Putting my beard to good use

Who says good Mormons can't have facial hair. Salt Lake is holding auditions for cast members in LDS productions of famous New Testament stories.

Do you look like the Apostle James? Would that woman at the bank make a great Mary Magdalene? Does your co-worker remind you of a Roman soldier?

There are so many comments that I want to make about this, but I will let the quote speak for itself. The press release requires men to grow a beard. Check. However, it also asks for olive-to-brown coloring. Hello canned tan. All interested should give it a try. No idea when the deadline is. I will keep you posted on my application.

Mystery Machine on Google Maps

Last night/ early this morning I got a bit impulsive (what are the odds) and started looking for pictures of the Mystery Machine van that used to drive around campus my Freshman year of College. I found two Mystery Machines in the Twin Cities. One (here here and in the warehouse district too) is too new and the wrong van to be the one that I saw around campus. I found another one that I think is it. It looks like the real deal.

There used to be this guy who looked like the 70 year-old ghost of shaggy driving that car. He was skinny, had a shaggy white goatee, and could have passed for a friend of William S. Burroughs. The two times that I saw him were probably the highlights of my Freshman year.

But I found something even better on my Mystery Machine search. Google Maps has captured the Mystery Machine. How sweet is that.

An update and some thoughts on Tom Brock

The Associated Press is reporting that Brock will keep his job as a minister. Brock was placed on leave when the article came out but looks to return to his position after an internal investigation.

If Brock is cleared of the allegations, or the church is satisfied with his penitence, the only hurdle that remains is the parishioners' acceptance of him.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Assuming that he is in accordance with the church's rules, the big test will be on how tolerant the parishioners are. (Undoubtedly that will elicit snickers from some of my readers.) Although critics may say that the Christian adages of loving the sinner and hating the sin (or "love the gays, not their conduct") are just that: sayings; I believe that there are some Christians who truly believe. I hope the parishioners live what they believe and support Brock. It would be the Christian thing to do.

In defense of Tom Brock

Minneapolis magazine Lavender outed outspoken Hope Lutheran Pastor Tom Brock of Minneapolis in an expose in this month's issue. Brock is famous for comments he made last year blaming last summer's tornado on the ELCA's decision to allow actively homosexual pastors in a committed gay relationship to act as pastors.

The reporter attended confidential meetings of the gay Catholic equivalent of AA. There is no admission that he faked his way into the Gays Anonymous, but my guess is that he did. He reported on the general conduct of the group as well as Brock's struggles with his homosexuality. I would agree that Brock is somewhat of a hypocrite. But he is a hypocrite in the sense that those who believe Christians are commanded to be perfect, yet they all fall short every day--not in the sense that he lied to those around him for material gain. (His Church acknowledges that he had confessed his homosexuality to them).

Brock deserves some credit. Whether you agree with his belief that homosexuality is a sin, his strident criticisms of it, or not, he was attempting to live according to his beliefs. He didn't drag a wife into the mess. And he wasn't caught with meth. Furthermore, the only reason this got outed was because someone followed him into a confidential meeting in order to expose him. If someone hadn't violated trust and ethical codes, he wouldn't have been outed.

Although I may agree with his moral beliefs. The God-caused-the-tornado vitriol is laughable. However, I have sympathy for a man who seems like he was doing his best to be true to himself and his God.

For the Lavender article here.

For a criticism by an LGBT blog of the of the ethics of outing someone for information in an AA-type meeting here.

Isn't it ironic.

It may be ironic that I like this. Meh.

A Point for John Mayer

As you may very well know, I dislike John Mayer. I think he wastes his talent on middle-of-the-road "adult contemporary alternative" shlock. In essence, he's a tool.

But I stumbled upon something that redeems him...a bit.

That beauty of a mug shot is from a 2001 arrest when Georgia police pulled Mr. Mayer over for speeding and driving without a license. The incident went un-reported (because no one cared about him in 2001) until 2009 when Mayer himself offered a reward for the fan who found the picture.

You are a massive tool, John Mayer, but kudos for being able to laugh at yourself.

Summer Lovin'

Amidst classes, work and my intermittent blogging, I set a goal to record some music this summer.

I have probably made similar goals before--which I did not fulfill. Meh.

Really, regardless of whether I end up recording some of my electronic noodlings, I wanted to give a tour of my recording studio: the kitchen and laundry room of my two-bedroom apartment. The tour is replete with pictures of the amp, the three mics that I bought at Guitar Center 8 years ago on one of their weekly "SALE of the Year," and the used mixing board.




















Don't you like the axe at the foot of the oven?





There you see the devastating combo of the mixing board and PC on the kitchen table. The laundry room provides a convenient showcase for the 30 Watt's second channel.

If you guys are good to me, maybe I will go through the spoken word and self-improvement records I am scouring for the hot sample of this summer.

Things that make me feel like a dork #47: Allergies

There is nothing that make me feel like more of a dork than having to constantly rub my nose and sneeze.

Sometimes I think that I can pull of being moderately cool, but the rubbing the nose squashes any success during allergy season. Am I alone in feeling the sting of an allergic assault on my hep?

My doppelganger

A year ago I found my doppelganger. His name is Nathaneal Read and he served in the Taibei, Taiwan Mission. Today I friended him and the craziness continued. His brother's name is Andrew! How bizarre. What are the odds! I wonder if Andrew will serve in a Swiss or French mission. That would be really odd.

Fixing/abusing my camera

For almost a year my digital camera's LCD screen would go whitish-grey. This would happen on and off, and only on the photo and video settings--it would still show the Benq company logo when the thing turned on and it allowed me to look through previous photos.

I was mad worried that repairing the camera was going to cost me more than it was worth. I purchased the camera for $100 US in Taiwan five years ago and figured the technology is outdated by now. Tonight I looked online for any possible solution, knowing that I wasn't able to do any major electrical work. But if there was something simple to try at home before forking out the cash to fix it I would.

I stumbled upon a thread on a digital media repair website called "re: it actually worked!". The author of the thread had the same problem as I did. He claimed that he "held the camera in [his] left hand" and then flicked the lens with his right hand. I figured what the heck, it's pretty Office Space but what do I have to lose. So I flicked it. The lens made a clicking noise. And then the camera started working again. Who'd of thunk it.

Nate 1, Technology 0.

physics is a stinking mind bender

I'm taking a course in electromagnetism because I'm considering practicing patent law. Let me tell you, this course is a mind bender. Learning about the magnetic waves that are all over and how they control everything, I start to get visions of what Howard Hughes felt like when he went through his germophobe phase.

Anyways, there are a lot of concepts that you just have to rap your head around--for example when an electric particle and a magnetic field collide they propel the object in a force that it perpendicular to both forces. WHAT ?!?!? where did you come up with that one Maxwell?

Anyways, I know this is a bit melodramatic and it's really not that bad. But sometimes I like to cry in public.

Denny's and the Tea Party Movent

It's 12:30AM, an hour and a half past my bedtime. But I saw a Denny's ad (video link is forthcoming) set to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and thought about a recent patriotic meeting hosted by the Minneapolis Convention Center. So I figured I would churn out a quickie on the Tea Party.

My thoughts on the Denny's ad: I wonder if they are trying to capitalize on the Tea Party movement. My guess is that they are. There is seasonal reason to tap into patriotic fervor. Presidents Day is past, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July are months away. There must be some other reason...(this is where I once again reveal my liberal snobbery).

I think Denny's knows their demographic. I think that they know a lot of the people who go out to Denny's are probably pretty sympathetic to Palin's ilk. The ad portrays some common man finding cheap "American" deals on breakfast meals. It's a complete appeal to Tea Party-style prurience. It has to be.

Speaking of the Tea Party...I'm I the only person who thinks about the Jacobean reign of terror in A Tale of Two Cities every time that I hear about a protest? It's not just the herd/mob-mentality which Dickens portrayed that reminds me of them, but the emphasis on being "patriots." I swear, all I can hear in my head is Madame DeFarge saying "I say, Jacques" or "good day, fellow patriot." Certainly I can't be alone.

And about that Tea Party...I promise this is the last point: I found a favorite Tea Party group: the delightful Anger is Brewing. I had heard a rumor that the Tea Party is going to run a third-party candidate against Harry Reid and whoever the GOP fields. It turns out it is true. A Romanian named Scott Ashjian claims that he will run on the Tea Part platform, much to the chagrin of the populists at Tea Party National). When searching the TP's web page I came across the group.

AIB is a small, Nevada TP group that proclaims there are only two motivations: anger and fear. Fortunately for the TPers, they're not afraid. (Gwahaha.) I know this is probably a fringe group within a "semi"-radical right-wing fringe, but you wonder where the news media might get ideas about violence within the TP movement.

That's enough of my liberal snobbery...for now.

guilty pleasures

sometimes, when i am using the shop vac at work, and no one is looking, i put the hose up to my beard. i don't think it does much to clean the beard, but it sure makes me happy. :)