the tindog coffeehouse

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about defining “manhood”. I concluded that manhood couldn’t simply be reduced to biological or emotional maturation, but that it was the result of a conscious choice to take responsibility for our lives.

Newsweek, however, has a slightly different definition.

According to the liberal scribes at Newsweek, it’s time for a “New Macho”, where men are more likely to be stay-at-home dads or have jobs traditionally dominated by women such as teachers or nurses. They point to Sweden as a role model due to their mandatory paid paternity leave laws. (Never mind that Sweden has one of the highest rates of out-of-wedlock births in the world or that Swedish men are often forced to pee sitting down in order to squash their masculinity.)

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I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.

– Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

Author Donald Miller has announced on his blog that the movie adaptation of Blue Like Jazz has been put on hold indefinitely. Believe it or not, I’m really sad to hear it.

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a post reacting to a review of the screenplay. I felt that the review (by unChristian author Gabe Lyons) made the movie sound like an attack on conservative Christians, and I wasn’t at all happy about that. The post even caught the attention of Steve Taylor, who co-wrote the screenplay and was the movie’s producer.

Judging by my earlier statements, you’d think I would be thrilled to hear that the movie has been shelved, but that’s the furthest from the truth. In reality, I would love to see the movie be produced, albeit without the kind of liberal agenda Lyons portends. Could that be done? Could you write a screenplay about a young Christian coming of age at an extremely liberal school like Reed College without causing conservatives “necessary affliction” (as Lyons puts it)? I’m sure you can, although Miller and Taylor may disagree.

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It’s still very early into Megan’s first season of playing soccer and my first season of coaching, but already it’s been an incredible experience. Not because of the soccer, per se, but because of the league.

Megan plays in an Upward Sports league, a church-hosted Christian sports program aimed at teaching kids the fundamentals of sports while also ministering to them and teaching biblical values. Players are given positive encouragement and equal playing time, allowing them to develop their skills and have fun without an undue amount of pressure to win. They’re also given recognition for their hard work and contribution to the team, promoting the benefits of teamwork while fostering a sense of individual accomplishment.

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As a fan of Google, Billy Joel, history, ’80s music, and awesome stuff in general, I have to say this is quite possibly the greatest use of the Internet ever.

This is me eating my words.

After stating my preference for Firefox and saying that Google’s Chrome browser “doesn’t really feel complete”, I’m ready to admit I was wrong. In fact, I would even go so far as to say I love it. As much as a person can love a web browser anyway.

The migration from Firefox to Chrome wasn’t planned and it wasn’t really a voluntary move. Firefox forced me out after multiple add-ons started giving me problems on two different computers. I could disable one or two and be fine for a while, but eventually it would crash again or freeze up or just refuse to open in the first place.  The more problems I encountered, the clearer my decision became: I had to move on. And no, I don’t fully blame Mozilla; after all, these were third-party add-ons. But after several days of troubleshooting, it simply was no longer worth the effort.

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