limn

Following on from a little bit of McLuhan a while ago..

that week someone who i didn’t really know very well asked to meet me for coffee to chat. they knew nothing of the experience i was having. but one of the things they said has stuck with me since -

you don’t fit and that’s your gift

it reminds me of a marshall macluhan quote - the role of the artist is to create an anti-environment as a means of perception and adjustment.

(from the gift of not fitting in by jonny baker, italics mine)

my favourite propaganda so far… (ht)

There are few who can ingeniously slip in regae tragedy in the style of Madness (Diggin an Early Grave), a song ending with a pseudo-charismatic repetitive riff with a few “amens!” thrown in for good measure (Why Does Anybody Love), Music to Watch Pete Rollins Go By (Let me go.. please please please), and a track possibly co-composed with Mary Poppins (I never thought this day would come) end up at number 6 at the Irish album charts on their first week of release!

Duke Special, a fine addition to any musical Canon.

A little bit of an unusual gig last night.. Beth Rowley headlining in Oran Mor, supported earlier in the evening by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Both were exceptional.. two amazing voices!

some little scribbles from my notepad:

different questions | having the same “grammar” but different content/meaning, it’s at that point that the christian and muslim paths diverge

some tentativel thinking about kenotic (emptying) love as something that differs between christian and muslim understandings of love

misunderstandings of “law” - loads of christians still think have the impression that jewish law is the big oppressor (i.e. keeping in the vein faith in NT vs works in OT) and not “law as the heartbeat of the universe

+++rowan using “imagination” as a core christian role/value.. liked that

+++rowan clarifying some remarks he made about marx - he liked marx’s critique of humans giving life to systems, so much so that they seem like autonomous beings or insurmountable. They should be reclaimed.. brought back to human transactions and relationships - getting out of the market mythology

repeated use of “the market mythology” - not that fact that it’s pretend (that’s be the market myth maybe?) but that the market is a whole enveloping market story (or metanarrative if you like that kinda word..)

when talking about the recent atheist bus adverts in London he comments that God isn’t really needing marketing that much.. (in the sense that God is a product that needs a good bit of selling.) perhaps another little invasion of that market idea

I’ll try and add some correct quotations when/if the transcript appears here. (Some more coherent thoughts appearing from David and probably from Brodie)

we’ve only just moved in and then this happens…

One of the best (and funniest!) explanations of the credit crunch I’ve found…

It’s been about a year and a half since my trumpet’s been out of the case.. good craic yesterday getting back into the swing of things yesterday though..

drop in to the real gig this wednesday

“The lady concerned was entitled to her privacy and not to have a passing stranger take a photograph,” said the sheriff.

[From BBC NEWS | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Man fined for taking photograph]

Caught this to day on BBC News… and then thought it might be worth having a look into what the legal ins and outs of street photography actually are - one of the best resources I’ve found is Simon Moran and Linda Macpherson’s Photographers Rights in the UK. Have a read - in this case I’m not actually convinced that the fine was warranted.. what do you think?

After two communal lent blogs and an advent blog with friends, I’m thinking about mixing things up a little this advent with a project that’s a little bit different from those before. Still thinking along the communal, creative and reflective… but this year hopefully with a twist.

I had been playing around in Illustrator to put together a wee logo, but it ended up a little bit too much like this (without the pinkiness and wiggly font..)

In the next fews weeks I’m going to try and blog a little bit more about the idea that have come to mind and as it develops, if you’re interested in getting involved (I’d love to have a wee group of interested people to bounce ideas around with), either to help organising, publicising or designing please leave a comment, drop me an email at my usual email address or thislittleadvent at gmail dot com, or tag a tweet with #thislittleadvent

Would love to hear from you!