Hey -my dad is building a plane right now and he's got lots of connections of other plane fanatics and pilots. Let me know if you're serious and I'll ask him.

Oh - and along Hwy 6 between Guelph and Hamilton there is like an airplane graveyard - lots of bits and pieces in some guy's backyard. Might be a good place too.

I'm known to have a potty mouth at times, so I'm not one to talk too much. It bothers me however when I read something that mocks Christians of earlier years by calling into question something which practically every generation was settled upon.

Maybe every generation of your family (or denomination) was settled on this issue. When we look beyond those (rather narrow) horizons, and explore the positions reflected by various Christians in various contexts at various points of history, we discover a much greater variety of perspectives (for example, everybody knows that Luther also had a 'potty mouth').

Peace out.

But when we broaden our horizons to consider the force of Christian testimony beyond that which comes from a single figure speaking in a few isolated circumstances and a handful of contemporary "exegetes" using totally novel modes of interpretation we discover that the issue is much clearer than some would have us believe. If you have a storehouse of quotes of figures from church history riddled with colourful language I'd like to see it.

Granted, this isn't the biggest issue of the day, not even by a long shot. But it is, thank God one of the clearest.

I must say that the first and third movie were pure cheese. The first one is simply a brilliant PR campaign by Tide to make people have warm fuzzy (pun intended) feelings when they see and smell their product. Their brand was everywhere! That's like donating money to the Cancer society...it makes you feel good but doesn't have a pro-active ending.

Yeah, and that last movie....moving?! Come on! That was staged sugary pop to make you think that there is such thing as a "frog-to-a-prince" or "a lump of coal to a diamond" scenario that happens on American Idol and that a record deal is the greatest thing to happen to a phone salesman...kind of like winning the lottery. And the song choice?!! What the fuck was that? They picked the most popular "opera" song that everyone is familiar with that has such a cheesy emotional theme and put his voice to it...of course everyone will be overwhelmed with emotion when they hear it. Did you see those camera shots already planned to zoom in on the people's faces and the judges "surprised" faces? This was a successful technique to get more people interested in this fake "loser to super star" show by showing that "grumpy dude, what's his name" can actually be wowed by a performer. I'm glad I never watch the stupid show otherwise I'd be a much angrier person.

Nothing personal of course Nathan. :-)

If you'll excuse me I'm going to go eat some dirt.

Dave

Tom,

Well at least we agree on a few things -- the issue at hand is not the biggest although it is rather clear and simple. Odd that we both find it so clear and yet come to such different conclusions.

I think that our contexts play a major role in that. You know, there's a whole wonderful world that lies beyond the Reformed tradition...

That said, I chose Luther because he's an easy example (i.e. well known for his potty mouth) and because I assumed he was somebody that you would respect. It doesn't take too much research to discover that many, many others weren't opposed to using a little vulgar language every now and again to make their points (think of the Church Fathers). You just have to be looking for it when you do your reading. You're a smart enough guy, I'm sure you can figure it out.

Dave.
The tide video, i don't disagree with you that its a good pr campaign, however, i'd like to think that there is SOMETHING good in someone who came up with an idea to use the weight of a big company to be able to do something for those in need. They get stuff clean and they had that to offer, so in that I think it's brilliant to see massive companies helping people for free with no expectation of something back...advertising techniques aside. If everyone advertised like this, I would bet the world would look different.

For the third video, i realize it was doctored up quite a bit, in fact, read the wikipedia article on him, he did take lessons and had performed before. However, there was something about the looks on the judges faces before he sang to after he sang, something about the change of heart when they heard him sing. And c'mon, i hate opera, but his voice was beautiful...you can't argue that. And as for the camera shots, that clip was doctored well after the show so yes you are right, doctored perfectly to get the right reactions to pull out a certain reaction out of the viewer.

i guess i'm just trying to look deeper on this one, not like i ever do this, cause if you posted these videos i probably would have written the same comment, and try and look past the medium in which we watched it through. Which again, i never do. Or maybe i'm just writing that now because i was tricked and you proved me wrong and i'm trying to justify it.

i'm glad though one of the videos 'moved' you, i'm hoping the silence of the second video meant you were moved to tears.

I posted the last video on my blog awhile back - it really inspired me. Whether it was doctored or filmed for Tv, whatever, it was still moving. Sometimes our cynicism can stop us from just appreciating a moment, without critiquing it judging it first.

Tide - A corporation is bound by the law to only make decisions that will increase profit for their shareholders. Therefore, I would assume that the return was an increase of sales by the exposure of the branded "do-gooders" everywhere. Otherwise, they broke the law and the tool that planned this whole thing got fired.

American Idol - I have a hard time believing that the looks on the judges faces before and after he sang were not instructed to a certain degree to enhance that whole experience. I really do not see (past my cynicism) how this is inspiring. It's like saying the WWE is inspiring.

Second video - I'm numb to it because I saw it once already....but of course moved to tears.