Fri - April 13, 2007

I know, I know, I know, I know...


I'm lame. I haven't updated this thing in forever. Frankly, I've been insanely busy with a senior thesis. I think I'll be replacing this site with a more professional one sometime in the not-too-distant future... depending on what happens this next year.

There's a strong possibility I'll be doing inner city service (not mentioning the group so I don't get hits based on their name) for a year... missions, you might say (getting the name yet?). In which case I'll probably wipe the site clean and blog about that, when I have the chance... which might be never.

The sun just came out in earnest for the first time in several days. I'm turning 22, but seem to have not a second to pause and enjoy much- I've got a thesis, 10 page research paper, 2 books (with 5 page papers each) and finals to deal with before May 12. Oy.

Prayers are appreciated, almost demanded :-P. Seeing Jars of Clay tonight, which if it's at all like the show at Messiah last semester, will be absolutely amazing. It's pretty awesome that my favorite band from way back somehow managed to catch a social justice bug, and it's pretty wonderful to hear world class musicians who really care about the world.

So, if you're hoping to hear from me and haven't, you should email me. I'm entirely too busy to fiddle with this thing very often. Seeya around...

Posted at 09:23 AM    

Mon - June 5, 2006

Jars Update


Finally, a real press release on Good Monsters is out, find it at jarchives.com.

The release quotes Dan extensively (perhaps because essential has no clue what's going on?):
“I was not sure how all of the experiences of the last few years would translate into music[....] There have been so many things to look at and describe. This record is part confessional, part euphoric love poem, part bitter divorce, and part benediction. It was born out of many experiences and conversations between addicts, failures, lovers, loners, believers, and beggars. And so the language of recovery and the honest discourse about our attempts to live apart from God and apart from each other is a theme. Engaging people who are doing the hard work of laying their lives open to others, and avoiding isolation, has allowed me to see that there is both immeasurable evil and unfathomable good mixing under my own skin and it is grace, mercy and freedom that allow me to not simply be a monster, but to be a good monster.”

The release also reports the album will be comprised of 11 new songs and a cover of All My Tears (Julie Miller). Guests include Kate York, Leigh Nash, and the African Children's Choir (wow).


In addition, FreshReleases.com recently posted an article containing a Jarchives message board post by Dan, regarding the lack of real nominations for Redemption Songs. Quite an impressive response, if you ask me.

More updates will come as they can. By late June, the single from Good Monsters, "Work" will be hitting radios, perhaps I'll find a way to get it.

Posted at 11:52 AM    

Sun - May 28, 2006

I'm baaaack; Jars of Clay News


So I've had a minor disruption in posts, thanks to some security issues at OneSite, where this site is hosted.

So there's some cool Jars of Clay news I thought I'd let you all in on: they're still alive. I've been watching Jars news, and there's a slow trickle of information about a new album-- but there is still an extreme lack of any official press releases. The band is coming out with an album called "Good Monsters" that they are releasing September 5. They're filming a music video that involves robots and monsters. More specifically, technicolor-bright fuzzy monsters, and robots that look a lot like crosses between an old-fashioned toaster and a cardboard box (but more of the latter).


(image copyright Billy Kingsley of The Tennessean)

The album sounds like it's going to be good stuff. Apparently the new single (titled the same as the upcoming album) rocks as hard (or harder) than Revolution did, and highlights the band's "rhythm section" (according to a Grand Rapids Press article on a recent jars show). The new album shows "harder edges" according to the Kalamazoo Gazette, and quotes Dan saying "this one is the most rock 'n' roll we get."

The intended message of the newer material is the most encouraging, though. The Tennessean did an article on the filming of the Good Monsters music video, and quotes the chorus of the new hit, "We are bored of all the things that we know; we are forms of all the things that we love. Do you know what you are?" Dan told The Tennessean that the song is about "maturing in a person's life, coming to grips with incredible good and incredible evil in the same body and being willing to share the bad parts and the good parts with others in the community."

So in other words, Jars of Clay is maturing just like real people, and are at least trying to do a good job of talking about real stuff. I can't wait. I take a long time to post updates, and so does essential records, but you're likely to find info on the new release and previews first at www.jarsofclay.com.

The summer is off to a good start, and hopefully I will have more useful tidbits for you all in the near future. Including a 640x480 digital projector made out of abandoned parts in the office I work in.

Posted at 02:20 AM    

Sat - February 25, 2006

.. Hitting the fan..


New York Times Article

If you may recall, during the 04 election campaign, Bush officials pushed churches to take sides in the political arena, and endorse a candidate. As it's coming out now, it appears democrats attempted to do the same thing, although less visibly. Some of these churches did end up essentially endorsing a candidate, and thanks to some whistle-blowers (and some organizations that seem to be all-whistle), they may be losing their tax exempt status this year.

It appears that some of the religious organizations facing questioning are getting it not for big "Vote Kerry" signs or pamphlets, but also for infractions like the content of a sermon being strongly one-sided. At this point I say something to the effect of "whoaaa now..."

At the first sight of this issue, especially since only Bush was involved, I was disgusted. How could a church in its right mind wholeheartedly endorse a presidential candidate, when any "bible believing" Christian should know that we should be in the world but not of the world. We're supposed to put our home in heaven, not in DC. If someone (as a mediocre Christian Rock band titled their CD) were to ask us "Take me to your leader," we should skip over finding directions to a ranch in Texas, and start talking about Jesus.

As a social/political event, what does this mean to the church? I'm certainly not okay with my pastor insisting we all vote for a republican. A democrat? Well, it would still bug me. But when it comes to critiquing politics from the pulpit, it seems like the IRS shouldn't be able to touch it. Does the separation of church and state give rights to the government to maintain that separation? I would hate to think that every time a preacher talks about one candidate as a fallible individual from the pulpit (or in today's terms, from the fresnel-spotlight lit stage) they would be forced to either mention the other candidates, or face federal taxes on behalf of their church. Not only is this a free speech problem-- but who says the pastor represents the motives of the church when he says something politically biased? And who owns the money that would be taxed? Many times, the legal body of a church is separated from those people who are responsible for its overall message.

The outcome of this is yet to be seen, obviously-- but we could have a very strange battle on our hands. My favorites, like Tony Campolo should be safe- he does a good job of yelling at both sides equally. Any preacher I'm prone to appreciate has a good sense of how to tear at both sides-- and any congregation I would like to be a part of would be at least slightly politically mixed. I sure would love it if Mr. Falwell ended up with a big IRS bill after all of the embarrassing comments he made on the unwilling behalf of Christianity... but this is getting dangerous.

Thoughts? Candidates for who the most-taxed preacher in America aught to be? Stories? Comment, dangit!

Posted at 01:34 PM    

Sun - January 15, 2006

I'm baaaaack


Yes indeed, I'm back from a one month break from blogging, and will soon return to procrastinating and not adding any new posts instead. The menu for this semester:

Sociology of Religion with Dr. Monteiro
Socialization and Group Relations with Mtika
The Power Politics and Ethics of Oil with Dr. Clementi
Capstone: Love with Dr. Bouldin (it's not as cheesy as it sounds, I promise)
Accelerated Elementary Spanish with Ramirez (maybe I'll learn something this time)

Assuming my books get here on time, I should have a good semester. You'll be seeing course material show up in my rants soon enough, and in the mean time, be thankful :-P. More to come soon....

Posted at 07:27 PM    

Mon - December 12, 2005

Cheap Stuff!


So you've all been complaining about how expensive everything on the shop is. I can't do much about the price of bags and shirts, SO I've introduced some new items, some of which are CHEAP. Yes, there's even something you can get for 5 bucks. What is it? Find out by going to the shop! Stocking stuffers are here, along with some great looking new bags. Check out the shop! Go Now! Buy stuff! You might even consider getting someone else something. Really, it's worth a thought.

Posted at 02:20 PM    

Thu - December 8, 2005

Updated Shirts, What I've been up to


Well, it's that time of the semester. One last 10 page paper, and it's got to be done tonight.

I'm pulling a couple of the more odd items off of my store in order to make it marketable to a more *sophisticated* audience (not that you guys aren't the most sophisticated people in the world... hehe...). So if there's an item you wanted that is no longer there, have no fear- they're not deleted, just hidden for the time being. Fire an email my way and I can make them reappear for you. And for the record, if you want anything in a different color combination than you see, let me know and I'll make it custom for you, and I promise the same price (unless you want metallic inks). Enjoy finals, everyone.

Posted at 11:02 PM    

Mon - November 21, 2005

Sorry for the mess


So the inevitable has happened. OneSite (my host) has officially ruined our fun. The banner at the top is not my doing, and it's about 10x worse than the original one when I signed up for this domain.

What am I doing about it? Well, I just sent an i-rate email to the customer service department. Among my complaints about the changes to the layout of my page is the fact that I can not find out how to purchase hosting so they'll take the banner away. Yes, geniuses that they are, they can't make it easy for me to GIVE THEM MONEY, in order to increase clicks on the banners. I'm looking into moving. Unfortunately that requires spending money on purchasing this domain, and then finding another host for it.

What can you do? Buy shirts, or give me money. The amount of money I get to help me move will, I promise, determine how much of this site is what you guys want, and how much of it is me ranting. Got something you want to put online? send a couple bucks my way, and I'll get a real host. If you want, find a way to yell at OneSite through their website. Mind you it took me about 10 minutes to find a way to contact customer service with their new site, so it might not be worth your time

Again, I'm sorry. I promise I will do my best to make your experience browsing my site unlike looking at a racecar or staring at a billboard.

Posted at 01:31 AM    

Sat - November 12, 2005

Welcome to my humble abode...


So... I just posted an image on Fark.com that people seem to have liked- and there are about a billion people now coming here this afternoon. Welcome, feel free to look around (or not), and feel free to check out t-shirts and such. Yay for spreadshirt. Comments are okay- if I don't like what you say, I'll just delete them. Thanks for the hits- I'm now over 1k unique visitors since the launch day...

Posted at 05:26 PM    

Thu - October 27, 2005

No more cat lady!


I'm pretty sure all americans can celebrate today, it is a good day... republican, democrat, and decidedly cynical alike (I'm probably in the last category) are all happy to herald the news- Harriet Miers will not be a supreme court justice. Miers herself is almost certainly just as pleased with the end to this process, and boy is it a sigh of relief. It's not that she's a bad person (though she could be), it's that she was gravely lacking of all the things that are supposed to excite us about supreme court justices. In a society that hates that blabber mouth and book-worm, we are proud to stick precariously over-read and overqualified people on the supreme court. Harriet was not one of these. So cheers to the system for weeding this one out, and hey- maybe this will come out as a plus for Ms. Miers- maybe all these photos of her and mention of her credentials will get her a teaching position... or a husband? Who cares... at least it's not her. Now, how will the White House do the damage with their next nominee?

Posted at 02:06 PM    

Wed - October 26, 2005

I passed!


"***You Passed 8th Grade Math***



Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!


Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?
http://www.blogthings.com/couldyoupasseighthgrademathquiz/"

Sorry, folks, I had to. And yes, I did it all in my head, and I didn't use my fingers either.

Posted at 06:47 PM    

Mon - October 24, 2005

Facelift, and more!


Well, it was about time for me to Re-organize things a little bit. I made a whopping 25 cents off of people clicking on google's ads (the ones I added, not my internet host), and I decided that wasn't enough to keep cluttering the page. Not enough of you are looking at my t-shirts and other (expensive, I know) items. I wish I could make the stuff cheaper, but it just doesn't get done on demand for less! I've added a new shirt, which I hope you will all buy RIGHT AWAY, and the link to it is now in the upper right hand corner of the page. Cool, huh? This image should change about every week, now. More content is on its way, but for now, enjoy the re-organization.

Posted at 12:33 PM    

Tue - October 11, 2005

Made for this blog


Today's news link is quite possibly the most appropriate and Drew-oriented story ever written.
It involves drunk republicans making fools of themselves. And the sheriff involved? Well, we (more or less) share a name. It's even from a San Francisco bay-area newspaper. Enjoy.

Posted at 09:52 PM    

Tue - October 4, 2005

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, Drew?


Well, lots and lots of class has been the main subject of my life lately. Not much time for rants or random link-giving. But alas, I survive.

To wet your liberal rant needs, I must say that the new supreme court nominee is... pathetic. Aren't there say.... about 10,000 more qualified people who will follow the republican party's every beck and call? At least they could get someone with judicial experience? I maybe alone here, but I don't think the supreme court is not in need of a spell checker. Will the democrats bend over and take it once again? We shall see. It seems pretty clear that as someone who has consistently given to pro-life organizations, has attended several meetings of said organizations, and is a member of a strictly pro-life church, she's got some vested interests. It's official: Bush has nominated the White House cat lady to a post at the supreme court. Ugh.

Posted at 06:43 PM    

Sun - September 11, 2005

Added! Photo Album!


So, I've got a small page of photos that I've taken. I have a whole lot more photos than these, but these are the few that I have in digital form that I am serious about. Enjoy

The Photos

Posted at 11:58 PM    

Wuzzat?

Foo Fighters! Weezer

Freshmen!, etc.

Robertson Followup

They're up

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