02/08 (a year of playlists)

Forget roses.  I am all about the mix cd this Valentine's Day.  

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Always Love

1.  Brighter than Sunshine - Aqualung

2.  Sea of Love - Cat Power

3. Say Hello - Rosie Thomas & Sufjan Stevens

4.  First Day of my Life - Bright Eyes

5.  Silver Lining - Rilo Kiley

6.  Somebody Loves You - Eels

7. Easy Girl (to Love) - Coconut Records

8.  You and Me - Denison Wittmer

9. Nothing Like You and I - The Perishers

10.  Between Us to Hold - Hayden

11.  You You You You You - The 6ths & Katharine Whalen

12.  No One's Gonna Love You More Than I Do - Band of Horses

13.  Shelter - Ray LaMontagne

14. Wait for Love - Josh Ritter

15.  Sing me 2 Sleep - Chad Van Gaalen

16.  Special Thing - Viva Voce

17.  Believer - Ben Kweller

18.  The One I Love - Rosie Thomas

19. Fools in Love - Inara George

20.  Without Love - Johnny Cash

21.  Always Love - Nada Surf

First play: In my car, February 1st!

(Who am I kidding?  We all know I am all about the roses...!)

confession:

i secretly like lowercase letters better than properly capitalized ones, but because i am an english teacher, i feel guilty about committing such a punctuational* transgression.

i type every title in lowercase as a secret rebellion.

* this is not a real word; i made it up.  english teachers have license to do that, you know.  

a seed

I can't take intellectual credit for the definition of worship that I love the most;  I overheard it at a coffee house, a snippet of conversation displaced, like seeds blown by the wind, and planted into my own conciousness.  And so, as I flipped through ReadyMade magazine, and sipped my (grande non-fat no-whip one-pump sugar-free hazelnut white chocolate) mocha, I heard a phrase that has stayed with me, and informed my own idea of worship for many years: 

"Worship is touching God's heart, and inviting God to touch ours."

Years later, I am still working through the significance of this statement, recognizing and confessing (often!) my self-centered ways, and seeking to please God in all the arenas of my life.  

"Therefore I urge you, brothers [and sisters], to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.  This is your spiritual act of worship." Romans 12:1 

you too, can paint like jackson pollock!

In the same vein as yesterday's post, here's a little site to get you started.  Many people have dismissed Jackson Pollock's work with a curt, "I could do that."  Now you can!  

we are all artists!

I've always shied away from calling myself an artist.  Let's face it: I'm not one who routinely creates groundbreaking paintings or records hit songs.  And yet, I am always artistically engaged with the world around me.  Everywhere I go, I take note of interesting compositions, graphic colour combinations, lyrical moments, and photographs waiting to happen (In fact, during my soul-crushing commute to work, I keep my camera handy to capture those fleeting moments that would otherwise pass me by in a whirl).  I am constantly humming new melodies, creating thematic mix cds, or filling my sketchbook with all manner of whimsical drawings.  So while my so-called "art" may never be curated in a gallery, I think it is safe to say that I am very much an artist.

All this to say that, in my mind, we are all artists.  Within each of us is the creative spark. We are image-bearers of God, one whose public art installations (reference: ocean tides, the stars reflected on water, bioluminescence, or newborn babies) are staggering.  Some of us (like me) are perhaps more tuned in to the art all around, and some, more naturally gifted at the technical/practical making of art.  But all of us yearn to create - or at least, to appreciate - and no act of artistic expression is insignificant or lacking value.  With the right tools and a little inspiration, all of us have something creative to put out into the world, and the people, around us.  What's more, our creative endeavours speak of God's own character, and thus have the capacity to touch not only those around us, but God's own heart.

Further:

www.learningtoloveyoumore.com

www.photojourneywithgod.blogspot.com

the bubble project

Yet another project I like: The Bubble Project.  And once again, it's a vehicle for artistic expression in public spaces, by the public.  Basically, blank speech bubbles (like the ones in Saturday morning comics) are stuck onto the ads that run rampant all around us, left for some innocent (or not-so-innocent) passer-by to fill in at will.  There's a certain authenticity to the results; culture jamming that isn't trying quite so hard.  It seems I am drawn to these guerilla-style art installations that invite the (unknowing, at times) participation of randoms just walking down the street.  We are all artists!  (Stay tuned.  More to come!).

a rainbow today

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds 

and it will be the sign of the covenant 

between me and the earth."

Genesis 9.13

hermes 3000

I like to make stuff.  Especially stuff out of paper.  And this week, I've been working on homemade valentines for all of my most favouritest people.  In the midst of cutting and pasting, collaging and tea-dying, it occurred to me how charming it would be to afix type-written phrases to my petit works of art.  Ever since, I 've been longing for a vintage type-writer, to tap out all of my most ardent thoughts (this one, at threepotatofour, particularly caught my eye).  

What a sweet surprise tonight, then, to receive a Hermes 3000 typewriter, rummaged from the very back corner of my grandparents basement (in the ping-pong room, to boot!).  Circa 1958, it is the very same machine on which my grandpa typed each and every university paper in the late 50s.  I think it's marvellous!

anthem

Ring the bells that still can ring 

Forget your perfect offering 

There is a crack in everything 

That's how the light gets in. 

- Leonard Cohen, Anthem

learning to love you more (assignment no. 42)

5 events from1984:

1.   Eating popsicles on the porch with Mom on a sundrenched august afternoon.

2.   Getting my first pair of (really big!) glasses and actually seeing stuff.

3.   Dancing to Beach Boys songs in the living room with Jeff.

     4.   Wandering onto the kill floor of a local butcher, and seeing a live cow hanging upside down from a hook in the ceiling by its tail.

     5.  Asking Jesus to 'come into my heart' on the brown couch with Dad, after asking him how someone could fit inside there.

 

01/08 (a year of playlists)

With a perfect blend of the old and the new, dance-y beats and enough repetition of my most-favourite artists to be warm and familar, this is everything a New Year's Eve mix should be.

1. The New Year - Death Cab for Cutie

2. Gatekeeper - Feist (One Room One Hour mix)

3.  The Eraser - Thom Yorke

4. Under the Blacklight - Rilo Kiley

5. Ageless Beauty - Stars

6.  Today - Smashing Pumpkins

7. (This is for) The Better Days - The Bees

8.  Past in Present - Feist

9.  D.A.N.C.E. - Justice

10. 12:51 - The Strokes

11.  Middlenight - The Sea and Cake

12.  No More - Julie Doiron

13.  Citizens of Tomorrow - Tokyo Police Club

14.  We're All In This Together - Ben Lee

15.  Lithium - Polyphonic Spree

16.  Black Ice (Hymn for Disco) - Kos

17.  Rise Up With Fists!! - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins

18.  Easy/Lucky/Free - Bright Eyes

19.  There's Still Time (To Turn It Around) - Robert Watt

20.  Try Again - Keane

21. Give A Little Love - Rilo Kiley

First Play: New Year's eve party at my house!  Dec. 31/Jan. 1

learning to love you more (assignment no. 27)

My first assignment for Learning to Love You More, taken haphazardly through my car window while driving East over the Port Mann bridge, halfway through my soul-crushing commute home from work.  I like the scratches on the window in the foreground, and just a hint of the Fraser River below.

I'm rightly intrigued by this work of Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher, the authors of this artistic endeavour for and by the masses.  Haven't I been saying this for years?  Everyone is an artist!  His creative spark is in us all.  Sometimes all we need is a little direction!

you are beautiful

I like everything about this project:

[Your beauty was perfected because of My splendor which I bestowed on you.  Ezekiel 16:14]

the marriage pact

tonight you'll sing your songs in front of

all the people

and i'll smile at you from the back

of the room

and i'll sing along softly

thinking

of you and me

when i was a bride

and you a groom

what if we saw the same things?

oh, the songs we'd sing

if you knew the bright that he brings

wouldn't that change 

everything?

so tonight you'll sing your words

painting pictures

of destruction

of a boy's life

and i'll listen wistfully

thinking

that girl could be me

except i've gone and done

what's right

what if we saw the same things?

oh, the songs we'd sing

and if you knew the bright he brings

that would change

everything

We add up

My favourite shirt on www.weaddup.com says: 

Eat less meat.  

No one can do everything.  

Everyone can do something.  

It pretty much sums up my favourite response to all the haters out there, who go into attack-and-kill mode at the mere mention of the dreaded v-word (vegetarian!).

But what I really love about the site is its inclusive, strength-in-numbers, hipster-global-community, we-can-do-it vibe.  As Ben Lee so aptly sings it, "We're all in this together!"

Colossians 3:1-4

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, 

set your hearts on things above, 

where Christ is seated 

at the right hand of God. 

Set your minds on things above, 

not on earthly things. 

For you died,

           and your life is now hidden 

with Christ in God. 

When Christ, 

who is your life, 

appears, 

then you also will appear with him in glory.