Contemporary Christian Culture

[sfortescue]

I found that doubling a bracket causes a single bracket to appear in the text literally.

[]

A while back I found that quote tags in doubled brackets need to be paired or the software will malfunction.  I don't know if this has been fixed in this latest version of the BB software.

[jesusfreak]

humm, interesting (and quite useful  )

--
lucas

[al Hartman]

Thanks, Fellers!

I have printed the info & will try later to figure out what it says & try to implement it.  If I succeed, I'll probably feel younger-- if not, I'll probably need Excedrin...

al

[summer007]

I forgot to add this ..I've found a Jewel I'll share ....Get Ready...Its 'The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan' --Gotta Serve Somebody...He does one with Mavis Stapels..Who raises the Roof...and if you want Heart-Stopping..Shirley Caesar does that in her rendition of You Gotta Serve Somebody. Then if you can handel it listen to Dottie Peoples do 'I Believe in You'...Theres more ...Sounds of Blackness,Chicago Mass Choir it goes on...Highly recommend it...Come, Let us reason Together/Jukebox. I think this one is up for a Grammy..I'll double check that ..Nite-All ..And have a Safe and Happy Martin Luther King Day!!!

[al Hartman]

     I've been meaning to ask:  Does anybody have an opinion about Thomas Kincaide, "painter of light?"
     When he first appeared on the scene several years ago, I was astounded at his talent in making light, in sheer brightness and with all the nuances of color, shade and shadow, appear on canvas.  It was uncanny and I was enthralled.
     He must be a multimillionaire by now, what with all the framed prints of his paintings, the giftshops full of verses and poems printed on plaques bearing his art, the book illustrations.  His impressions appear on dinnerware, accessories, you name it...  Several companies such as Lennox feature Kincaide creations on fine china collector plates and statuary.
     I don't begrudge him a cent of whatever gain he has made.  But it bothers me a bit the extremities of the market for his works.  For example, why would anyone want a 1/32 scale model semitractor-trailer rig with a Kincaide sunset painting printed on it?  Or an official baseball imprinted with one of his lighthouses against an evening sky?  The combinations just seem ludicrous...
     Your thoughts?

[mithrandir]

Al, I have an opinion on Kincaide.  I have seen his paintings and they don't do very much for me.  This is not to say that they are bad - it just means that where some people are vibrantly alive, I may be brain-dead.  Or, as Larry Niven (?) once said, "One man's cheese is another man's rotten milk."

But when it comes to the marketing of Kincaide, I fear that his artistic integrity (and perhaps to a lesser extent, his spiritual integrity) has become a victim of his own success.  It's obvious - Kincaide sells!  And his corporate handlers will pressure him to paint only those things that emulate his proven successes.  This is one reason why in my thinking, the most honest Christian art is done for free by men and women that are both truly spiritual, and highly trained.

And that reminds me of the most important thing I left out of my original post on this topic.  A Christian artist should be a man or woman of the Word.  He or she should be a theologian-in-training, always reading, letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within, that it may find artistic expression (see Colossians 3:16 for instance).  Even in fiction, poetry or lyrics, this depth of Scriptural understanding should be manifest.  Sadly, I don't see too much of this anymore in the stuff you can buy at a Contemporary Christian bookstore...

One last note.  I've been thinking about all of us on this bb, and we sure are a diverse, quirky, humorous lot.  I get a kick out of Lucas Sturnfield's picture of a cat-Earth eating a mouse-Moon.  And Scott, I finally found out who Ender Wiggin is...

mithrandir

[Oscar]

Al, I have an opinion on Kincaide.  I have seen his paintings and they don't do very much for me.  This is not to say that they are bad - it just means that where some people are vibrantly alive, I may be brain-dead.  Or, as Larry Niven (?) once said, "One man's cheese is another man's rotten milk."

But when it comes to the marketing of Kincaide, I fear that his artistic integrity (and perhaps to a lesser extent, his spiritual integrity) has become a victim of his own success.  It's obvious - Kincaide sells!  And his corporate handlers will pressure him to paint only those things that emulate his proven successes.  This is one reason why in my thinking, the most honest Christian art is done for free by men and women that are both truly spiritual, and highly trained.

And that reminds me of the most important thing I left out of my original post on this topic.  A Christian artist should be a man or woman of the Word.  He or she should be a theologian-in-training, always reading, letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within, that it may find artistic expression (see Colossians 3:16 for instance).  Even in fiction, poetry or lyrics, this depth of Scriptural understanding should be manifest.  Sadly, I don't see too much of this anymore in the stuff you can buy at a Contemporary Christian bookstore...

One last note.  I've been thinking about all of us on this bb, and we sure are a diverse, quirky, humorous lot.  I get a kick out of Lucas Sturnfield's picture of a cat-Earth eating a mouse-Moon.  And Scott, I finally found out who Ender Wiggin is...

mithrandir

Mith,

I agree with your ideas about Christian artists.

I like some of the Kincaide paintings because they have their intended effect on me.  The cozy little cottages, with their lighted, inviting windows calling out "home", "hearth", "warmth", produce the warm fuzzy feelings that he strives for.

However, when I take a rational look at his paintings, I think something like this:  This guy always places his cute little cottages next to streams, and they are always just a few feet above water level.  One good spring thaw or thunderstorm in the mounains in the background, and this place would look like Tujunga Canyon.

BTW, for anyone not familiar with the aforementioned canyon, it is an outlet for flash floods in the San Gabriel mountains near Los Angeles.  Dirt, rocks, broken trees, rusty smashed cars.

Thomas Maddux

[editor]

BTW, for anyone not familiar with the aforementioned canyon, it is an outlet for flash floods in the San Gabriel mountains near Los Angeles.  Dirt, rocks, broken trees, rusty smashed cars.

Thomas Maddux

Hi Tom,

I lived in La Crescenta (adjacent to Tujunga) for a while, and my wife is from La Canada (One city over from Tujunga).  

We looked down on Tujunga in scorn for reasons like the one you mentioned above.  However, did you know that there are many million/multi million dollar estates in the mountains above Tujunga?  Not only that, if you go uptream a ways, there is trout fishing, and if you go way upstream you enter into a rather prisitine wilderness area.

The wash is truly an amazing rock garden, with a number of used refrigerators, couches, various appliances and dented automobiles.  However, the canyon itself is nice.

Brent

[Mark Kisla]

You said the magic words and now I am compelled to go trout fishing this weekend.
Aint life grand?

[Scott McCumber]

You said the magic words and now I am compelled to go trout fishing this weekend.
Aint life grand?

So which one of you guys want to teach me how to trout fish?

I've got the bass, catfish, panfish, snook, shark, frog and crab down pat. Never been fly-fishing.

S

[editor]

You said the magic words and now I am compelled to go trout fishing this weekend.
Aint life grand?

So which one of you guys want to teach me how to trout fish?

I've got the bass, catfish, panfish, snook, shark, frog and crab down pat. Never been fly-fishing.

S

I'll take you anytime.  Wild trout can be caught within an hour's drive of my house.

Anyone who has ever fished with me has caught fish.  If you use bait I will push you into poison oak!  You must use a fly.  I don't care how many you lose in the trees, but if you fish with bait, or (gasp) a bobber    I will never take you fishing again.

Now, if YOU take ME fishing, you can fish whatever tomfool way you want!  However, we all know that fly-fishing is the proper way way to fish.

Brent

[Scott McCumber]

You said the magic words and now I am compelled to go trout fishing this weekend.
Aint life grand?

So which one of you guys want to teach me how to trout fish?

I've got the bass, catfish, panfish, snook, shark, frog and crab down pat. Never been fly-fishing.

S

I'll take you anytime.  Wild trout can be caught within an hour's drive of my house.

Anyone who has ever fished with me has caught fish.  If you use bait I will push you into poison oak!  You must use a fly.  I don't care how many you lose in the trees, but if you fish with bait, or (gasp) a bobber    I will never take you fishing again.

Now, if YOU take ME fishing, you can fish whatever tomfool way you want!  However, we all know that fly-fishing is the proper way way to fish.

Brent

If I take you, we'll be wading in the Embarrass (say: em-brah) about 2 am, sliding our arms under tree stumps trying to find a big ol' catfish! Then you slip your hand in their mouth and rassle 'em out.

Now that's fishin'!

Actually, it's called hogging and while I've been invited to try it several times, I've passed because I'm a big sissy girl! Too many dang water moccasins in those muddy rivers!

Scott

[editor]

You said the magic words and now I am compelled to go trout fishing this weekend.
Aint life grand?

So which one of you guys want to teach me how to trout fish?

I've got the bass, catfish, panfish, snook, shark, frog and crab down pat. Never been fly-fishing.

S

I'll take you anytime.  Wild trout can be caught within an hour's drive of my house.

Anyone who has ever fished with me has caught fish.  If you use bait I will push you into poison oak!  You must use a fly.  I don't care how many you lose in the trees, but if you fish with bait, or (gasp) a bobber    I will never take you fishing again.

Now, if YOU take ME fishing, you can fish whatever tomfool way you want!  However, we all know that fly-fishing is the proper way way to fish.

Brent

If I take you, we'll be wading in the Embarrass (say: em-brah) about 2 am, sliding our arms under tree stumps trying to find a big ol' catfish! Then you slip your hand in their mouth and rassle 'em out.

Now that's fishin'!

Actually, it's called hogging and while I've been invited to try it several times, I've passed because I'm a big sissy girl! Too many dang water moccasins in those muddy rivers!

Scott

Now that you mention it, I have heard of hoggin.  It does sound like a lot of fun, but it's not fishin....it's hogging.

Now,if we are talking ocean fishing, I have very little experience with large gamefish.  I tow a tuna lure on long sails,  and go lobster diving and spear fishing when at anchor, but I haven't even come close to catching a marlin.  THAT is fishing on another level altogether.

My fly fishing comments are strictly limited to fresh water.

BTW, what do you do with one of the catfish when you catch it?  Do you stand over it and taunt it, or does someone actually eat it?

Brent

[Scott McCumber]

You said the magic words and now I am compelled to go trout fishing this weekend.
Aint life grand?

So which one of you guys want to teach me how to trout fish?

I've got the bass, catfish, panfish, snook, shark, frog and crab down pat. Never been fly-fishing.

S

I'll take you anytime.  Wild trout can be caught within an hour's drive of my house.

Anyone who has ever fished with me has caught fish.  If you use bait I will push you into poison oak!  You must use a fly.  I don't care how many you lose in the trees, but if you fish with bait, or (gasp) a bobber    I will never take you fishing again.

Now, if YOU take ME fishing, you can fish whatever tomfool way you want!  However, we all know that fly-fishing is the proper way way to fish.

Brent

If I take you, we'll be wading in the Embarrass (say: em-brah) about 2 am, sliding our arms under tree stumps trying to find a big ol' catfish! Then you slip your hand in their mouth and rassle 'em out.

Now that's fishin'!

Actually, it's called hogging and while I've been invited to try it several times, I've passed because I'm a big sissy girl! Too many dang water moccasins in those muddy rivers!

Scott

Now that you mention it, I have heard of hoggin.  It does sound like a lot of fun, but it's not fishin....it's hogging.

Now,if we are talking ocean fishing, I have very little experience with large gamefish.  I tow a tuna lure on long sails,  and go lobster diving and spear fishing when at anchor, but I haven't even come close to catching a marlin.  THAT is fishing on another level altogether.

My fly fishing comments are strictly limited to fresh water.

BTW, what do you do with one of the catfish when you catch it?  Do you stand over it and taunt it, or does someone actually eat it?

Brent

If you're talking about hogging and catching cat, it's more of a taunting thing. Some of those suckers are over 20 pounds. Mean critters but not good eatin'.

However, if you're talking about straight catfishing you're eating good from about 1 to 3 pounds.

I'd like to do some spearfishing (it's really big around here) but the first time I ever went out with a tank I blew out my ear. Took about six months to heal.

Definitely want to learn to cast a fly, though.

S

[Nancy Newswander]

When I was very young, my dad would take me and my brothers fishing on the Mississippi River - those are some great memories.  I used to catch Blue Gills with my bamboo pole and a red and white bobber.  I loved squishing the worms onto the hook and watching them wiggle.

Yep, good times in the Midwest.

And Brent, there's nothin' like breaded, fried catfish!