October 12, 2007 by David Baer
It is at least curious and more likely significant that the apostle Paul lodges such a pragmatic exhortation in the framework of a theological reflection upon Christ’s intelligent, self-aware humiliation:
Do all things without murmuring and arguing.
Paul’s argument is rich with counter-cultural nuance. It stands on its head the accepted, prudent, self-evident consensus about getting one’s way, getting ahead. It asks out loud whether life as strife is really the truth it claims to be or, rather, the most self-limiting of lies. Continue Reading »
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October 12, 2007 by David Baer
It may be that only those who know their weakness can profit from a discourse on strength. It is plausible that only those who have stumbled badly, wilted under an unwavering sun, exhausted all illusion of self-empowerment can embrace the notion of divine sovereignty over their wretched, torn lives.
It may be that prophetic literature like the fortieth chapter of Isaiah reckons more clearly with such a paradox than ten thousand trucks full of self-help literature, enslaved as the latter is to the notion that we are capable meaningfully of rising up from the ditches into which life shoves us, with our consent or without it. Continue Reading »
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October 8, 2007 by David Baer
Though the move from exile to ‘consolation’ in the complex plot of the book called Isaiah is signaled in chapter 35, the door swings all the way open on its hinges in chapter 40. Continue Reading »
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October 7, 2007 by David Baer
Full product information for this item, together with my review, my rating of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.
If a reviewer titles his scribblings this way, this does not run against the tide of his admiration for this amazing duo. Rather, it nods in the direction of the deeply introspective tone of the lyrics of this album, prone as they are towards examining the unseemly part of the human heart, both those of the writers and of the flawed human beings they know. Continue Reading »
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October 7, 2007 by David Baer
Casablanca, one of the twentieth century’s great films, is memorialized here not so much by stirring film music as by the fact that you get the exquisite screenplay banter that still evokes grins at its genius on, say, the forty-second hearing.
I assume that technology did now allow the separation of Max Steiner’s score from the spoken witticisms that begin at the beginning and don’t end until the end of this fantastic movie. As a result, this ‘soundtrack’ is actually a trip through some of Casablanca’s finest moments, spoken and played. Continue Reading »
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October 7, 2007 by David Baer
The Assyrian emissary Rab-Shekah casts public doubt on all that Jerusalemites have learned to believe about themselves, their city, and their guardian deity. Moreover, he refuses to deliver his message in the dulcet tones of diplomatic Aramaic, choosing instead to stop the hearts of the common people on the wall by elaborating his terrifying ultimatum in the common Judahite dialect.
It is a moment when hearts shake like the leaves of wind-blown trees. Nervous glances are cast in the direction of the king’s palace and the prophet’s house. Continue Reading »
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October 6, 2007 by David Baer
Full product information for this item, together with my review, my rating of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.
She lives parallel lives. And even when she misses, she hits.
These are the thoughts that occur to this long-time Gloria fan upon close and repeated listenings to Into the Light. This 1991 release shows Gloria losing the girl-next-door sweetness and putting on some ‘tude. Some of it doesn’t work. Some of it does. Continue Reading »
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October 6, 2007 by David Baer
The language of the landscape rejoicing is particularly powerful because one normally thinks of the ground beneath our feet as a stage, not a performer. It is inert, the platform and the background of the interesting and significant activities of those who appear upon it. Continue Reading »
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October 6, 2007 by David Baer
My job makes sure that I spend lots and lots of time in my car. I need three things in order to make that a good thing: great music, good directions, and reliable hands-off phone service.
My 2004 Passat W8 has excellent sound but lacks built-in satellite radio. I’ve installed a Sirius receiver, a Magellan GPS, and a Parrot Bluetooth phone service. That adds up to some serious clutter and a spiderweb of cables. Continue Reading »
Posted in my hometown, paterfamilias, reseña | Tagged gadgets, reseña | Leave a Comment »
October 5, 2007 by David Baer
In the mid-1990s, the Times of London flogged a very cool disk-per-week club that was everything eclectic can mean. One of those CDs, betitled with formidable understatement simply Two Jazz Ladies, featured Ella and Billie, two African-American stage presences who set the bar on what it meant for a lady to sing the blues. Continue Reading »
Posted in reseña | Tagged Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, jazz, music, reseña, Sunday Times Music Collection | Leave a Comment »
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Canter Bridge 