Now that my daughter has finished school, I’m hoping to carve out a little more time to read during the summer break. I’m staying up a little later and reading since I don’t have to get up quite as early to get her to school. So, here’s a list of what’s currently on my summer schedule.

First, the books I’m currently reading and hope to finish soon:

• Letters From A Skeptic : A Son Wrestles with His Father’s Questions about Christianity - Gregory Boyd
  I read Boyd’s The Myth Of A Christian Nation last year and really enjoyed it. This book is a collection of his correspondence with his father a number of years ago. His father was not a Christian and couldn’t fathom why anyone would buy into such nonsense. Over time, he asked a lot of questions, often pointed, and Boyd attempted to answer them for him. I’m maybe halfway through it right now, but it’s been very useful thus far.
• Hidden In Plain Sight : The Secret Of More - Mark Buchanan
  I’m just beginning this newest book by Mark Buchanan. The book is centered on the passage of II Peter 1:1–9. I’ve liked some of Buchanan’s earlier work - primarily his first book, Your God Is Too Safe. I have hope that this one will be good as well.

• Bald As I Wanna Be - Tony Kornheiser
  A little light reading - the second of three collections of Tony Kornheiser’s style columns in the Washington Post, this one published in 1997. I’ve read the other two books of his, both of which were hilarious, and this one is as well. I’ve been a Kornheiser fan for years, be it on his own radio show or PTI or wherever he appears, and these books are a lot of fun.

So, if I can get around to finishing those, I’ll be looking at these next.

• The Evangelical Universalist - “Gregory MacDonald”
  This book written under a pseudonym, and I believe I read that it was by someone who would be well-known in evangelical circles (but I may be mistaken about that.) Nevertheless, the author seemed to want to avoid trouble by not using his/her real name (perhaps to save a job.) The author answers “yes” to the question “can an evangelical be a universalist?” and this book is his/her attempt to support that answer biblically. I’m looking forward to reading it.

• A New Kind Of Christian : A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey - Brian McLaren
  I’ve wanted to read McLaren’s trilogy that begins with this book for a few years now, but have yet to get to it. I “mooched” all three books last week and should be receiving them this week. I look forward to this journey as well.

• The Powers That Be : A Theology For A New Millennium - Walter Wink
  I’ve read a number of quotes from Wink in the recent past, and often they were from this book. I just received it yesterday and haven’t really even looked at it yet, but it’s focus on the issue of nonviolence is what interests me.

• Simply Christian : Why Christianity Makes Sense - N. T. Wright
  I’ve yet to read an N. T. Wright book, but I’ve read and heard so many positive things about this book. I started it a few months ago, but didn’t get far. I plan to start again this summer. I’ve heard it described as a Mere Christianity for our time.

• The Fire That Consumes : A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment - Edward Fudge
  Like the MacDonald book above, this book challenges a view I’ve always been taught: the view of an eternal, never-ending punishment of the wicked. I first read about the annihilationist view via Fudge’s “GracEmail” that I used to receive a number of years ago, and am anxious to read his case for annihilation in more detail.

• Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger : Moving from Affluence to Generosity - Ronald Sider
  Sider looks at poverty and hunger in the world, the causes behind them, and biblical steps we can take to impact the world for the better.

That’s it. That’s the list. I hope to finish these and more, and I suspect there’s also a fair chance I’ll not even finish all of these, but we’ll see. Any other suggestions?

Once college basketball season ends, the sports world is nearly non-existent for me until college football begins in the fall. Basically, I could not care less about professional baseball, so my summer sports viewing is pretty limited while I await the return of college football and the weekly blather of Fowler, Herbstreit and Corso.

I always watch some of the NBA playoffs, but there’s usually not much there. I’m already disinterested this year now that all of the decent series are over well before the finals. And, being a tennis fan, I will watch some of the French Open (which began yesterday) and Wimbledon. But that’s about it.

By the way, the French Open already has a big upset on the board - American Andy Roddick was sent home today by Russia’s Igor Andreev. (Although considering Roddick’s career record at the French is 4-7, maybe “big upset” is overstating it.) In related news, American men’s tennis continues to suck. How I long for the days of Connors and McEnroe, or Agassi and Sampras. Even Courier and Chang might be welcome considering the current state we’re in. But I digress.

This year, however, I did find one other interest. Duke lacrosse has been in the news a lot over the past year, although not for anything done of the field. So, being a huge Duke basketball fan, I decided to check out the Men’s Lacrosse Final Four this weekend on ESPN, where Duke was playing. They managed an amazing win over Cornell in the semifinals, where Cornell overcame a 10-3 Duke lead and tied the game at 11 with only :17 on the clock. However, Duke won the face-off and managed a game-winning goal with :03 left to advance to the finals. Unfortunately for them, in the championship game, they fell into the same hole Cornell had, falling behind Johns Hopkins 10-4 at the half, before finally losing 12-11. They played a great second half, but could not overcome their first half shortcomings.

These were actually the third and fourth lacrosse matches I’ve ever watched - all of them coming this year. I saw a bit of a Navy-Maryland matchup a couple of months ago, as well as Duke-Virginia shortly after that. It’s pretty much the same as watching soccer or ice hockey. I’d give hockey the nod when it comes to excitement, probably because of the speed of the game. But, I’d rather watch lacrosse than soccer, I believe. And the finish to the Duke-Cornell game was pretty exciting regardless of what sport it was. Here’s a video of the final minute-plus of that game:

How much lacrosse I watch in the future remains to be seen. It’s probably dependent on the new Durham D.A.

Always a laugh

Here’s a few recent headlines from my favorite satirical news source, The Onion:

• Modern-Day Martin Luther Nails 95 Comment Cards to IHOP Door
• LeBron James Struggles To Name One Cavalier Aside From Himself
• Brett Favre Demands Trade to 1996 Packers
• WNBA Apparently Giving It Another Shot

I love Letterman’s nightly “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.” Here’s a compilation.

Also, watched ZZ Top and Ozzy on the VH1 Rock Honors show last night. There’s not a decent video of his performance yet on youtube, but Ozzy sang his new single, which I really like. So, here’s a music video instead:

After the latest eMusic downloads and a couple of birthday gifts, here’s the latest list of what I’m listening to:

Noise From Words - Michael McDermott

Scott and Jason have already proclaimed this the album of the year. I’m not ready to mark it as my favorite of the year just yet, but it’s definitely one of the top two at the moment. I mentioned McDermott in my previous reviews and so I won’t say much more now except this: get this one now (you can download it here for only 8.99). You won’t regret it. There’s not a bad song on the disc. My favorite tracks at the moment include “Broken”, “I Shall Be Healed”, “Still Aint Over You Yet” and “All My Love.”

The Crane Wife - The Decemberists

After downloading one full album and a couple of EP’s from eMusic, I was fast becoming a big fan of indie pop/rock band The Decemberists. Then, I recently purchased their newest album, The Crane Wife, with some birthday cash I received, and really fell in love with them. They have some, well, interesting lyrics set to some really fantastic music. It’s easily their best and one of my favorites of the year as well. Like McDermott’s Noise, there’s not a bad song here. (This has been a great month - I’ve said that about at least three albums now.) My favorite tracks at the moment include “Yankee Bayonet”, “O Valencia!”, “The Island…” and “The Crane Wife parts 1 & 2.”

The Ringing Bell - Derek Webb

One thing that Webb has become known for is ruffling the feathers of most Christians who hear his music. He pulls no punches, and is sometimes likened to folks such as Rich Mullins and Keith Green. His lyrics provoke some to think more deeply about what living out their faith means. Other folks he makes uncomfortable. Still others he just pisses off. Regardless, this newest release is a bit shorter (at around 30 minutes) than his previous efforts, but is still powerful as always, this time focusing on peace. It’s also a little more pop/rock than his past work. My favorite tracks at the moment include “The End/The Very End”, “A Love That’s Stronger Than Our Fear”, “A Savior On Capitol Hill” and “This Too Shall Be Made Right.”

So Much More - Brett Dennen

As I mentioned before, I found Dennen’s voice a little strange when I first heard some clips of this album. However, the more I listened to it, the more it grew on me, and the more I loved this album. Dennen has been compared to Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, although it seems to me that it might be a little early for such comparisons. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful album, and if you are into folk-singer-songwriter type stuff, check this out. My favorite tracks at the moment include “Ain’t No Reason”, “Darlin’ Do Not Fear”, “I Asked When” and “The One You Love The Most”.

Nuclear Daydream - Joseph Arthur

I was checking out a friend’s blog last week and saw this album in his “music in current rotation” list. I wasn’t familiar with Joseph Arthur, but decided to check it out, along with the others in his list. I liked it a lot, and since it was available on eMusic, I went ahead and downloaded it, and I’m glad I did. I’ve seen him described as indie pop, singer-songwriter, rock, and a couple of others, so I don’t know exactly how he should categorized. Seems to me it’s a little bit of several genres. All I know is that this album gets better every time I listen to it. My favorite tracks at the moment include “Don’t Tell Your Eyes”, “Slide Away”, “Black Lexus” and “Enough To Get Away.”

That’s it for now. I’ve left a few out (Spoon, Jeff Black, Sufjan Stevens, The White Stripes), but will try to get to those later.

In a related note, it appears Derek Webb is returning to Caedmon’s Call, or at least he has for their next album and tour.

somebody turned around and shouted…

Watching the local news tonight, I found that new evidence is being examined in the case of the West Memphis Three. Investigators were at the state crime lab today examining DNA evidence that could potentially lead to a new trial.

If you’re not familiar with the case, three eight year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, were found murdered in a wooded area near their homes in May of 1993. Shortly thereafter, three teenagers - Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley - were arrested and charged with the crime, and later convicted and sent to prison. Baldwin and Misskelley received life, while Echols received the death penalty.

I’ve believed for a long time now that these three were innocent, as have many others. There was almost no legitimate evidence that pointed to these boys, and there were huge holes in the prosecutions case. And from everything I’ve read and seen, the WMPD appeared to be borderline incompetent. What it came down to, in my opinion, is that this was clearly a heinous crime and the people of West Memphis rightfully wanted justice, not to mention wanting those responsible off the street where they might do this again. With few leads and little hope of finding the killer(s) quickly, the WMPD targeted three disadvantaged kids who were different (all three were from poor trailer-park famililes, Misskelley was mentally challenged, and Echols wore “goth” style clothing at the time and showed an interest in Wicca). The police and prosecutors painted the suspects as “devil worshipers” and created a “satanic panic”, and coming from poor families, they didn’t have the best of representation. With these things working against them, they were convicted the following year.

Two very good documentaries from HBO were aired in the mid- and late-90’s. The Paradise Lost documentaries alone made me question how this could have happened (regardless of their guilt or innocence) and called into serious question their guilt in the first place. Mara Leveritt’s very detailed book Devil’s Knot later convinced me that not only was the investigation, arrest and subsequent trial horribly executed, it also convinced me that these kids were very likely innocent of the crime altogether.

I could be wrong, and they very well could have been involved, despite how unlikely it seems. Regardless, if the DNA evidence gives them a new trial, I hope all involved are significantly more competent than they were 14 years ago. At least one thing is certain - with the help of their supporters at WM3.org, they will at least have some decent lawyers this time around, and that can only help their case.

Jason posted this exercise in Google usage the other day over on his site, urging others to try it out as well. So, since I’ve got nothing better to post today, I’ll give it a shot. The rules are as follows: using Google images, search for the answer to each question, and use the first image in the search results. Here’s what came from mine:

	City Where I Was Born I was born in Wynne, Arkansas, in 1967. As you can see, it’s located in eastern Arkansas. Since I was only two when we left, I have few memories of actually living there.
	City I Grew Up In (Place I Consider “Home”) My family moved to McCrory, Arkansas, around the beginning of 1970. My parents remained there until after I had left home, so it’s really my hometown. It’s about 25 miles west of Wynne.
	City Where I Currently Live Little Rock, Arkansas. This is my second time living in Little Rock, having also lived here from 1992-2001. We returned in 2005, and hopefully, are here to stay.
	My First & Last Name Since “Gregory” is my middle name, I used my actual first name in the search. I have no idea who these people are, though. I do know that none of them are me.
	My Grandmother’s Name And, of course, this is not my grandmother. It appears to be major leaguer Prince Fielder instead. I should note that he played for the Huntsville Stars for a while during the time I lived there. And, not being a baseball fan, that’s pretty much all I know about him.
	My Favorite Food I didn’t go for a specific food item, but my favorite cuisine. I think the image makes my answer pretty clear. My favorite Mexican (or Tex-Mex) type restaurant would probably be Rosie’s Mexican Cantina in Huntsville. I really miss Rosie’s.
	My Favorite Drink Is there any other?
	My Favorite Song As one who has always listened to a lot of music over forty years, I found it very difficult to come up with just one favorite song. Instead, I picked my favorite song from my favorite band: “2 Minutes To Midnight” by Iron Maiden.
	A Place You Have Lived Huntsville, Alabama (2001-2005). Despite living there for nearly four years, I never actually visited the Space and Rocket Center. That’s really ridiculous.
	Place You Have Worked Acxiom Corporation, Conway & Little Rock, Arkansas. This is where I worked last time I lived in Little Rock. The stock price was lower when I left.
	A Place I’d Like To Visit I’ve wanted to visit Sydney, Australia, ever since my high school girlfriend’s family went on a mission trip to Australia in the mid-80’s. However, after watching Lost for three seasons now, I’d be a bit more apprehensive about the return flight.

Well, there you have it.

We have Christian TV, Christian music, Christian bookstores, Christian clothing, Christian candy (i.e. ‘Testamints‘), and many other things that are often ridiculous and even offensive. American Christians continue to isolate themselves from those who supposedly need to hear our message. I’ve come across a couple of new examples recently that I was not aware existed.

A month or so ago I found something called ShoutLife which is, evidently, a “Christian Facebook.” Now, there’s also GodTube - the “Christian YouTube.” Part of it’s mission appears to be to provide a venue for Christians to post evangelistic video messages (where they’ll most likely be seen only by other Christians.) Aren’t the odds of your target audience viewing it much better on, I don’t know, maybe YouTube?

Whatever idea comes along, you can always count on someone to create a “Christian” (and often, lesser quality) version of it.

If only Congress were more like the Taiwanese parliament. Just think of the ratings C-SPAN would pull in.

Okay, so my eMusic downloads refresh in two days, so I’m trying to make decisions on what my next downloads will be. I’ll have 75 downloads available. I recently posted some mini-reviews, and what I download next will probably be in my next review post. So, here’s a breakdown as of now:

Definite

• 2 - The Jelly Jam
  More from Ty Tabor. I’ve seen a few albums disappear from eMusic over time. I want to make sure I get this in case it is no longer available someday as well.
• Tin Lily - Jeff Black
  Scott recommended this to me a few months ago, and I’ve kept it on my list of possibilities. I’ve decided it’s time.
• Seven Swans - Sufjan Stevens
  I got Stevens’ Christmas set last December, which is the only music of his I have. Now, I’m ready for more, as eMusic downloads allow. This will be the first one.

Probable

• A Blessing and a Curse - Drive-By Truckers
  I believe I first heard of them via a mention by Matt a while back. I’ve continued to keep it on my list, and it’s continued to grow on me. This is almost a definite.
• Achilles’ Heel - Pedro the Lion
  I remember reading a music website regularly a number of years ago that always went on and on about PTL, but I’ve never heard much of it. I came across this one recently and decided to check it out. I’m leaning towards it for this month as well.

Still considering

• Gimme Fiction - Spoon
  Spoon is another one of those I just came across on eMusic (as I did Elbow, which I mentioned recently.) I later found that this was on a few “best albums of 2005″ lists. I’m still undecided for now, though.
• So Much More - Brett Dennen
  This was on Scott’s year-end list last year, from which I’ve found several great discs so far. He kind of sounds like a chick, which threw me off at first, but every time I listen to the clips (as well as some full songs on YouTube), I like it a little bit more.

And there’s probably at least another 30 artists/albums in my list. I’ll probably get a few “singles” as well. But as for full albums, these are the top contenders (at the moment) for this upcoming round.

Anyone have any other suggestions?