Coffee Talk

On The Passing of Clark Pinnock

2010-08-17T21:43:00.006-05:00

Clark Pinnock passed away on Sunday, August 15th. He had been battling Alzheimers, and I hope he and his family are at peace. This isn't really an obituary, others have already written better obituaries than I could ever hope to compose (here, here, and here). Rather, this is a short description of my relationship with his work. When I was 21 I had an existential/philosophical/theological crisis. I don't want to go into all the details of that here, but I'll touch on a few details. Disappointed with the theological teachings of my youth, trying to fathom the existence of pain and evil, and wrestling with issues of personal choice and consequences and how all of those things relate to the faith in which I was raised, I went into a tailspin. I resolved to approach the issues directly and dove headfirst into philosophy, theological writings, and Christian scripture. My goal was to create a personal theology for myself that would reconcile the problems I was having. If I was unable to reconcile those things I was prepared to renounce my faith.

After much study I developed a form of open-theism. I didn't know then what it was called, or even that other people held the same view. All I knew was that I believed that God experienced time along with us, that God could be surprised, and that God could and did respond to human actions as an ever moving being. I believed and still believe that this is consistent with Christian scripture, and I was prepared to answer questions like: But what about prophesies? What about God's plan? But doesn't God know all? So I started telling people about my new view of God, and my restored faith. But I was mostly met with people telling me I was just plain wrong and maybe even a heretic. It didn't matter what I showed them in scripture, or the philosophy I cited, people knew God had a personal plan for them and my new theology went against their understanding of that plan. So I had a newly restored faith, but I felt alone and outcast among my Christian peers. Then I mentioned it to someone I knew who was a professional theologian. His response, "That sounds a lot like open-theism." He told me that it was actually a hot button issue at the time and even that there were some in the Evangelical Theological Society who were making noise about open-theism and that it was probably going to come to a head in the future (the next year the ETS recommended expulsion for proponents of open-theism). I went home and looked up all the books I could find on the subject and there I was introduced to Clark Pinnock, a man who had moved in his life from a strict Calvinism to a proponent of open theism. I also discovered Gregory Boyd and John Sanders and thanks to the wonders of the internet (dial up and very very slow) that I wasn't alone and that if I was mad it was a shared madness.

So thank you Clark Pinnock. Thank you for being my friend, even though you never knew me. Thank you for your comfort in a time of stress in my life. Thank you for not being afraid to change and for always seeking the truth even amid criticism from other Christians. And thank you for being a brother in Christ. I don't know how the promised life eternal works, but if somehow we're able to meet one day I'd love to sit and chat.

Print Journalism Critics: Endangered?

2008-04-01T09:54:00.004-05:00

I was in Rhode Island over the weekend at a conference with my wife and I wasn't able to make it to the theaters to see Stop-Loss. By tonight I'm hoping to post a personal response and analysis regarding the chapter "Technostalgia" in Timothy Taylor's book Strange Sounds: Music, Technology and Culture. Until then read this excerpt from a NY Times article today and then check out the article. I'm interested in hearing your responses.

Nathan Lee, one of The Village Voice’s two full-time critics, was laid off last week by Village Voice Media, a large chain of alternative weeklies that has been cutting down the number of critics it employs across the country.

The week before, two longtime critics at Newsday — Jan Stuart and Gene Seymour — took buyouts, along with their editor. And at Newsweek, David Ansen is among 111 staff members taking buyouts, according to a report in Radar.

They join critics at more than a dozen daily newspapers (including those in Denver, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale) and several alternative weeklies who have been laid off, reassigned or bought out in the past few years, deemed expendable at a time when revenues at print publications are declining, under pressure from Web alternatives and a growing recession in media spending.

Given that movie blogs are strewn about the Web like popcorn on a theater floor, there are those who say that movie criticism is not going away, it’s just appearing on a different platform. And no one would argue that fewer critics and the adjectives they hurl would imperil the opening of “Iron Man” in May. But for a certain kind of movie, critical accolades can mean the difference between relevance and obscurity, not to mention box office success or failure.

“For those of us who are making work that requires a kind of intellectual conversation, we rely on that talk to do the work of getting people interested,” said Mr. Rudin, who produced “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood,” two Oscar-nominated and critically championed films last year. “All of the talk about ‘No Country,’ all of the argument about the ending, kept that film in the forefront of the conversation” and helped it win the best picture Oscar.

The Bank Job

2008-03-23T21:49:00.005-05:00

There are no spoilers so feel free to read on. Also, if you're not familiar with my method of critiquing movies check out an explanation here. If all goes well next week I'll review the film Stop-Loss, if all doesn't go according to plan I'll review something from my library.

There is much too be explored concerning heist movies. They are almost a genre to themselves: from The Great Train Robbery, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Oceans franchise, and Inside Man, to the latest offering, The Bank Job. Why do we love them so? Do we wish that we had the guts to do something stupid and get a huge pay-off? Do we like to see them screw-up and get caught? Who knows? But, whether they’re westerns, action films, comedic capers or serious films that deal with the serious consequences of a heist we are drawn to them over and over. The plots are remarkably similar: a heist is planned, something goes wrong, and we—the audience—hang on for dear life while the crooks try to (and sometimes do) escape.

So, it was with great anticipation that I recently screened The Bank Job. I have long been a fan of Jason Statham. His understated portrayal of Frank Martin in The Transporter hooked me, followed by three turns with director Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver) which reeled me in even more. He has popped up in small roles all over the map including a supporting role in The Italian Job (to be followed next year by The Brazilian Job) and a small cameo in Collateral. He brings an authenticity to the small time criminals he plays that was honed through his childhood (his mom was a lounge singer, and his dad ran a black-market operation) and draws you in like the victim of a good con. I’m extremely thrilled that he’s finally been given his due and is the proper star of modest-sized blockbuster, but, that being said, I’m no fan of The Bank Job. Part of my problem had to do with my expectations; they were admittedly high, partly due to reviews which I read and partly due to The Bank Job’s advertising campaign. However, I place no fault with the actors and instead squarely lay the blame with executive production decisions concerning the final edit.

The film is set in London in 1971, a time when (much like the current US situation) excessive inflation and a near recession were imposing severe strain on the lower middle class and poor populations. It is based on the real life events of what is often referred to as the walkie-talkie robbery (warning: possible spoiler towards the end). Statham plays Terry Leather, the owner of a small car dealership who’s gotten in over his head with some bad loans from some shady characters. He’s a generally decent guy with a wife and two kids, but he’s not above some small time skullduggery here and there to make ends meet. When he’s presented with the opportunity to rob a room of safe deposit boxes in the Lloyd Bank for what seem to be decent odds, he reluctantly agrees to do it so he can set his family up for good. I don’t want to completely spoil the film for the reader so I won’t discuss the plot any further. Mostly I feel betrayed by the promotional poster (above) which clearly tries to evoke the seventies and this statement from Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune:

Director Roger Donaldson's film isn't merely set in 1971; despite being shot on high-definition digital video, in deceptively warm, bright tones, "The Bank Job" moves and feels like a film made in '71, albeit with slightly less errant zooming going on.

It makes me wonder if Michael Phillips has actually seen a film made in 1971. That was the year that Dirty Harry, Shaft, and The French Connection were released, and a cinemagraphic connection between those films and The Bank Job could easily be established. In recent years films such as Munich, Michael Clayton, and No Country for Old Men have clearly displayed their seventies influences in new and exciting ways. But director Roger Donaldson (The Recruit, Thirteen Days, Dante’s Peak) chose instead to use quick edits and a throbbing score to create a pseudo action film, where instead dialogue and a minimal score should have provided the suspense. The problem with this approach is that the desperation of Terry Leather’s situation was never vividly portrayed. I didn’t really believe that this was a man at the end of his rope, and I sincerely believe that was due to post-production decisions. I was also completely unhappy with the portrayal of a peripheral yet very important character known as Michael X. Michael X was black power leader in London in the late sixties and seventies who modeled himself after Malcolm X. This could have been an arresting performance, but instead Michael X was portrayed almost as and over-the top caricature and thus lost any of the impact he should have had. If I had been a good movie watcher I would have tried to go into this film with as blank a slate as possible, and perhaps I would have been more rewarded. The script is extremely smart, the acting was mostly good, and the story clearly deserves more exploration (especially the process of issuing D-notices, most recently used while Prince Harry was in Afghanistan) and if you like a decent action movie, this could serve as two hours of solid entertainment. But if you’re like me and prefer your action flicks smart and fresh then don’t let this film perform a bank job on your wallet.

Rated R for language, violence, and scenes of a sexual nature

Open Letter to the Readers of Coffee Talk

2008-03-23T21:16:00.005-05:00

For the few loyal readers of this blog: I have returned from my hiatus with a new direction. For various reasons posting 3 times a week was beyond my capabilities. Mostly this had to do with my desire for every post to be meaningful and that took a lot out of me. I don't like to post things of a personal nature for various and sundry reasons, so I was scrambling to provide an intelligent, articulate, and well researched post on such a frequent basis.

For those who don't know, my favorite things to read are criticism. I seriously considered pursuing a graduate degree in art history and criticism with the intention of being an art critic. The first sections I flip to (or click to as the case may be) in papers and magazines are the reviews. Whether it's art criticism, film criticism, literary criticism, dance reviews, or music reviews I'm hooked. It's been this way for several years now, and my secret wish is to be an art and film critic for a major magazine or paper. So, after analyzing my blog traffic and realizing that my reviews (especially my review of Vik Muniz's work, and the film Gone Baby Gone) still receive a significant amount of hits daily, and much prodding from my wife (who says she really likes my reviews even though she kind of has to say that) I've decided to post a weekly review.

You might ask what value criticism has in a culture already over saturated with entertainment. You might ask why I don't focus on something more useful to society and the world at large. I would respond by saying that is a valid question, and that through criticism I try to understand why our culture is the way it is, and we we focus on we do. I would say that every culture tries to express itself in some creative way, because of the creative forces that created us. I try, in my own way, to provide more understanding and perspective so that we may be better agents of hope and renewal. I hope you enjoy as I explore criticism through this blog, and I sincerely hope you'll comment on my reviews (whether you agree or disagree) and thus help me hone my critical skills as well as become a better writer.

Steven

Evolutionary Theology

2007-12-18T09:34:00.000-05:00

From Salon:

Evolution remains the thorniest issue in the ongoing debate over science and religion. But for all the yelling between creationists and scientists, there's one perspective that's largely absent from public discussions about evolution. We rarely hear from religious believers who accept the standard Darwinian account of evolution. It's a shame because there's an important question at stake: How can a person of faith reconcile the apparently random, meaningless process of evolution with belief in God?

It's a good interview and the book looks interesting. Check it out.

Wednesday Review: Vik Muniz

2007-11-29T23:35:00.000-05:00

Today's artist of the day is Vik Muniz. I encountered Vik Muniz's work last week when I was in Montreal with my wife. He had an exhibit at the Musée D'Art Contemporain De Montréal. It was a fascinating exhibit and it was one of the best art exhibits I had seen in quite a while. Quite frankly I had given up on representational artwork sometime ago. I felt that photography could handle that and that other visual artists should focus on other things. Well, Muniz has changed my mind. He does his work with nontraditional media and then takes a photograph, which is his final piece. One of my favorites is this piece made with sugar sprinkled over black construction paper.Most of his portfolio can be seen on his website. I also highly recommend watching the PBS documentary in the video section of his site.

Jew-Genics Addendum

2007-11-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted concerning some articles written by William Saletan at Slate magazine. This is an interesting, 4-part follow up to his article. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with anything he says, I just wanted to share his continuing thoughts with my readers.

Private Marriage, NCAA Football Championship, Bush's Economics, Gun Control, and Romney

2007-11-29T22:57:00.001-05:00

I owe the loyal readers of this blog a current events post from last weekend. So I'm linking to a few articles I've recently read that I feel are worth sharing.

1. I'm not an economist, but I found this article to be very interesting. The author, Joseph Stiglitz, is a respected economist and professor at Columbia University.

2. This is an interesting article on taking marriage private from the New York Times.

3. The Supreme Court is going to hear it's first gun control case since 1939.

4. This year has been weird for NCAA football, maybe they should cancel the National Title Game.

5. Should Mitt Romney have a candid discussion concerning his past in the Mormon Church?

Random Monday (a little late)

2007-11-28T00:41:00.000-05:00

Who knew Obama could dance?

If only....

2007-11-19T12:25:00.000-05:00

... I had known about this before yesterday. 30 Rock will have a live performance tonight. I tried to get tickets but they're all gone. Darn it. If you're not familiar with the UCB and you live in the New York area you should check it out sometime. If you want to see some good improv and you're in Chicago I highly recommend the I.O. You should go there some evening when the Cougars troupe is performing and support my friend Matt Manley (that's him in the bottom right corner of the Cougars picture).

Barack Obama / Ron Paul 2008

2007-11-18T20:58:00.001-05:00

I've been working on Part 2 of my review dealing with the Met and Lincoln Center, but I'm not happy with what I've got at the moment. As soon as I'm satisfied with it I'll put it up. In other news, I heard a rumor that if Barack Obama get's the Democratic nomination he'll choose Ron Paul as his running mate. I'm not exactly sure how that would work, but I kind of like the sound of if. I imagine we would pull out of Iraq shortly, we would cut superfluous government spending, balance the budget, and use the surplus to provide universal health care. Think about it!

I'll be out of the loop this week as I'll be out of town and I won't have my computer with me.

See you next week!

Blog Reading Level

2007-11-14T00:18:00.000-05:00

I don't know how this thing works. I imagine it looks for big words or sentence structure. Either way, according to the Blog Readability Test you have to be a genius to read this blog. So, if you are a regular reader of this blog, congratulations! You're a genius!

Architect of the Day: Wallace Harrison

2007-11-13T23:10:00.000-05:00

Random Monday on Tuesday presents the Architect of the Day: Wallace Harrison.

Harrison wasn’t the most experimental architect of his time, but he collaborated with some of the most distinguished architects of the 20^th century and he designed some of the most famous buildings in the US. His first major project was working on Rockefeller Center while employed by the architectural firm Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray. He was the lead architect and master planner for Lincoln Center including the Metropolitan Opera House. He designed the UN Headquarters with his partner Max Abramovitz, LaGuardia Airport, the Time-Life Building, the Exxon Building at Rockefeller Center, and the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth. Some of his lesser known works are the Rockefeller Apartment across from the MOMA sculpture garden and the “Fish Church” in Stamford, CT. He frequently advised Nelson Rockefeller and the two were known to be good friends. I’ll leave you with some images and this article about the Rockefeller Apartments in the New York.

Lincoln Center Plaza

Metropolitan Opera House

United Nations Headquarters

The Magic Flute and The Met: Part 1

2007-11-11T00:21:00.000-05:00

I’ve always loved music. We listened to singer-songwriter music and Jazz in my house when I was growing up and I started playing piano in the third grade. There’s even a picture of me sitting at the piano when I was fairly young. The picture is displayed on the piano at my parent’s house, and if you look closely you’ll notice that I’m not just banging around, I’m playing specific notes. My dad was a fan of swing/ big band and he introduced me to jazz, and when I was in sixth grade I decided to play the trumpet, which was partly influenced by my burgeoning love affair with Jazz. The first two CDs I ever bought with my own money were “Satchmo’s Greatest” (Louis Armstrong) and a recording of Scott Joplin pieces; I must have listened to those CDs a million times. Now they’re in a box at my parent’s house, too scratched up for use, but of too much sentimental value to throw away. The interesting thing is that, more or less, my listening experience with Jazz has been almost completely in chronological/ stylistic order. I went from Ragtime to Dixieland, to “Hot” Ragtime and Dixieland, to swing, to bebop, to hard bop, to cool, to west-coast, to modal, to free, to fusion, and then to contemporary, in that order. I don’t really know how that happened, and I’m sure there was some crossover in the mix, but that generally sums up my jazz listening habits from the age of 10 until now. I mention all this so you’ll know what an influence Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue had on me. I was a semi-talented musician, and I knew a fair amount of theory, and I was sick of bop and hard-bop when I discovered it. From the opening two bars on the first track (“So What”) I knew this was something special. It was different, and then (to my surprise) instead of one track the whole album continued in that vein. It was my favorite album for at least 5 years, and even though I know it inside and out now, I would still say it’s one of my favorite albums ever.

I’m sure you’re wondering what this has to do with the Mozart and The Magic Flute. Not long ago my brother was playing Kind of Blue and someone in the room said, “What is this? Is this the radio or something?” That’s when I realized that if you didn’t approach it from the correct direction, if you were used to hearing the music that followed Kind of Blue it wouldn’t seem as good as it actually is. That’s the way I feel about Mozart. I’m sure that he was extremely talented, but within the genre of music generally referred to as “Classical” most of the things we’ve heard our entire lives are influenced by him. To truly appreciate his work, we need to listen to what came first. So when my mother-in-law gave us tickets to the Metropolitan Opera for Jennie’s birthday (Thank You!) I resolved to work at listening to the 0pera with fresh ears (if that’s even possible). When it comes to “Classical Music” I’m admittedly quite biased towards late 19th and 20th century works and composers (Anyone from or inspired by the Second Viennese School is gold for me) so I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task. What follows is my review. I don’t care to discuss the plot extensively in my review, but I will assume familiarity with the plot in my discussion. So if you’re not familiar with opera please read a decent synopsis at Wikipedia.

I had never been to the Metropolitan Opera house, and it along with Lincoln center deserves its own review which will follow in part 2 of this post. For those who don’t know, The Magic Flute is generally classified as a Singspiel (song-play), a German form of comic opera. It disperses with the recitative (sung dialogue between arias) in favor of actual spoken lines. I was not aware of this before I saw it (I should have paid more attention in music history instead of trying to get my now-wife to go on a date with me), and don’t think I’d ever seen a Singspiel before. My first thought upon realizing there was spoken dialogue instead of recitative was, “How is this any different than a musical?” But, I’ll discuss that more in part 2. I’ll start with the bad and move on towards the better in order to end the review on a good note. I have several criticisms of this performance, many of which have to do with the philosophy behind this rendition and I’ll discuss those in part 2, focusing more on the music here in part 1. I think that the overall musical performance last evening was poor and I blame most of this on the conductor. I refuse to believe that working orchestra musicians in Manhattan are incapable of bringing out the subtleties that make Mozart great. The overture was weak as were many of the arias. A conductor’s job is not to keep the tempo; it’s to lead. If the woodwinds need to swell here and ebb there, it’s his (or her) job. If he wants to interpret this that way, and that this way, it’s his job. In this day and age I understand why conductors can be disillusioned, it must be hard to be relegated to (unfortunately) backup duties when a 26 year old conductor is already achieving rock star status with a bunch of kids. But for Mozart, the conductor wasn’t peripheral to the singers; he was the one who brought the performance out from deep within them. In fact, Mozart supposedly conducted the first performance himself as well as playing the glockenspiel. It’s a pity, (in my opinion) that the singers get all the praise, when in fact they wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for the music in the first place. It appears from listening to Mozart’s operas that the voice was just another instrument to be used in the composition of a piece of music. I also had significant problems with the chorus; at least three times I wished I had the authority to fire the entire back row of the chorus. They had no energy, they had trouble with simple blocking, and they acted like no one was watching them. The chorus in any one of my high school’s musical production could have substituted for them (at least physically, probably not vocally) and no one would have known. My last complaint is the audience. Seriously people, it’s comic opera, it’s okay to laugh, Mozart would surely roll over in his grave if he knew people were taking him so seriously they couldn’t laugh at a man who thinks he’s a bird! It was a little better in the second act after all the Bourgeoisie ran to the bar and tried to shoot as many flutes of champagne as they could before the second act. Let’s just say a significant portion of the audience seemed less apprehensive after that.

Now for the good: It was a lavish production created by Julie Taymor (The Lion King on Broadway and Across the Universe) and I applaud the Met for bringing in someone from Broadway to do a show. The set was amazing, as were the costumes, and the choreography (which included HUGE puppets). Finally, the music; as I was trying to listen with fresh ears, and I was increasingly frustrated by the orchestral performance I was met with a few surprises. Just when I was about to stop trying, I was met with the aria introducing the three young spirits. It was sung by the three ladies and I don’t know what it’s called, but it was beautiful. The next aria to escape from the mundane clutches of the conductor was “O Isis und Osiris.” Perhaps the best moment of the evening came during the aria “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” sung by the Queen of the Night. It was the first time I’d ever had chills run up my spine because of Mozart. I can’t imagine what it would have been like with a stellar orchestra. Perhaps recordings can’t do some things justice, and Mozart is best heard live. I don’t know, but I wanted to hear that piece over and over. I also loved any piece featuring the three young spirits, the conductor seemed moved by the fact that there were children on stage, and he was able to coax the orchestra into several tender moments. The finale was somewhat lost on me as I had quit reading the subtitles and was trying to figure out what was going on, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to give it the attention it probably deserved. Even though the opera didn’t live up to the expectations I had going in (since it was at the Met I assumed it would be held to a higher standard) it was an enjoyable performance, especially compared to other operas I’ve seen and I would recommend at night at the Met to anyone.

Information on the performers and this specific performance can be found here.

STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!

2007-11-09T08:03:00.000-05:00

I hope the writer’s strike ends soon, not because I don’t think they’re doing the correct thing, but because I don’t want to miss any of my TV shows. There are about 4 TV shows that I really care about and make time for each week, and one of them has already stopped until the strike is over. The other three are also shows that depend heavily on the writers and I imagine production will be shutting down shortly and they don’t have many more episodes filmed and ready to go. Now, the general public might be thinking that this is all a little ridiculous, but that’s not the case. You’ve probably seen pictures of Tina Fey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the picket lines and thought to yourself, “They don’t need more money, what are they doing?” The truth is that they are the exception rather than the rule. Tina Fey started off as a writer, and she still writes for her show, but writers who then become stars are rare. For every Conan O’Brien there is a whole staff of people wishing they could get their own break. That’s why it’s so weird that so many people from the Daily Show have gone on to have successful starring careers of their own.

So here is the breakdown as I understand it: right now writers receive residuals from DVD sales amounting to .4 percent of the price. So, for a $20 DVD they make $.08 (the producers make $16), but when a TV show is sold on iTunes or Amazon UnBox they don’t get anything. The writers want the same percentage for downloads as they get for physical media. They also want to double the percentage on DVDs if the DVD sells more than 1 million copies. These seem like reasonable demands to me. I don’t know how much the actors get in residuals, so if anyone knows that info let me know. Of course working writers do get a salary of some sort, so residuals are kind of like icing on the cake, but for retired writers or writers in between jobs it could make a big difference. Whatever happens I hope they get this resolved soon because I already miss SNL and if Gossip Girl gets cut short I’m not going to be happy. What do you think? Is the writer’s strike justified?

Where's our Review?!?

2007-11-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

I'm sure the thousands of loyal readers of this blog are in their respective homes and workplaces clamoring, "Where's our review? Where's our review?" Well, it's coming. Normally I reserve Wednesdays for a review of some sort, but there is a slight schedule change this week. Tomorrow evening I will be accompanying my wife to the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center to see Mozart's Magic Flute, (I don't really know anything about the opera other than the fact that it has Masonic connections, so I've been referring to it as DaVinci Code the Musical which my musicologist wife doesn't think is so funny) so I will be posting a review of the opera on Saturday. So the weekend current events post will be today. I was trying to get it up last night, but I didn't get it finished before I needed to go to bed. Look for it this evening; I will be discussing the writers' strike so do your research so you'll be prepared to comment.

Casey Affleck Interview

2007-11-05T22:01:00.001-05:00

Today is random Monday so I'm linking to this interview I heard on NPR today. Elvis Mitchell interviews Casey Affleck on "The Treatment". They discuss Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It's interesting to hear Casey critique (or refuse to critique) Ben's directing. If you have the time you should check it out.

Jew-Genics?

2007-11-05T20:58:00.000-05:00

I was out of town this weekend so I didn't have a chance to post. I've reserved the weekends for current events/ religion/ philosophy/ theology issues. This post is dedicated to almost current events. A few weeks ago, Dr. James Watson, the biologist best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, was suspended from his job. Dr. Watson had made some remarks that many considered racist; following the remarks, the London Science Museum and the University of Edinburgh withdrew invitations for Dr. Watson to speak and he subsequently resigned from his position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Dr. Watson undoubtedly made a racist comment when he said he hoped all people were equal but that "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true." This is offensive in every sense, and while I don't necessarily support his suspension, I understand why those steps were taken. However that statement wasn't the one most people took exception to. Watson stated that he was

"inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" as "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really."

He also said that

"there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so."

These two statements, while they may be politically incorrect, aren't necessarily offensive, at least in my opinion. They can be proven or unproven with the proper tests. Just when I was starting to think that I was going crazy, that even though the man was undoubtedly racist, those statements weren't the worst in the world, I ran across this article on Slate. In it William Saletan takes Watson to task, not for his original statements, but for his apology. Saletan says,

"I'm not saying Watson deserves more of a pounding for asserting a racial gap. That's a purely empirical claim. Every man who works at Slate could be stupider than every woman who works here. I find that proposition offensive, but it could be true, depending on whether tests bear it out."

Then he explains,

"No, the reason I don't want to let Watson go quietly is that he didn't really clean up his original comments. All he did was obfuscate them. His original claims were testable and backed by a theory. His revisions aren't. Scientifically, they say nothing and retract nothing. All they do is make racism harder to identify, scrutinize, and test."

I think Saletan's article is well worth the read, so you should head over to Slate and check it out. But here comes the kicker, two days later, Saletan published this article. In it he says,

"Are Jews a race? Is Jewish intelligence genetic?
If these notions make you cringe, you're not alone. Many non-Jews find them offensive. Actually, scratch that. I have no idea whether non-Jews find them offensive. But I imagine that they do, which is why Jews like me wince at any suggestion of Jewish genetic superiority. We don't even want to talk about it."

Then he goes on to talk about it. I guess he wanted to bring the story home by talking about his own race. Interesting, huh (at least I think it is)? So if anyone actually reads this blog, please check out these articles and then discuss. Is it offensive to state that people of different races have perhaps evolved genetically in slightly different ways, thus giving various races advantages over others (musically, athletically, intellectually, etc...)? Or is it just a way to celebrate the diversity that makes our world such a wonderful place? If different races are slightly different is it possible to say that one race is superior than another, or can we unequivocally say that we are all the same worth? What do you think? My opinion is that we all have our strengths and weaknesses and that this may in fact be due to genetics. However, all humans have the same worth in my eyes and I'll contest anyone who says otherwise.

I'm turning on comments moderation for this post. Please only leave constructive comments. If you leave any comments that I deem blatantly inappropriate or racist I will delete them or edit them for my own purposes.

Gone Baby Gone

2007-10-31T22:22:00.000-05:00

There are no spoilers so feel free to read on. Also, if you're not familiar with my method of critiquing movies check out an explanation here.

In the increasingly twisting folds of film (or digital bits) that make up the film “Gone Baby Gone” lies one of the best films I’ve seen in a long while. Ben Affleck decided to return to what he apparently knows best, and that is writing screenplays. Granted, this is an adaptation and not an original like “Good Will Hunting” but it is haunting nonetheless. What’s truly amazing is that Affleck directed the film as well. I, unlike many, was never one to dismiss him as actor; I just thought he didn’t know how to choose good roles. But after this film I don’t care if I ever see him act again, I just want him to create more films. In his directorial debut he also pulled off a casting coup. Not many people have the clout to cast Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris in a film their first time out, much less in supporting roles. He then placed Michelle Monaghan (who was great, if underused in "Mission: Impossible III" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") and Amy Ryan (whom I’d never heard of, but was apparently on HBO’s "The Wire") in key supporting roles and they sure didn’t let him down. But his main casting coup came in the form of Casey Affleck, Ben’s younger brother. Putting aside the fact that Casey is great in every film he’s been in, the coup is that because he’s Ben’s younger brother, Ben knows him better than most people and thus was able to extract the best performance from Casey yet (I’ve not yet seen "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", so I reserve the right to declare Casey better in that film if I so desire).

The film opens on the streets of Dorchester, MA, where we discover that Helene’s (Amy Ryan) 4 year old daughter has gone missing, and has most likely been kidnapped. We then find out that Patrick (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend/business partner Angie (Monaghan) are missing persons detectives. They’re just not the sort of detectives that normally look for missing children, normally they look for people who’ve defaulted on their debts and skipped town etc… When Helene’s brother and sister-in-law show up at their door wanting to hire them they reluctantly take the job. They then meet Chief Doyle (Freeman) who puts them in touch with two police detectives working on the case (Harris and John Ashton). All of this happens in the first 15 minutes. What follows is fascinating and disturbing and magnificent all at once. At least three times Patrick faces some extremely gray moral lines and he makes the best choices he knows how to make, but increasingly he’s confused and bewildered by what’s happening. At one point he says, “My priest says that shame is my conscience telling me I was wrong,” he then goes on to declare that he wouldn’t make that same decision again, even if it was the right one to make. By the end of the film Patrick’s face is worn with weary look of someone who doesn’t know which way is up.

If all this sounds rather intense, well, that’s because it is. However, it’s well worth the effort to make your way through the film. Unfortunately, I doubt many people will. In this article on contemporary war movies at the New York Times, A.O. Scott points out that increasingly the films meant to challenge us are pulling in smaller and smaller audiences while lighter fare holds reign. He says a few things that I think can also be applied to other contemporary movies like "Gone Baby Gone" as well.

It may be that this opposition [to the war] finds its truest expression in the wish that the whole thing would just go away, rather than in an appetite for critical films.… When filmmakers leave such touchy, serious political issues alone they tend to be scolded for complacency or cowardice. But …[w]hat is notable about this new crop of war movies is not their earnestness or their didacticism — traits many of them undoubtedly display — but rather their determination to embrace confusion, complexity and ambiguity.

and

…the final image of “In the Valley of Elah”[I'll try to get up a review about this one as well, I saw it a few weeks ago] — an American flag flying upside down — is, similarly, both disturbing and vague. It is a sign of danger and distress, and it brings home the grief and confusion that have haunted the film’s main character, a retired army officer played by Tommy Lee Jones whose son has gone AWOL shortly after returning from Iraq.

The grief and confusion are left hanging like that flag, and like the feelings of sorrow, anger and impatience that linger at the end of “Lions for Lambs,” “Redacted” and the others ["Gone Baby Gone"]. What is missing in nearly every case is a sense of catharsis or illumination. This is hardly the fault of the filmmakers. Disorientation, ambivalence, a lack of clarity — these are surely part of the collective experience they are trying to examine. How can you bring an individual story to a satisfying conclusion when nobody has any idea what the end of the larger story will look like?

Indeed.

This film has been rated 'R' for language, violence, and a few disturbing images.

Film Review Criteria

2007-10-31T21:18:00.000-05:00

My next post will be a film review, and (since I’m not sure who reads this blog) I thought it might be useful to post a few thoughts about what I look for in a film. But before I do that I have a few disclaimers. First, just because I review a film on this blog does not mean I recommend it for everyone. I watch a lot of movies and some of them contain things that are probably offensive to some of my readers. Second, just because I give a movie a good review doesn’t mean I like the film, or even that I enjoyed watching the film. It means that there was something about the film that I believe made the viewing experience valuable. Third, if I give a film a poor review that doesn’t mean I don’t like it, it just means that I think it wasn’t well made. I could, however, like the movie quite a bit. Sometimes I’ll think a movie is valuable and I’ll also think it’s great and I’ll also want to watch it several times. Those kinds of movies are my favorite. Finally, I tend to gravitate towards what are often referred to as “art films”, it’s not that I don’t love a big blockbuster, (Live Free or Die Hard was super!) it’s just that generally I prefer films that are going to challenge while entertaining me rather than films that are for pure entertainment.

When I am watching a film with my “critic’s eye” there are several things I keep in mind. Is the film arresting? Does it engross me, or am I looking at my watch after ten minutes wondering when it’s going to end? Once I’m into the film I concentrate on the story, letting it wash over me and giving all my thought to understanding what’s happening. I’ll sometimes think, “I wouldn’t have done that,” or “What was the director thinking?”, but I generally try to save those questions until the movie is over and the credits have rolled. After the film I think about the actors’ (or actresses’) performances, and I pick them apart in my mind. Were they convincing? What did they bring to the character that another actor might not have been able to do? I then consider the director. What was he trying to say? Was it a critique of something, if so what? Was he just telling a story with no ulterior motives (is that even possible)? Was he able to pull the best performances possible from his actors? I then consider the cinematography. Did it fit with the over all feel of the movie? Was it single camera, multiple camera, hand held, or steady? Did it focus on landscapes, people, or a mixture? Did it go for the hard to nail close-ups of the actors’ faces or was it standoffish and perhaps impersonal? I wonder how much independence the cinematographer had, and how much of it is his (or her) eye and how much is the director’s. I then consider the music. Was it appropriate for the film or did it bog the film down? How much say did the director have? If the music doesn’t fit I wonder if it was the director’s fault or the fault of the composer or music supervisor. Finally, I also ponder the themes and ideas explored by the film. Are they relevant? What do they reveal about society at large? Did they challenge me in any way? All of these things add up to make what I like to think of as the composition of the film. I then take the composition as a whole and explore my own personal feelings and reactions to the film. After I’ve done all these things I am then able to talk to someone or write about the film.

Blog Layout

2007-10-31T21:09:00.001-05:00

Please excuse any irregularities in the blog layout if you visit frequently during the next few weeks. I'm not quite satisfied with the way it looks so I'm playing with it a little. It's been a while since I took Web Development so my HTML and CSS skills are a little flaky at the moment. I'm giving myself a refresher and I'm sure it will show up here.

T.V. or not T.V. (set)

2007-10-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

I told you that Mondays would be random. They're so random that I'm actually putting this up on Tuesday morning. As you can tell from my previous post, we had a party on Saturday. In order to free up enough room for all the people we did a little rearranging of furniture. This involved putting the table in the kitchen, where it actually fits pretty well, and taking the TV out of the living room and putting it in the closet. Now let me say this, I have never owned a television until recently. Over the last 5 years I've lived in several places that had televisions, but none of them had any channels, just a VCR or DVD player. In fact, except for my freshman year of college I've never had access to more than four channels. This is not to say that I'm opposed to television. I'm not, I actually think television is an extremely interesting art form. That's why when I saw an ad for a TV for $25 on Craigslist a few months ago I bought it. I like it, I watch a few shows, and it's nice to have a bigger screen for movies. But, the thing is ugly, it's big, it doesn't go with our furniture, and in order to optimize the room for TV watching it makes the room seem much smaller than it's actual size. So, now that we took the TV out I don't want to put it back. I was contemplating this this morning while lying in bed (because the fire alarm went off at 5 am and I couldn't go back to sleep). With the exception of SNL, every show that I like to watch is available entirely free on the websites of their respective networks. I have friends who record SNL so it's always available to me if I want it, and there are a few other ways to get it as well. It is also possible to get a TV tuner that plugs into the USB port of your computer in case you really want to watch something live, like sports or awards shows. So what do you think, do we liberate our living room and get rid of the TV and just watch shows on the laptop? Or do we put the TV back and make it into the focal point of the room again?

P.S. Getting a TV that is more attractive and takes up less space is not an option at the moment.

Party!

2007-10-27T08:29:00.000-05:00

The weekends here a coffee talk will normally be reserved for current events or thoughts on theological or religous issues. Today, however will be a little different. Just under one month ago, on September 29th, I married the love of my life. We had a small ceremony in Texas with family and close friends. However, since we live in New Jersey, most of our friends from the surrounding area weren't able to make the trip down south. So today we are throwing our first party as a married couple! We're expecting between 20 and 30 people. I don't know how we're going to fit everyone in our one bedroom apartment, but we've cleaned the place and rearranged the furniture and I think it's going to work. Hopefully it will stop raining before this afternoon so we can utilize our balcony. The rest of my day is going to be spent doing some cooking and other miscellaneous prep so I'll get back to writing on Monday. I'll leave you with a picture of my wife and I. Have a great weekend!

It's coming

2007-10-24T12:20:00.000-05:00

What's coming you might ask? A consistent posting plan. I've compiled a list of things I feel compelled to write about, and I'm working on a few posts at the moment. By the end of the week I'll have a real post up. From then on I'll be posting 3 times a week. On Mondays I'll post something random. On Wednesdays I'll post a review of some sort (movie, music, theater, books, magazines), and on the weekends I'll post something having to do with current events or religion. I've put the posting schedule on my calendar and it will remind me to post over and over until I do. So get ready, because ready or not, coffee talk is coming back.

Goodbye Tonic

2007-04-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

My favorite place in Manhattan, Tonic, is closing tonight. I won’t be able to go tonight, but I went on Monday and Thursday and I guess that’s enough. It’s hard for me to explain exactly what Tonic means to me. Tonic is a music venue on the lower east side of Manhattan. They primarily specialize in “avant-garde, creative, and experimental music.” This may not sound like your cup of tea, but to me this is something wonderful.

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It was always around, at home, at church, and at school. I started playing piano in 3rd grade and trumpet in 6th. I was even a music major for a couple of years in college. I’ve always loved jazz, jazz gets me going, it makes me feel good and it helps me relax. My problem with jazz started about five years ago, that’s when it all started to sound sterile, like it was stuck in a rut. Although I wasn’t aware of it at the time, I had reached the end of the rope jazz wise, at least according to some people. That’s when I went exploring for new music, and I discovered that jazz wasn’t dead, it was thrillingly alive: I had just been looking in the wrong spots. I discovered groups like The Chicago Underground, Medeski Martin and Wood, The RH Factor, Christian McBride, Soulive, Liquid Soul, DJ Logic, The Roots, John Scofield, John Zorn, Isotope 217 and more recently Sex Mob and Millennial Territory Orchestra. Some of these groups and artists are of a more traditional vein and some are harder to connect to jazz, but that’s where they all come from. In my mind the best musical experience (besides playing) comes from live performances not just albums. So as I found more and more music I started to look for places to listen the artists. Several of these artists play lots of places, but the place where they feel the most free to experiment and explore new directions in front of an audience is Tonic. This is what I discovered when I started looking for a place to hear live music.

Unfortunately, due to geography, I was unable to go to Tonic and hear it for myself. So I started looking around and I found a couple of albums recorded live at Tonic. I looked some more and found some bootlegs from Tonic. I resolved that the first time I visited Manhattan I was going to a show there, so I did. We got there early and it was fantastic. Tonic is located in an old winery and the performance room is quite small. We were sitting about ten feet from the stage. There’s no better way to experience live music than in an intimate setting. Seeing a rock performance in a stadium is cool I’m sure, but there’s no way the audience feels as connected with the music as they do when the place is small. I haven’t been to many shows there, just four. But every performance has been spectacular. Tonic will likely reopen in Brooklyn, but not in Manhattan. They can’t afford the rising cost of rent. Who knows when they’ll actually reopen, it could be a month or never. In my opinion, Manhattan, which is one of the coolest cities in the world, just lost a little bit of cool. Goodbye Tonic.

King 'Che' Lear

2007-02-20T16:23:00.001-05:00

Now that I am back to one job instead of two I finally have some leisure time to enjoy. So I decided to take Jennie to see King Lear, featuring Kevin Kline, at the Public Theater on Saturday. In general I don’t find Shakespeare to be wonderfully inviting. In fact, sometimes I think he doesn’t deserve all the praise, but that is when I am reading. Shakespeare is meant to be heard not read, and if the person performing does his job well, well then I think that Shakespeare deserves his reputation. I have to say that I thought the performance was great. In particular I thought that the two actors who portrayed Edgar and Edmund were amazing. I have resolved to watch out for them in other performances around the city and I would be very much interested in seeing them in a more contemporary play. King Lear is a complicated play with many story lines; it makes modern television dramas seem simple to follow. Even superb films have a hard time balancing as many plots as King Lear. The most recent thing I know of that did it well is The Departed, but of course everyone dies in that too. Sometimes I wonder if the reason everybody dies in such dramas is because that is the easiest way to tie everything up, rather than following continually more fractured storylines for an indefinite period of time. It takes a lot of things to hold a drama like King Lear together; the writing, the acting, the directing, and the effects must all align. I’ve already praised the actors and while I must give Shakespeare a large portion of the credit, the director James Lapine also deserves praise as well. All in all, I give King Lear two thumbs up.

The other thing I did this weekend was fun as well. On Sunday afternoon I took about 2 ½ hours and read Ernesto Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries. Those of you who know me know that I have somewhat socialist leanings, but that is not why I read the book. I saw the movie last year and I wondered about “Che”. This is the revolutionary who fought for communism all over the world, who was buddies with Castro, and who was eventually put to death. I wondered how someone who seemed so carefree and caring towards the destitute and downtrodden could possibly take up arms and kill his fellow man. I wondered if it would ever be possible for me to embrace a cause so much so that I could forget the reason for the cause. The Motorcycle Diaries didn’t help me much on that front, but they did give me some food for thought. Che apparently realized the same thing. In the preface he writes about his thoughts as he was organizing the notes to be published. I’m not sure how long after they were written they were published, but Che acknowledges that he is now a different person. I would like to quote him, but since the book isn’t in front of me and it is a translation in the first place I will paraphrase. He says something to the effect of: the person who is organizing these notes is not me, at least not the me I was. That me died the day I came back to Argentina. The book ends with his declaration to fight for the cause of the Latin American proletariat, although the editor’s note says that no one knows when or where it was written or even if it was written on the journey. Is it possible that I will ever go to the extreme like that? I don’t know, but at least I’ve pondered the consequences.

Favorite Music 2006

2006-12-28T01:10:00.000-05:00

The end of the year is upon us, so I am jumping into the fray of year end lists. I listen to a wide variety of music, so a music list was easy. In no particular order these are my favorite albums and musical things from 2006. Please comment and tell me what you think I got right, what I got wrong, and what I might have missed musically this past year.

2006 Soundtrack of My Life : The Last Kiss Soundtrack
Best Place for Live Jazz: Tonic NYC
Favorite Musicology Student: Jennie Gay

The Lists:

Pop

Christina Aguilera: Back to Basics

Justin Timberlake: Futuresex/Lovesounds

Cassandra Wilson: Thunderbird

Scissor Sisters: Ta-Dah

Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere

Jazz

Steven Bernstein: MTO Vol. 1

Sex Mob: Sexotica

Christian McBride: Live at Tonic

Radio Citizen: Berlin Serengeti

MSMW: Out Louder

Rock/Blues

The Raconteurs: Broken Boy Soldiers

Beck: The Information

Ben Harper: Both Sides of the Gun

Derek Trucks Band: Songlines

Allen Toussaint and Elvis Costello: The River In Reverse

Folk

Ray LaMontagne: Till the Sun Turns Black

Josh Ritter: The Animal Years

Bruce Springsteen: The Seeger Sessions

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris: All the Road Running

Willie Nelson: You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker

Alt-Country/Rock/Southwest

Calexico: Garden Ruin

Ben Kweller: Ben Kweller

Ryan Adams: 29

Willie Nelson: Song Bird

Neil Young: Living With War

Honorable Mention

The Flaming Lips: At War With the Mystics

Beirut: Gulag Orkestar

Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

John Legend: Once Again

Keane: Under the Iron Sea

Loose Fur (Jeff Tweedy): Born Again In the USA

Gotan Project: Lunatico

Tonic, NYC, and Public Transport

2006-09-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I made my first trip to NYC and it was an adventure. Those of you who know me know that I am a city person, so let me just say that it was everything I expected. We didn't really do a whole lot of touristy stuff, although we did go to (and get lost in) Central Park. We went to the New York Public Library which was fascinating, wandered around the city, met a friend at Columbia University and then had dinner with some people in her graduate program. After dinner we went to a music venue to check out a local jazz/experimental ensemble that I like. The concert was amazing Steven Bernstein and Friends brought the house down. Bernstein is the band leader and he plays the slide trumpet, along with the slide trumpet there was an amazing bassist, drums, saxophone, and electric guitar. There were two continous sets in which the rythm section laid down an incredible groove and the trumpet and sax soloed and improvised on everything from the Beatles to Prince. It was an incredibly good time. After the concert we headed over to Brooklyn to spend the night with a friend. This is when we ran into problems. The New York City subways are old and sometimes they need work, and obviously the best time to work on them is at night and on the weekends. We hadn't had the foresight to check the internet and see if anything was going on, so we didn't know that the whole lower east side metro system was shutting down for the weekend at midnight. We got to the station at 12:05 and what normally would have been a 20 minute trip ended up taking 2 hours, but we finally made it to our friends house, and spent the next morning with him before heading back to Jersey.

When Will There Be Peace?

2006-01-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

"The incident over the weekend is regrettable and we have condemned it, and we cannot condone the loss of innocent lives," he [Prime Minister Aziz] said. "At the same time, let me say that we are committed to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and that terrorism knows no borders."

"That terrorism knows no borders," nor does it seem that our terroristic responses to terrorism know any borders. If someone dropped a bomb on a town in the US and killed at least 18 people that would be considered terrorism, we are no better than the terrorists we are fighting. We are what we hate. I no longer want to be an American, I don't want to be a terrorist, I don't want to be any nationality, I want to be a citizen of the world, a peace loving citizen of the people, all people as one. I wish that could happen. I leave with the lyrics of songs by Devendra Banhart and Johnny Cash.

Heard Somebody Say - Devendra Banhart

I heard somebody say
That the war ended today
But everyone knows it's goin' still

On mother lands and mother seas
Here's what we believe
It's simple
We don't want to kill

I heard somebody say
That the war ended today
But everyone knows its goin' still

On mother lands and mother seas
Here's what we believe
It's simple
We don't want to kill

Oh, it's simple
We don't want to kill
Oh, it's simple
We don't want to kill
Oh, it's simple
We don't want to kill

What is Truth? - Johnny Cash

The old man turned off the radio
Said, "Where did all of the old songs go
Kids sure play funny music these days
They play it in the strangest ways"
Said, "it looks to me like they've all gone wild
It was peaceful back when I was a child"
Well, man, could it be that the girls and boys
Are trying to be heard above your noise?
And the lonely voice of youth cries "What is truth?"

A little boy of three sittin' on the floor
Looks up and says, "Daddy, what is war?"
"son, that's when people fight and die"
The little boy of three says "Daddy, why?"
A young man of seventeen in Sunday school
Being taught the golden rule
And by the time another year has gone around
It may be his turn to lay his life down
Can you blame the voice of youth for asking
"What is truth?"

A young man sittin' on the witness stand
The man with the book says "Raise your hand"
"Repeat after me, I solemnly swear"
The man looked down at his long hair
And although the young man solemnly swore
Nobody seems to hear anymore
And it didn't really matter if the truth was there
It was the cut of his clothes and the length of his hair
And the lonely voice of youth cries
"What is truth?"

The young girl dancing to the latest beat
Has found new ways to move her feet
The young man speaking in the city square
Is trying to tell somebody that he cares
Yeah, the ones that you're calling wild
Are going to be the leaders in a little while
This old world's wakin' to a new born day
And I solemnly swear that it'll be their way
You better help the voice of youth find
"What is truth?"

What Makes a Great Cup of Coffee?

2006-01-16T20:59:00.001-05:00

While coffee is a subject that I love to talk about, and something that I would love to discuss at length on this blog, this post is primarily directed towards those who have left comments on their blog regarding the drip coffee at my place of employment. These people have said that our coffee is “terrible.” “It is a coffee house and therefore should serve, at the very least, a decent cup of coffee,” one blogger said. I say that our coffee is a least “decent” and I believe it is even good. Could it be better? Probably. Are there steps being taken to further the quality of everything at Midnight Oil? Absolutely. How do I know? Because I am the new manager of Midnight Oil. So for those of you who would like to know what makes a great cup of coffee: here it is.

There are several factors to a great cup of coffee. Some of the more important are water, brewing method, the roast of the bean, the freshness of the bean, the grind of the bean, and the proper water temperature.

Almost more important than the beans themselves is water. After all coffee is mostly water so if you have poor tasting water you will have poor tasting coffee. As we all know Searcy water is not the best around, but in order to combat this we run the water through a softener and a charcoal filter. It helps but it is not absolute. Unfortunately, however, we can’t use only bottled purified water, it would cost way too much.

The brewing method is also very important. One should use freshly ground beans in order to extract the most flavor for each cup. Here at MO we use a shower head drip which evenly distributes the water over all of the grinds in the filter as opposed to lower quality machines that just use a straight stream of water to slowly fill the basket. It is generally agreed that the best brewing method is the french press. Unfortunately it would be impossible to brew the gross amounts of coffee we serve using only a french press. However, for those of you who pretend to be connoisseurs, in the near future you should be able to purchase a small pot of french press coffee for your enjoyment.

The roast is always an important part of the process, and it is the deciding factor for many people. We serve a different roast everyday and I hope that soon we will be brewing a lighter roast and a darker roast in order to serve you our customers, but until then I suggest that those of you who aren’t too fond of our coffee try our newest acquisitions, Zimbabwe and Tanzanian Peaberry. Zimbabwe is served on Thursdays and Tanzanian Peaberry on Fridays. To be completely honest the coffee should be brewed every hour to keep it from going stale, but at the moment this a luxury I have not been allowed.

Finally to taste. The research shows that coffee is seven to twenty times more complex than wine (I’ll gladly show you the research, including a lengthy article in Wine Spectator if you would like). Just as wine has proper food pairings so does coffee, and it is this area I readily admit we are most lacking here at MO. I don’t really know how to improve the situation because we have a space problem, but I am working on some ideas. But for the moment here are some tips that might help. Next time you buy a cup of coffee also try a biscotti, or perhaps bring some dark chocolate to have with your coffee. Here are some pairings to try.

Sumatra: have a mayan choc chip biscotti with this and it should change the taste
Colombian: try the traditional almond biscotti
Ethiopian Harrar: try the dark chocolate almond biscotti
Zimbabwe: to be honest this would be best paired with a fruit such as blueberries, but it combines with the white and dark choc raspberry biscotti quite well
Tanzanian Peaberry: the raspberry biscotti works quite well with this one as well
Uganda: an almond biscotti compliments this coffee quite well

I know that most of us who frequent Midnight Oil were not brought up in household where we were encouraged to develop our taste for wine, which is less complex than coffee. So how would we have developed a taste for fine coffees especially when we grew up drinking our Grandparent’s pre-ground, old, stale, in a tin can, in the freezer for freshness Maxwell/Colombia House/Folgers coffee. And that in fact is what we get used to and what we come to call good coffee. It is like thinking that a bottle of Blackberry Arbor Mist is wine. It is and it isn’t. Some people think that it tastes good and they get used to it, and then when they have their first Cabernet Sauvignon or Chianti or Pinot Noir, they say that it isn’t as good as their good ol' Arbor Mist. Are they correct? In some respect perhaps, it is at least what they like better, but sometimes what we like the best isn’t always the best. So good luck, investigate our coffee, do some research on your own, try all of the different roasts we have, try different food pairings, and if you still don’t like our coffee okay, but it is at least a “decent” cup of coffee and we are continually taking steps to make it better.

Steven Baird

Student Loans, Alaska, and Patriots

2005-12-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

I am trying to get back into the swing of things in the blogosphere, so here comes my first new post in a while.

Today the Senate voted 51-50 to reduce the federal deficit with Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaker. I am all for reducing the federal budget, however the spending they are cutting deals with subsidized student loans, which means that students who can't afford college in the first place will have to pay more in the long run. I am not in favor of this, but what can I do, my two senators voted against it, so I was represented, oh well. The good news is this, the Senate does not want to renew the patriot act without some serious revisions. It took a bi-partisan effort to stop this one and George W is not happy. Finally they tried to be sneaky and attach drilling for oil in Alaska to a defense bill, that one didn't pass either thanks to a bi-partisan effort again. I am glad to see that perhaps bipartisan politics is coming to the fore at Christmas time.

Artists of the Day

2005-09-13T00:25:00.000-05:00

Today's artists of the day are two Mexican Muralists from the early 20th century. They are Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. In my opinion these are two fascinating artists so look them up and enjoy. A good book to start with is here. Here are some of their works. Enjoy!!

Hurricanes, Midnight Oil, and the GRE

2005-09-11T21:40:00.000-05:00

My good ol' hometown of Searcy is now home to over 100 hurricane evacuees. Camp Wyldewood, just outside Searcy, is now home to over 70 of those people. My younger brother works part time at Wyldewood doing odd jobs and cleanup duties. This past week though he has been busy helping serve meals, taking people to the doctor, distributing clothing, and other things of that nature. I think it is safe to say that this whole experience will profoundly affect my 18 year old brother, maybe now at 18 it will endow him with a passion and compassion for people that will influence his religious, political, theological, and academic views for years to come. Yes, it is his job because he works at Wyldewood, but he is happy to be serving. I am very proud of my younger brother and I look up to him.

Everyone in Searcy is eager to do what they can in this situation. I work at Midnight Oil, that bastion of coffee talk and discussion for the hippy academic philosopher pseudo bohemians of Harding. My boss wanted to do something to help so today, Sunday, we opened our doors at one o'clock. Normally we are closed on Sundays, but today we were open, all of the employees worked for free and our boss is giving every dime, not just the profits, and all of our tips to Camp Wyldewood to help feed and house the evacuees. I have never worked a busier shift than the one this afternoon. The line was out the door for the whole time I was there and one woman put a five hundred dollar check in our tip jar. Once again my faith in Christians and people in general, the faith which is often very small, has been buffered and rebuilt.

I'm preparing to take the GRE soon, does anyone out there have any advice on how to study for it? Should I just treat it like all the standardized tests I took way back in high school and do nothing? I did extremely well on those, but this is of more importance to me because some scholarships to help with graduate school would be more than nice. So if anyone has any advice please share.

Who Has Been Seasoned Here?

2005-09-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5

This is just a short list I’ve been thinking about:

World ----------------Christians

Rock and Roll -------- Christian Rock and Roll
NetFlix.com --------- CleanFilms.com
Direct TV ------------ SkyAngel Satellite TV
Internet Provider ---- Christian Internet Service Provider
Poor quality fiction --- Poor Quality Christian Fiction
Art --------- "Christian" Art

I’m sure that you could think of many more. Since I live in the center of the Bible Belt, in a culture very much saturated with fad and pop Christian Culture I often am overly critical, but I don’t think I am this time. When did Christian culture start imitating the world? In Western Culture at least Christians paved the way for thousands of years, now it looks as if the pest we can do is a PG version of the R rated world. I am calling all Christians to stand up for themselves and their Creator, if we must engage with the world (and we must), let us set the standard. Let us be the flag bearers and the innovators, let us say no to sorry imitations of the world and make the world a better place. Let us season the world instead of being seasoned.

The Constant Gardener

2005-09-05T11:03:00.000-05:00

Last year I saw the Portuguese film City of God, which was partially directed by Fernando Meirelles (I am one of those people who reads all the credits in every film I watch, so be warned if you ever to go to a movie with me), and I was very taken by the cinematographic style he used. It was a lot of handheld, quick cut shots, almost ADD at times, but the intensive style only helped magnify the emotional subject matter. When I discovered that Fernando Meireles was directing a British film, set in Africa, dealing with the corruption of African medical aid, also involving a conspiracy theory, and starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, I decided that I must see The Constant Gardener. So Saturday night my girlfriend and I drove to Little Rock (because, as anyone familiar with Searcy knows, the Searcy cinema never shows anything good) in order to watch the film. I must say that this film was intense, the acting was superb, the ADD camera style of Meireles was utilized, and it was overtly political for something billed as thriller. I don't know if one ever enjoys films of this type, but I do know that one ruminates and thinks about them for a while. While I don't want to give away the movie to those who haven't seen it, I will say that the state of African Medical Aid occupies a large part of the film and I can't stop thinking about the state of affairs portrayed. I don't know whether things are as bad as the film implied, but if they are even half as bad then there is a huge problem. I am not one who accepts whatever I see or hear, especially from today's media, so I am currently investigating this on my own to see if there is any merit to the films claims. As far as the rest of the film goes, my opinion is that it is superbly done and that this is one of the most quality films I have seen in a long while (I always hesitate to label things good or bad, or best or worst, because those terms are fairly ambiguous, but when I saw quality I mean well made). This film is not for the faint of heart as it very much deserves its 'R' rating. There are at least 3 fairly disturbing images as well as a few brief bursts of strong language. There is also some nudity, although in my opinion it was fairly innocent and not of a strongly sexual type. If you just want to be entertained go see something else, but if you like to be engaged participant in the art form of film then I highly recommend The Constant Gardener.

P.S. Stay and read the credits as there is a very moving dedication of the film towards the end.

My First Post

2005-09-04T18:26:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunday, the day of rest, the day of the Lord, the time for reflection and communing one with another. I must confess that today I took a nap, but for the rest of it I don't know. After my nap I went to work, so I didn't even rest that much. I went to church, that wonderful spectator sport of the south, I sat there and reflected a little while we "communed", but it isn't really one with another. I mean the celebration of the sacrament (some say there are no such things as sacraments) of the Eucharist should be one of the central rites of Christianity. The term comes from the word charis which means grace or gift and that is exactly what it is, we have been given grace and we are receiving the gift of Christ's blood and body, isn't that worth celebrating? But we sit there and listen to someone read from one of the epistles and then they pass the plates and everyone prays and reflects with himself and even though the person right next to you took his little piece of cracker and grape juice I don't think that counts as communing one with another. I know that we don't want it to become a huge meaningless rite, but lets face it, the way we deal with the Eucharist right now often comes across as a little meaningless rite rather than a celebration concerning the Son of God. OK, enough about that, on to other things.

Last night Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist died leaving a second supreme court nomination for our President. The last time there were two open posts at the same time was 1971 and that was when Rehnquist was put into place. Rehnquist was never the hero of the liberal contingent of politics (of which faction I myself must claim) but in my own opinion he was fairly sound. So, now the new search begins, who will the president choose and will it cause another heyday like the nomination of John Roberts? I don't know, but I will say this: in general I disagree with George Bush's decisions, but I have faith in our country even still and I believe our governing leaders will make a good decision and the court will remain balanced and objective (as much so as is possible in a very subjective and unbalanced world).

I have still not been able to grasp the extent to which Hurricane Katrina ripped apart the south and as it slowly dawns on me my only reaction is one of shock and I just want to cry, and I hardly ever cry.

Today's artist of the day is Archibald J. Motley Jr. a Chicagoan who is also often associated with the Harlem Renaissance. You can read a little about him here and here. The following are two of my favorite paintings by him.

Nightlife

Blues

Adios