I'm a Lumberjack and I'm okay!

Have you ever had one of those songs stuck in your head? You know the ones I'm talking about that have two or three catchy lines that repeat themselves ad nauseam until you feel ready to gouge your eyes out with hot pokers and pour lemon juice in the wounds? These are the songs that the artist make knowing full we'll they'll hate the song years later but that it will make them a ton of money in the short run. The songs that your 10-13 year old niece will scream at an ear shattering decibel when it comes on the radio. The most excellent example of this unmitigated evil is of course that diabolical anthem of hate known as "Mmmm Bop". Hansen of course being the triad of evil spawned from the lowest depths of hell to prepare the way for the Anti-Christ herself Hannah Montana (who is the unholy offspring of Satan and Billy Ray Cyrus I'm pretty sure).

Typically, with the exception of C'mon Eilleen and ManaMana, I'm immune to these songs (except for the fact that the aforementioned mmm bop is currently on repeat shuffle in my head). So you can imagine my chagrin Saturday when Monty Python's "I'm a Lumberjack" started replaying itself over and over again in my head. I was left with only one real option...to be that lumberjack.

From Lumberjack

Seriously though cutting down two trees isn't as hard as I thought and not counting my callouses and blisters I have no major injuries. Although I was a bit concerned when one of the branches I was pulling came free and knocked me over, with it on top. I cut it into pieces though just so it knew who was boss.

From Lumberjack

Side note: For some reason I feel a bit bad about cutting down the trees. Granted we have 20 more in my backyard but I feel strangely wasteful.

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And I know you were thinking I must link to Monty Python's I'm a Lumberjack, but honestly how could I pass up Tina Fey's outstanding impersonation of Sarah Palin? I can't help but think what people around the world think of us.

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Name Them One By ONe

Today I am grateful for/that...

...I can wear glasses when I don't feel like putting my contacts in. Granted my glasses may not be as cute as Sarah Palin's, but I am not as creepy as her either so, I win.

...sick days. Not mine today, but Husband's so he didn't have to go to work when he's sick.

...Starbucks hot chocolate. On a chilly, rainy New York day, this was a great lunch.

...I still have three Harry Potter books to read. I put so much effort into finishing a book but when I'm done I feel sad to no longer be engrossed in a good read. Fortunately this series currently seems never ending to me. But what shall I read when it does end?

...the computer is far from the tv so while Husband watches the debate I can be on the computer, unaware of the mess that is happening in Mississippi. At least I think that's where it was. I was finishing the fourth Harry Potter when it started so my attentions were elsewhere.

...Babies and puppies. And a ton of photos on the hard drive. Here's one:

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Oh Canadia Part Deux

My favorite columnist from our college newspaper, just wrote a wonderful piece about our neighbors in the great white north. I thought I'd share it. Enjoy.

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Ode to Autumn

The hint of orange and red on the leaves, the cool breezes blowing through the open windows of the house, corn mazes, haunted houses, and the wonderful taste of apple cider donuts all indicate one thing. Summer is over and here comes nirvana.

I am a lover of Autumn and have been since my childhood. The only draw back I saw to autumn as a child was its unnerving to proximity to winter. Winter which meant as a lad, tramping through the snow with five gallon buckets of hot water to water the chickens/rabbits, tramping through the snow to feed the chickens and rabbits, tramping through the snow to give said chicken/rabbits fresh straw and hay to make it through the winter, tramping through the snow to help my dad drag wood down from the forest when we invariably ran out of wood, chopping the aforementioned wood, and of course tramping through the snow with the five gallon buckets of maple sap for syrup distilling....

Now I sound like my grandpa telling me about the depression...wow. Bet most of you can't relate to that.

That said now that the hole in the front of our house (carpenter ants again) is filled in this winter shouldn't be as cold as some of those from my childhood. (We had two plywood sheets up when the remnants of hurricane Gustav came through. Just trying to commiserate with our southern friends)

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Here's another cool video suggested by Ty. The line "lady-man-ladies" just cracked me up.

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I read the most boring books

Here's my latest book review. Yeah I know I read boring books. I prefer to think of it as reading a vast variety of boring books. I figure if I'm boring I might as well be boring about a lot of things.

Temple Themes in Christian Worship by Margaret Barker

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ah what can I say about Margaret Barker. She's one of my favorite feminist theologians. She's not as skeptical as Elaine Pagels or Bart Ehrman. She's not nearly as wordy as Karen Armstrong. Her world view is much more encompassing than some of the traditional conservative Christian thinkers I've read. I'd describe her theology as pan-christian.



She accepts, more than many, the validity of the non-canonical sources and the reality that what we have as "Christianity" today is merely the victor of the early Christian traditions. She also accepts that all scripture passed through human agents and was subject to human changes. If you have a problem with either of these assumptions than don't bother reading this book because these assumptions provide the paradigmatic backbone of this work.



In Temple Themes, Barker starts off with a bang. Going back to St. Basil and the 3rd Century C.E., she outlines how there were extra-canonical traditions within Christianity. These traditions derived largely, Barker contends, from 1st Temple worship. To show this connection then is Barker's main motivation.



She clearly outlines how the earliest Church Fathers expressed that such traditions existed and more importantly how they could or should not be wrote down. These were the traditions of the mystery worship, which she contends ultimately were the mysteries of the knowledge of God. Culling the non-canonical sources, Barker shows how elements of the pre-Josiah temple appear in places like the Epistle to the Hebrews, the writings of Clement, and the gnostic and Qumran texts. Pulling from the complete extant corpus Barker makes a compelling case that Christianity does not understand itself because it doesn't understand the Temple.



That said Barker runs into a problem that she doesn't readily admit. She is ultimately trying to prove the unknowable. Because Josiah purged the temple, destroyed the Tree of Wisdom, removed the anointing oil, and changed the priesthood, we have little documentary evidence to know what the first temple was and meant. What evidence we do have has come down through the generations in such a convoluted and corrupted form that we can only assume it's accuracy. This allows Barker to cherry pick quotes and traditions that support her argumentation but does not truly provide more than circumstantial evidence. That I tend to think she's right in her interpretation has more to do with my own religious beliefs than with the evidence she presents in this work.



That said, for those who are interested in speculative theology about the sources of Christian worship I highly recommend this work. It was entertaining, if a bit dense in parts. Further, if you've never read her works, Barker never shies from suggesting the most controversial things and this work does not disappoint in that regard. In the end this felt like the culmination of a lifetime of research and writing and was a highly worthwhile addition to my library.


View all my reviews.

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New Political Quiz

Yes I know we haven't posted in forever. Yes I know this really isn't a good quality post. Yes I know that I'm going to burn in hell for all time because of my results on this quiz. Yes I know that you know who I support for the presidency. But honestly if an internet quiz tells me I match up better with one candidate than the other, of course I should vote for him. I mean the internet told me too.

Should I Vote For For President: Obama or McCain?

You match up well with...

Barack Obama - 67 match While only having served in the United States Senate for about four years, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has electrified the presidential stage. Earlier this year, Obama defeated the much vaunted Clinton machine in the Democratic primaries, receiving 18 million votes, as Democratic voters flocked to the polls in record numbers. Unlike his opponent, Obama opposed the Iraq war from the start and is running his campaign on the theme of working together to fix the economy, provide affordable health care to all Americans, restoring the nation's moral authority on the world stage, and keeping the lobbyists and special interests out of the White House.

John McCain - 39 match As a Vietnam war veteran and someone who has a record of bi-partisan work on issues like campaign finance reform and immigration reform, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has often won praises for his willingness to buck his own party on issues. Unlike his opponent, McCain is a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, a social conservative who believes that the Supreme Court should overturn a woman's right to an abortion, and fiscal conservative who believes the Bush tax cuts should be made permanent and that corporate tax rates be further lowered.

Take the test.

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Babylon AD and other musings

So Husband and I have seen some movies lately. First we saw The Dark Knight which was especially good. I just saw Batman Begins a few months ago so I was excited to see this one in the theater. I'm sure that just about everyone else has seen this one already so I wont' go into details on that. But Husband was in charge of purchasing the popcorn pre movie while I saved seats, unnecessarily. He got the large. I was eating movie theater popcorn for three days. Mmmm...

But then we both had Friday off in honor of Husband's 31st birthday and we decided to see the new Vin Diesel movie, Babylon AD. Now, I am of the opinion that when a person sits down for a Vin Diesel movie they are promised a few things. A sort of contract with Vin and the movie company. There will be explosions and shootings and more likely than not a shirtless Vin Diesel. And this movie did not disappoint. They even threw in a Hummer v. Land Rover car chase which was just like icing on the Vin Diesel cake. But it was noticeably short on a complete plot. This was not too much of a let down because I do not watch Vin Diesel movies for the plot. But the movie was only an hour and a half long and I (who does not like sitting through movies) could have used another half an hour if it would have clarified the plot some. It was worth the matinee price we paid and when it comes on tv I will watch parts of it again, hoping that the plot is, if not better, then at least more complete. I cannot say it was either good or bad, rather it was just incomplete.

On another matter, this is the sign in front of one of the seedy motels down the street from our house. And to think that I have been going to the Econolodge all this time. La Yen, I think this may go along with Isabel's Papsmears.

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