Facebook being the market leader. Two-thirds of the lawyers surveyed said that Facebook was the "primary source" of evidence in divorce proceedings, while MySpace with 15% and Twitter with 5% lagged far behind.

A spokesperson for Facebook said: "It's ridiculous to suggest that Facebook leads to divorce. Whether you're breaking up or just getting together, Facebook is just a way to communicate, like letters, phone calls and emails. Facebook doesn't cause divorces, people do."

The NY Times Magazine had a similarly Zeitgeisty take on divorce this past week too, which is worth it for the candid quotes on depravity/original sin.

3. Speaking of the Zeitgeist, there's the outrageous but evidently very real "Mother Sues Preschool For Damaging Her Daughter's Shot at the Ivy League." ht JD. 

4. For those of you interested in the ongoing Rob Bell-univeralism saga, conference speaker Mark Galli's review of the Bell's Love Wins book appeared this week, and it is very much worth your time. Galli rightly places Bell in the context of Protestant liberalism, not in order to callously write him off as such, but in an attempt to discuss the heart of the matter, which as always, has to do with atonement/justification:
[CONTINUE READING]

Art Imitates Law

Fail In Need Of A Caption

Another Week Ends: Galli on B(h)ell, Growing Up Catholic, Secret Millionaires, Immortal Billionaires, Lillian Roth, Mixed Signals and Nicolas Cage

1. If you've been scratching your head over the whole "Rob Bell universalism" uproar this past week, conference speaker Mark Galli will set you straight with this charitable overview of how the topic of Hell has been dealt with over the centuries. Suffice it to say, there's nothing new under the sun, and the outcry says a lot less about Bell than about the folks reacting to his as-of-yet largely unread book. 

To lighten the mood, check the sort-of related and apparently very real After The Rapture Pet Care (ht CH).

2. The Guardian takes a look at the new laugh-or-cry memoir by comic Rory McGrath, The Father, The Son and the Ghostly Hole: Growing Up Catholic. Evidently it plumbs the depths of Catholic guilt - stemming in this case from an experience of religion as Judgment with a capital J (and zero Gospel) - in a particularly unflinching and let's-face-it tragic manner. Not exactly groundbreaking, but nonetheless striking, ht AOC:

"[After being disillusioned in high school, McGrath] never returned to the church, and he never quite shook it off. He was expecting to embark on a binge of guilt-free hedonism at university, but it didn't quite work out like that. He felt rootless rather than liberated. "You think, 'What do I do now, where am I supposed to go, what am I supposed to be doing?' It had an effect on my first years at university because I didn't know what to do. I don't know if this is to do with religion or just my character, but I had a total lack of self-discipline."

Nor did the sense of guilt disappear with his divorce from the church. In fact it grew, and he started to feel responsible for anything and everything. "I think guilt grows inside you. I'm still discovering it now, aged well whatever age I am. I'm over 40 and now discovering it's all guilt."

3. In an editorial that touches on some familiar themes, CNN accuses ABC's reality show Secret Millionaire of "shamelessly promoting a fantasy about the redemptive power of wealth." I haven't seen it but would love to hear others' thoughts:
[CONTINUE READING]

God Is My Co-Pilot

Mark Borchardt Confronts The Senselessness

From the brilliant, brilliant, brilliant American Movie doc:

Scumbags Welcome

Two thumbs up. Details here:

Old and New Adams (and Andrews) in The Office

Acts 9:18

Their captive attention was intoxicating, until one day in the middle of a heartfelt retelling of a long ago hunt, he stepped too close. The illusion shattered miserably and wholly. (From 'Unhappy Hipsters')