Tim Samoff // Weblog (old)

August 29, 2006

When all hope is gone...

The course of events this evening:

• Get an email from a friend’s friend who has a car for me—a free car.
• On the way home, drive by the free car’s location to check it out—like how the free car looks.
• Continuing the drive, call insurance company to make sure they take the stolen car off of the policy—so that we’re not charged.
• Get home to find letter from police saying that they’ve found stolen car—and it’s “drivable.”

And you’re tellin’ me that God doesn’t work in mysterious ways?

Informatio: Humor, Introspection, Life, Faith
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[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity: Chapter 6...

A short time ago, I was listening to our local public radio station. The host of the show was interviewing a bricolage artist who owns a shop not far from my home. This particular bricolage artist was gaining notariety for a couple of reasons. First, he had gotten a book published about the art of bricolage that was garnering considerable sales worldwide. Second, he had recently started a city-improvment campaign called, Tulips on Troost. The idea was that, over the next few years, this man—along with the help of other small business owners in the area—was going to attempt to plant one hundred thousand tulips along Troost Street, the street that his business resided.

This story, devoid of any religious inuendo of any kind, made my day, My heart was filled with a sense that humanity isn’t so bad after all. In fact, humanity actually did possess enough love to try to change their world. My faith, for a few minutes that day, had been restored.

Coincidentally, Chapter 6 in ”A Heretic's Guide to Eternity,” by Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor, is called, “Faith Remixed: The Fine Art of Bricolage.” In this chapter, Burke talks about displays of faith that aren’t quite orthodox. He also speaks of some of the things that the institutional church might do well in changing—or, at least, reexamining.

Informatio: Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Book Reviews, Culture, Faith
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August 27, 2006

"A Heretic's Guide to Eternity": Chapter 5...

I must apologize for the long delay in this next chapter review. It was a busy week. Aside from that, Chapter 5 of ”A Heretic's Guide to Eternity,” by Spencer Burke, is a pretty long one, chalk full of things I’d like to quote. Needless to say, I can’t quote everything, so I’ll try my best to give a good overview of the concepts held within.

Chapter 4 continues on the theme of grace and is called, “Grace Held Hostage.” But, as it turns out, according to Burke, grace is not the only aspect of today’s Christianity that is being “held hostage”—according to Burke, any number of faith-related subjects have been twisted and redefined by the institutional side of the church in order that the church retain its stake on religious authority.

Informatio: Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Culture, Faith
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August 23, 2006

E85 video...

I just found a great video series about E85 (an alternative fuel consisting of 85% ethanol) on YouTube.com. As you might know, I’ve written about E85 a few times before. This video documents a guy named Tim Molloy as he drove from Los Angeles to New York, not veering too far off of the “standard” route, while attempting to use as much E85 as possible.

It’s definitely worth your time. View it here.

Informatio: Linkage, Film
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My conservative readers (and my parents) are just going to love this one...

A short time ago, I was interviewed for a US-based national gay/lesbian magazine called The Advocate. I’m assuming that I was found via my Weblog and some of the stances I take on various issues here. The article is about boycotts that are sponsored by large corporations towards the gay community—and how they are widely ineffective. I’m the token “straight Christian who doesn’t pay attention to the Religious Right.”

Informatio: Linkage, Politics, Culture, Faith
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August 22, 2006

Scratch & Sharp

Scratch & Sharp are two early short animations that I’ve had online before. They didn’t used to have soundtracks, but now they do. You can view them on YouTube here and here.

Informatio: Art, Linkage, Film
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Acetones

I uploaded another (very) experimental animation to YouTube. It was created by applying acetone to color-treated 35mm film. More info can be found on the video page here.

Informatio: Art, Linkage, Film
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[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity: Chapter 4...

Spencer Burke’s latest book, ”A Heretic's Guide to Eternity,” is divided into three sections: “Questioning Grace: The Future of Faith,” “Questioning What We Know: New Horizons of Faith,” and, “Living in Grace: Mystical Responsibility.” Each section contains three chapters and an interlude.

Chapter 4, “The End of the World As We Know It,” begins Section 2 and starts with a humorous, yet revealing revelation about the future of the institutional church.

Informatio: Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Book Reviews, Culture, Faith
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August 21, 2006

[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity: Chapter 3...

Chapter 3 of the book ”A Heretic's Guide to Eternity,” by Spencer Burke, is called, “Grace and the God Factor.” It is most likely the key chapter of the book, dealing with a subject (God’s grace) that is brought up throughout Burke’s entire treatise.

Informatio: Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Book Reviews, Culture, Faith
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August 18, 2006

Duty

Duty is one of my more “narrative” animated films — and one of my laziest. See it here at YouTube.com.

The music was done by a guy named, Saitone using only a Nanoloop.

Informatio: Art, Linkage, Music, Film
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Metamorphosis

I’ve uploaded another experimental stop-motion film to YouTube.com. It’s called Metamorphosis (produced in late 2000). View it here.

This one is much short than Extended Spaces and maybe a little more palatable for the general public — partly because of the Kaki King song, “Yellowcake” (which, by the way, Kaki’s managment company, Velour Music Group, was kind enough to give me permission to use).

Informatio: Art, Linkage, Music, Film
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August 17, 2006

Get Lamp

Yes!

(And, yes, I know I’m a geek.)

Informatio: Fun, Games, Linkage, Computing, Culture, Film
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"A Heretic's Guide to Eternity": Chapter 2...

Before I get into Chapter 2, I’d like to mention that the discussion forum for “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity“ is now open. Pop on over to see what others are talking about.

Chapter 2 of “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity” is called “Grace Beyond Religion.” It gives an overview of what, exactly, religion is, as well as some examples of how our culture has manipulated religion — and our concept of grace — into our own “brand.”

Informatio: Theory and Philosophy, Culture, Faith
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August 16, 2006

Extended Spaces

I’ve just uploaded a film called Extended Spaces to YouTube. View it here.

It was produced in late 2001. It’s just over 12-minutes long, so be prepared. Likewise, this film has gotten mixed reviews from different people with varying interests. If you like meandering surrealism, then this is probably perfect for you.

To put the film in context, it was projected onto a wall so that the chair in the film was life-sized.

Aside from me, four other filmmakers worked on this film, so stay tuned for the credits at the end. I was responsible for the editing and original music.

Informatio: Art, Linkage, Music, Film
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August 15, 2006

[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity: Chapter 1...

Despite my hurt finger (ahem) and a fairly busy schedule (wink), I thought I’d carve out some time to continue my blogging the latest Spencer Burke book, “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity.”

Informatio: Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Book Reviews, Culture, Faith
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August 14, 2006

Hurt, part 2...

It is a true sign of getting old when body parts (or parts of body parts) break for no good reason. I noticed this a few years back.

On Friday, I mentioned that I hurt my finger. It’s a funny story, really…

Informatio: Fun, Life
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Pilgrimage...

I’ve just posted photos from our weekend away with Jacob’s Well here.

Enjoy.

Informatio: Family, Fun, Life, Linkage, Photography, Faith, Trips and Adventures
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August 11, 2006

Hurt, part 1...

I was going to write more about “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity” today, but I stupidly hurt one of my typing fingers. There might be a few chapters on Monday.

This is where we’ll be this weekend (along with around 250 other from our church community).

See ya.

Informatio: Family, Fun, Life, Trips and Adventures
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August 09, 2006

[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity: Foreword & Introduction...

“A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity“ begins with a foreword by Brian McLaren. It’s succinct, honest, and even a little humorous.

Informatio: Theory and Philosophy, Book Reviews, Culture, Faith
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[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity

Thanks to Mike Morrell, one of the editors of TheOoze, I received a pre-release copy of the book, “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity,” by Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor today. The reason for this generosity (per se) is because I agreed to review the book on my Blog. This being the case, I’m sure there will be several others across the emerging church blogosphere doing much of the same thing in the days to come.

Informatio: Blogging, Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Book Reviews, Culture, Faith
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Creative Regression: A Frictional Prolepsis

I recently uploaded my CalArts thesis film to YouTube.

Informatio: Art, Linkage, Film
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August 08, 2006

Mac OS Forge...

Shiver me timbers, someone decided to get organized. If you’re a Mac geek like me, check out Mac OS Forge (running on WordPress, no less).

I’ve long-touted my love for Open Source software — if not much here, then elsewhere, believe me. It will be interesting to see what pops up on Mac OS Forge.

(Link via MacSlash.)

Informatio: Linkage, Computing
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Dude, is that my car?

No. It’s not… But it could have been!

Yesterday, while driving to work, I thought I saw my car sitting on the side of the highway. It was raining, and the traffic was moving pretty quickly, so I didn’t have a chance to pull over and inspect it.

Informatio: Life, Photography
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August 07, 2006

Blog lightly and carry a big...

This year is turning out to be a pretty light blogging year for me. I’m sure my son has a little to do with that. But, I also think I’ve been a little low on literary or theoretical ideas as of late. (I couldn’t tell you why that is.) Since January 1, I have written 57 Blog entries. In eight months, that comes out to be around 7 entries per month — or, roughly 2 entries per week. That hardly even qualifies me to call myself a blogger. Sorry about that regulars.

Informatio: Blogging, Introspection, Life, Flickr
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August 02, 2006

[Book Review] Dear Church: Letters From a Disillusioned Generation

Sarah Raymond Cunningham has just completed her first book, “Dear Church – Letters From a Disillusioned Generation.” I’m mentioning it, because I helped review the first six (or so) chapters for her. I also think it’s a pretty good (and important) book.

Here’s a blurb:

Informatio: Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Book Reviews, Faith
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August 01, 2006

A question...

Is this a product of the war, Mel Gibson, or am I just in high school again?

Informatio: Photography, Rants, Culture
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Flickr Colour Contest winners...

I’m not one of ‘em, but I sure had a lot of fun creating mine and getting all of the great comments and “favorites.” Go and check the winners out.

Informatio: Art, Design, Fun, Linkage, Flickr
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CSSDrive hacked...

It sucks to get hacked. I know.

Informatio: Blogging, Design, Linkage, Computing
Posted at 09:53 am | Permalink | Trackback | Comments (1)

New Emergent Village site...

I just saw the new Emergent Village site (although, it’s still a little ways away from going live).

Informatio: Design, Linkage, Theory and Philosophy, Faith
Posted at 09:02 am | Permalink | Trackback | Comments (1)