Zoomtard

2009 was the best Zoomtard year for movies yet. Starting with the truly abysmal The Spirit and ending with the luminous Ostrov, all in all, I managed to see 137 movies.

With broken arms for January and an actual television we just purchased, 2010 will see me top 150.
The Spirit (0 stars)
Ché I (4 stars)
Yes [...]

As a functionally tone-deaf man who can play no instrument beyond the human desire for sentimentality, Zoomtard is the ideal person to come to if you want to sum up the year in music.
That you’re still here obviously means that you’d love me to do this. Well, in that case, the three best albums are:
Mumford [...]

So on the Sunday before Christmas, Zoomtard didn’t have to go to church in the morning because he was preaching that evening. Feeling a need to somehow punish himself, as his habit on Sunday mornings, he decided to go for a pre-dawn run (on the second-shortest day of the year it means that you can [...]

On the eve of Christ-mass, we’ll get all fancy, pretend to be classier than we really are, drink expensive port and… read some poetry.
Advent Calendar
by Rowan Williams
He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.
He will come like [...]

As a Christian who regularly seeks out leadership training because I am convinced we need to be leaders if we are to reimagine the church in Ireland, I found this really interesting:
Leadership was built for 20th century economics. It’s a myth that leadership is a set of timeless skills. Is it? Abraham Zaleznik famously defined [...]

An excellent parody of the kind of blockbuster history documentaries that get made about early Christianity:
(HT: Scot McKnight)
It’s actually much wittier than that description.
Your Correspondent, Took out a full page ad in the trades to announce his arrival

Although I have over 600 items in my reader list waiting for my attention, I did manage to read some interesting things this week. Maybe you’ll enjoy them too:
This lovely looking but less than subtle ad has caused a lot of controversy in New Zealand.

Straying from possible blasphemy into certain blasphemy, David Keen unveils [...]

Wife-Unit and I intend to make a best-of mix cd of Christmas songs but wonder if you have any suggestions? While I am a huge Sufjan Stevens fan, some of his Christmas music misses the mark badly. Bob Dylan’s Christmas album is one of the weirdest things of the year. Tori Amos might [...]

Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick resigned this morning. In his resignation address he spoke of how he was leaving in part because he could cause distress to victims of abuse if he stayed. As I heard it, there was very little explicit talk of repentance (as against saying sorry) and no comment on the sense [...]

Because of some jokers getting married, I am going to be in Dallas and Austin in January. What should I do? Aside of course, from constantly dressing as JR Ewing?
Your Correspondent, Dun-dud-dun-duh-duh-duh-dun DALLAS!