Charles Templeton died today. You might not know who he is, but in the 1940s, he was a very well-known evangelist and a close friend of Billy Graham. Eventually he went on to become a respected journalist and writer here in Canada. What happened to the evangelist? Well, he lost his faith. He even wrote a book a few years back called “Farewell to God.” I picked it up and found his reasons for rejecting Christianity a little bit silly, to be honest, but the man certainly must have gone through a lot of personal turmoil to come to his decision of unbelief. Ironically, if Charles Templeton still exists somewhere, he knows more than he ever did about God.
Author: James McNally
Replicas
A few months ago, I mentioned my fondness for the droning/robotic music of the late 70s/early 80s. One of my favourite albums from that period is Gary Numan’s “Replicas.” The pre-“Cars” Numan always had a good mix of guitars to go along with the synths. “Replicas” really holds together well as a complete album, mainly due to the consistent imagery of a future filled with aliens and robots. It’s also an album with a lot of gay imagery, although I didn’t know that when I was 15. Any album which uses the word “boy” and “boys” that much in the lyrics should have tipped me off. Numan uses the alien/robot imagery as a good metaphor for difference in general, and his homosexuality in particular, feeling like an outsider, and responding by turning off emotions. It’s a powerful statement to an adolescent, who’s feeling awkward and powerless, to imagine himself as a machine. My friend Brent actually tells me he used to wonder quite seriously if he were a robot. I can’t wait to see A.I. with him.
Dumb Politicians
Alas, we here in Canada also have dumb politicians. (via textism)
ZELDMAN CONTEST!
A few weeks ago, I asked for and received a review copy of Jeffrey Zeldman’s fine book, Taking Your Talent to the Web: A Guide for the Transitioning Designer. My rationalization was that if I was indeed able to sell the review, Jeffrey would sell more books than my simply paying for one. The review is written and is making the rounds. Look for it here in a short while (pssst! Brand new section coming soon, with all my recent writing).
The twist? Today I just received another review copy of the book. So I’m using the happy accident to run a contest. Since the shipping will probably cost me $10, I’m hoping to get good mileage out of this. So here are the rules for the Zeldman contest:
- Compose a Zeldman haiku and post it using the comments feature here
- Strict meter applies (5-7-5)
- Limericks, sonnets, villanelles also acceptable, but haiku preferred
- Your poem must conform to all Web Standards
- At least 10 entries must be received, therefore…
- If you have a site, you must link back to this post to be eligible to win (publicity is required for this to be fair)
- Zeldman, his family members, and employees of Zeldman Inc. are not eligible to participate
- Void where prohibited by law
- Contest closes when it begins to get lame
Please help spread the word!!!
NBA FINALS
The first game of the NBA Finals is tonight. It’s been a long playoff, especially for the Philadelphia 76’ers. Journalists everywhere are falling over themselves to crown the Lakers champions, and the only team ever to sweep every team in the playoffs. I’m disappointed. Because obviously, I’m a 76’ers fan. I won’t say I was always a fan. In fact, I only became a fan the day after they eliminated my Toronto Raptors. Watching every game in that series, I gained a grudging respect for their team. Already a big Iverson fan, I saw that the rest of the team were also scrappy, sometimes downright unpleasant players. But they were basketball players. They’ve played back to back 7 game series, and are hobbled by injuries. But in that greatest of sports clichés, this is a team with heart. The Lakers are a team of shoe salesmen, rappers, models, and wannabe actors. And they represent their city well. So do the 76’ers. Let’s hope that, even in today’s NBA, substance can kick style’s ass.