Why I Love Religion

So this guy posted a spoken work piece on the topic of ‘hating religion but loving Jesus’ that has been fairly popular on the interwebs. Here is a link to it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY.


It is a symbol of everything that I find weak and shallow in American evangelical movement. In fact the amazing atheist points out its many shortcomings in his follow up video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBo7Z_abiLE&feature=related (a warning for his explicit language).


But the purpose of this post is to highlight another video response by a Catholic priest who offers up his own spoken word version of why religion, though broken as it is, has value for the followers of Christ. Plus how often do you get to hear a priest kindof sortof rap. Enjoy.

Moving In

I realized the other day that we have not put up any pics of our new house (which we are greatly enjoying).  So here is what we have been up to the last couple of months:

We got our tree trimmed and some numbers put up.

Laura and Theresa busy painting.

Laura excited about the wall color or her plant?

Bookshelves being assembled

Bookshelf in full glory

Living room entry.

Living room looking other direction

Hall with painting and wine

More bookshelves in the study

My really nerdy desk that I built (Laura has a similar one on the other wall)

The kitchen

Our awesome backyard

Built a firepit around the well



Building the desks on my deck

And finally a short vido on packing up our bookcase:

Quantum Levitation

I feel like hover boards are almost here:

And for a more detailed video of the science behind it as well as some double levitation demonstrations go here to watch it.



(Via)

The Power of the Doodle

Short TED talk on the value of doodling.  I have tried to explain this concept to people my entire life so it is immensely refreshing to hear someone else articulate it.

Big Bend Video

A video I made of some of my recent trips to Big Bend national Park.  Music by The Decemberists, Fox and the Bird, and Ryan Bingham.

Nice Videos on the Ground Zero Memorial

Click here for a couple of videos explaining the architecture of the ground zero memorial as well as the other buildings in the area: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/30/us/sept-11-reckoning/ground-zero.html.

Also, here is a website showing all the major memorials for September 11th that have been completed so far: 9/11 memorials.

Move by Rick Mereki

Great little film about the wonders of travel:


MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.


They made two others: LEARN and EAT.

via

What Teachers Make

For all the awesome teachers out there:

The Beaten Sea: Hard Way

The Beaten Sea is a Dallas based folk band that we have had the privilege of seeing on multiple occasions.  If you like them their CD is available here: http://purchase.thebeatensea.com/

Arrietty Trailer - New Ghibli Movie!

Undercity

Urban historian and explorer Steve Duncan, takes us through abandonded Subway stations, New York's earliest sewers, and to the top of Williamsburg Bridge. 

UNDERCITY from Andrew Wonder on Vimeo.

Also if you were wanting more info here is his website: http://www.undercity.org/

and here is an NPR story: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/02/132482428/into-the-tunnels-exploring-the-underside-of-nyc

The Juxaposition of Construction and Cooking

Two creative and collaborative fields nicely superimposed.


architecture et nourriture from oskar alegria on Vimeo.

Day Made of Glass

Michael Pawlyn on Biomimicry

An architect talking about the benifits of learning form nature in building technology. (long video but worth it)

OK Go and their awesome music videos

While their music is pretty good the real brilliance in the band OK GO is in their elaborate music videos.  I know they have been passed around the internet about a billion times but having them all in one place is handy.

A stop motion video made with toast and a laser cutter.

 

An elaborate Rube Goldberg machine.



Lots of Dogs

The Value of Manual Labor

I present Mike Rowe from the TV show “dirtest jobs” giving a TED lecture on America’s misguided view of vocation.  He also talks about castrating sheep.  Its long but well worth it.

Climbing a Transmission Tower

A pretty amazing video of some maintenance guys climbing a radio tower.  Makes me wish I had majored in Transmission Tower Maintenance instead of Architecture.

How to Be Alone

A good poem finding redemption in loneliness.  Consider this your introvert service anouncement.

IF - Star Gazing

Great topic today.  So great that I am going to include a few extras.  First up, a time lapse video of the milky way rising over the Davis mountains.  Right around the half way point it really gets good and I suggest watching it full screen.

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

And a Calvin and Hobbes.

And to round it off we have the Anselm Kiefer painting "Falling Stars":

Time Lapse Iceland Volcano

Pretty amazing images from Iceland:

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.