being ryan byrd

25 in the 2000s: one-hit wonders

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:13:00 +0000

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.

it's difficult to talk about an era of music without bringing up the topic of one-hit wonders. while the conversation is inevitable, it's much more difficult to pin down exactly what defines a one-hit wonder. one on hand, it's a band who comes out of nowhere, blows up with one song and then we never hear of them again. and then, there's the bands that are legitimately good bands, but just happen to only have one song that really hits the radio waves. and then, there's the bands that have had some minor hits, but had one particular song that just blew up. this list will deal with all of those. there are some songs/bands on here that almost pained me because they're a legitimately great band (like my #1), but definitionally, they are a one-hit wonder. so, here it is.

[you can listen to all the tracks in the embedded player here or, if you'd like to fill your ipod up with a playlist of awesome, you can download a zipped file with all the tracks at the bottom.]

25. crank dat superman. soulja boy tell 'em.

24. who let the dogs out. the baha men.

23. all the things she said. t.a.t.u.

22. i wanna be bad. willa ford.

21. hey there delilah. plain white t's.

20. i try. macy gray.

19. hit 'em up style (oops). blu cantrell.

18. you're beautiful. james blunt.

17. 1985. bowling for soup.

16. smooth criminal. alien ant farm.

15. tipsy. j-kwon.

14. lips of an angel. hinder.

13. this is why i'm hot. mims.

12. collide. howie day.

11. butterfly. crazy town.

10. stacy's mom. fountains of wayne. this is the classic definition of a one-hit wonder. bad no one has heard of: check. catchy, kitschy song: check. everybody singing it: check. fun video: check. all the stars aligned for this band we'll never hear of again.

09. mambo no. 5. lou bega. much like stacy's mom, lou bega came out of nowhere to make a hit that was custom-fit for the transition into the aughts. one of the hallmarks of a one-hit wonder is the novelty factor and this certainly has it.

08. take a picture. filter. filter had all the tools to become a consistently good band. and then they didn't. much like their long line of one-hit wonder predecessors (i.e. extreme's more than words or sugar ray's fly), filter neglected their hard rock roots to make a radio-friendly pop hit.

07. the reason. hoobastank. in my humble opinion, this could be one of the worst songs of the decade. now, don't get me wrong, the first 1,000 times i heard this song on the radio, i was ok with it…but that next 100 million times made me want to never know the reason to anything… but, nevertheless, this is one of the quintessential one-hit wonders of the decade.

06. 1234. feist. feist is an example of an artist that i really hate to put on this list. why? because she's really, really good. but, she can thank apple for the ipod commercial that made her an instant one-hit wonder. 1234 is fun, catchy and custom-fit for one-hit wonder status.

05. bad day. daniel powter. much like feist can thank apple, daniel powter can thank american idol, as his song was played every single week as contestants packed their bags and went home. granted, prior to that, he had major airplay, but AI's exposure helped to launch it into orbit.

04. lean back. terror squad. in all fairness, fat joe isn't really a one-hit wonder. technically, this isn't a fat joe track, but rather, a terror squad track. with that said, this song catapulted into the top 40 thanks to a great rap and a catchy dance. bar none, it's one of my favorite raps of the last decade.

03. i kissed a girl. katy perry. we all know the story: katy hudson, the cute christian artist who's the daughter of a pastor becomes the late-2000s sensation who sang about lesbian experimentation. yeah… much like the typical one-hit wonder formula, this little novelty song was actually, ultimately, a really, really good pop song. while we aren't sure where perry's career is heading, it's safe to say that at this point, she falls squarely in one-hit wonder status.

02. love song. sara bareilles. a good pop song needs a great hook. a great one-hit wonder needs an artists who suddenly appears and then disappears quicker. this song has both those things. it's a great song from an artist who we'll likely never hear from again. sadly for sara bareilles—whose whole album makes for a collection of great pop songs—her talent will likely be lost in her inability to produce another love song.

01. crazy. gnarls barkley. without a doubt, this is a painful selection. let me be clear: gnarls barkley is a great, great band. both their albums are some of the best of the decade and i expect their next offering will be just as good. so, these aren't your typical one-hit wonders who show up and then drift away into the abyss. what makes them a one-hit wonder, though, is the word hit. while they have consistently made great music, they're just not a band that generally produces accessible pop music for the masses. crazy is like getting struck by lightning: it could certainly happen twice, but it's much, much more likely to only happen once.

so there you have it. there's the list. what do you think? i've certainly missed some big stories. what are they? i've, no doubt, ranked some things too high or too low. what are they? help me to flesh out and "correct" my list.

wanna take this list home with you?? download the entire list here.

see you in a few days with my next list: songs.

an advent reflection: in anticipation of life (and death)

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:12:00 +0000

i posted this earlier on the eikon church blog and i thought it was worth sharing here as well. hope you enjoy.

---------------------------------------------------

over the last couple weeks, many of you have worshipped with us as we've engaged in this season called advent. through our modVent gatherings, we've eagerly anticipated the coming of the messiah. as we've learned, of course, advent simply means coming. during this season, we await the coming of a baby, in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. who is the savior. who is the one sent from god.

advent is about life. it's about redemption. it's about hopeful expectation. but advent is also about death. we not only await the coming of the christ child, but we await his death on a cross. we look ahead to the time of jesus' atoning sacrifice in which he suffered in order to restore the brokenness of all creation. death, indeed, is a part of the cycle of anticipation.

as many of you are aware, i traveled to houston, texas a couple days ago after receiving word that our music leader, rob toon, had taken a serious turn for the worse. most of you know the situation with rob, but let me offer a very brief catch-up for those who are unaware. nearly 2 years ago, rob was diagnosed with leukemia. since that time, he has received treatment both at uams in little rock and now, at md anderson in houston. several months ago, rob underwent a bone marrow transplant and has since been recovering both in and out of the hospital. throughout this time, he has been battling infections and acclimation to life after a life-altering procedure.

so, a couple days ago, stephanie—rob's wife—contacted me with news that rob's condition had become seemingly grave and the doctors recommended she come immediately. we've now spent the last couple days at the hospital by rob's side, watching his condition—i'm very glad to say—improve incredibly. at this point, things are still touch and go, but the doctors seem to think things have stabilized.

what has become very real to me in these last couple days is the reality of both life and death. spending time in the waiting room of an ICU in a cancer hospital offers plenty of time to experience that actuality. we are literally surrounded by those experiencing a sense of advent. of waiting.

but we're keenly aware that this advent is much different than the hopeful expectation that describes our fundamental sense of the christian season of advent.

this waiting is full of fear and uncertainty and pain and stress. this waiting looks toward the reality not of life, but of death.

while we are certainly not expecting death with rob at this point, we are surrounded by many people that we pass in the halls and sit with in the waiting room that certainly do expect death of the ones they love. and it's in these shared times that one sees the reality and the beauty of life.

the reality is that life means so much. it's beautiful. and its ugly. and it's tragic. and it's wonderful. it means so much.

life is brief. it's fleeting. it's to be cherished. and appreciated. and lived to its fullest.

while many christians have this sense that life is just a temporary pitstop to some other eternal home, it's in these times that you see that the gift of life is god-given and to be cherished. it isn't to be wasted, waiting on the next life, but lived to its maximum potential. to be lived like it was a precious, precious endowment.

cancer is a ravaging thing that reminds us how beautiful life is. so, as i sit here in the midst of others who wait on death—the advent of loss—let us all remember that life is a wonderful gift from god.

let us love others, giving ourselves as if this life is as fleeting as it actually is.

---------------------------------------------------

as a bit of an epilogue to this post, let me share my thoughts with something other than words. in the preceding days before traveling down to houston, i became obsessed with an album (like i often do with new music discoveries) called hospice by the antlers. the story describes the singers journey of meeting a woman who he loved, finding she had bone cancer and ultimately, ending with the time when she passes away.

in some ways, the album is intensely saddening, but there's also this glimmer of hope that affirms everything i've said above. in spite of the narrator's grief, there's a celebration of life that compels him to stay next to the side of the woman he loves. in her pain and agony and withering away, he is drawn to her side. life, indeed, means so much.

in this track, the singer learns of her cancer and the impending reality of her diagnosis. my prayer is that you find the intense power of love and grief and happiness and sadness in this track.

and in the end, my prayer is that you sense—in a roundabout way—this mysterious season of advent.

kettering by the antlers

i wish that i had known in
that first minute we met
the unpayable debt
that i owed you

'cause you'd been abused
by the bone that refused
you and you hired me
to make up for that

and walking in that room
when you had tubes in your arms
those singing morphine alarms
out of tune

they had you sleeping and eating and
and I didn't believe them
when they called you a hurricane thunder cloud

when i was checking vitals
i suggested a smile
you didn't talk for a while
you were freezing

you said you hated my tone
it made you feel so alone
so you told me i had to be leaving

but something kept me standing
by that hospital bed
i should have quit but instead
i took care of you

you made me sleep and uneven
and i didn't believe them
when they told me that there
was no saving you

25 in the 2000s: cover songs

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:54:00 +0000

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.

ah, the cover song. we are all magnetically drawn to the power of someone doing a song previously done by another artist. it's truly unexplainable. from the newly interpreted beauty to the refreshing newfound angle to the downright funny, cover songs are a musical phenomenon that cannot be denied. so, here's my list of the 25 cover songs that rose to the top of the aughts.

[~~you can listen to all the tracks in the embedded player here or,~~ if you'd like to fill your ipod up with a playlist of awesome, you can download a zipped file with all the tracks at the bottom.]

25. just. phantom planet (mark ronson). original: radiohead.

24. i'm looking through you. the wallflowers. original: the beatles.

23. don't look back in anger. maroon 5. original: oasis.

22. billie jean. chris cornell. original: michael jackson.

21. boyz n the hood. dynamite hack. original: eazy e.

20. take me out. scissor sisters. original: franz ferdinand.

19. sea of love. cat power. original: phil phillips.

18. fix you. young at heart. original: coldplay.

17. hallelujah. rufus wainwright. original: leonard cohen.

16. lucy in the sky with diamonds. the black crowes. original: the beatles.

15. burn. brandi carlile. original: ray lamontagne.

14. lovin's for fools. bon iver. original: sarah siskind.

13. please read the letter. alison krauss & robert plant. original: robert plant & jimmy page.

12. lithium. the polyphonic spree. original: nirvana.

11. dead leaves and the dirty ground. chris thile. original: the white stripes.

10. across the universe. rufus wainwright. original: the beatles. how many times can someone cover a beatles songs without it just sounding like a warmed-over repeat over and over? well, rufus wainwright has a knack (and a voice) for pulling it off in a way that brings a freshness and beauty to it that's necessary.

09. mad world. gary jules. original: tears for fears. this is one of those cover songs from out of nowhere that is so, so good that it immediately catches you attention. such was the case with this track that was originally brought to the public's attention through, bizarrely, a gears of war (video game) commercial.

08. valerie. amy winehouse (mark ronson). original: the zutons. sometimes a cover's great because it takes a song that you know so well and adds a new spin to it. and then there's the times that you don't discover until much later that it was even a cover. in the case of amy winehouse's valerie (courtesy of producer mark ronson), no one knew who the zutons were and she has made the track her own.

07. hey ya!. obadiah parker. original: outkast. speaking of tracks you know so well…this is one of those covers that are so great because it creates a bit of a paradox. on one hand, you have this immensely popular rap song but on the other hand, it's done by a dude with a beard and a guitar. in the end, it's oddness became something more than just odd.

06. heart in a cage. chris thile. original: the strokes. this is another case of seemingly dissonant musical styles colliding and making something brilliant. not many people would think that the rompous rock of the strokes would match well with the alt bluegrass style of chris thile. we, of course, learned it did.

05. when doves cry. damien rice. original: prince. it's just hard to remake a prince song and add anything worthwhile. but damien rice so beautifully pulls off when doves cry that not only does do it justice, but he adds a whole new intensely personal level to it that it would surely make its songwriter proud.

04. to love somebody. ray lamontagne & damien rice. original: the bee gees. this is sort of a no-brainer: ray lamontagne singing with damien rice. we don't really need any further explanation. they could be singing the barney song and still make it deeply personal and beautiful.

03. toxic. tiggers ft. ol' dirty bastard (mark ronson). original: britney spears. ol' dirty bastard adding 16 bars to britney spears' toxic? instant genius. again, this is one of those classic sure-fire cover songs where this seeming paradox of song/artist makes it so great. so, listen to this track, revel in its greatness/oddness and pour out some liquor for ODB.

02. crazy. ray lamontagne. original: gnarls barkley. how could we have a cover songs list from this decade without mentioning the 400 million covers of gnarls barkley's crazy? there were a lot of great versions of this song, but there was none better than ray lamontagne's. with his raspy voice and old school folk, he added an extra layer to the song that no one else could bring.

01. hurt. johnny cash. original: nine inch nails. this is one of the ultimate cover songs not just of this decade, but of all time. no song could have better summed up johnny cash's career and current phyiscal/emotional state that trent reznor's hurt. much like some others, this is not a nine inch nails song anymore. it's a johnny cash song. his haunting delivery was one of the defining songs of the last 10 years.

so there you have it. there's the list. what do you think? i've certainly missed some big stories. what are they? i've, no doubt, ranked some things too high or too low. what are they? help me to flesh out and "correct" my list.

wanna take this list home with you?? download the entire list here.

see you in a few days with my next list: one hit wonders.

25 in the 2000s: movies

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:50:00 +0000

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.

often, the story of a culture, a people, a time period is shared through cinema. movies transcend moments and create timeless asides from normal life. so it was over the last 10 years. during that time, the theater has seen the best of times and the worst of times. yes, we've had to sit through quite a few michael bay movies, but at the same time, we've had the pleasure to enjoy some of the truly great cinematic works of all-time. with that said, here's my favorite movies of the aughts.

25. castaway. 2000. relatively little dialogue. mainly one man over the course of several years. living on an island by himself. talking to a volleyball. brilliant. yet another example of tom hanks' greatness.

24. slumdog millionaire. 2008. this was the little indian movie that could. with a cast of people you'd never heard of, you were able to believe in what you were seeing—the beautiful, the ugly, the true, the hard to watch. this was a deeply touching movie that seemed to touch the world.

23. the passion of the christ. 2004. in the midst of the hype and controversy, people forget that this was a really great movie. mel gibson was able to tell the story of jesus' last 12 hours on earth without resorting to overt clichés or sentimentality. this simply told the raw, honest story and it made the most compelling story just as compelling on the big screen.

22. inglourious basterds. 2009. i'm not a particularly huge quentin tarantino fan, so while i was eager to see the movie, i wasn't a raging fan counting down the days. with that said, though, this was a surprisingly great movie. it had everything tarantino does well: great dialogue, character development, violence and sharp wit.

21. crash. 2004. while much of the criticism of the movie was somewhat justified (overplayed racial clichés), this was still an incredible movie that dug into the reality of racism, social segregation and fear of the unknown. this was a movie that left you deeply wounded after watching it.

20. children of men. 2oo6. this is certainly in my top 1 or 2 most anticipated movies of the decade. and it lived up to my own, personal hype. its story of deep-seated love cast against the scene of intense violence provided a great ride and a satisfying conclusion (if not mysterious).

19. sicko. 2007. regardless of the reality, some will never get past the name michael moore. that's unfortunate because his 2007 documentary, sicko, was a great piece that exposed the human side to the health care debate. what was amazing about this also is that the "health care debate" was still a full 2 years away when he made it, making this movie somewhat prophetic.

18. borat: cultural learnings of america for make benefit glorious nation of kazakhstan. 2006. the more i think about it, this movie should probably be higher on this list. it's insanely funny, offensive and shocking, but the element that makes this movie so great is its covert (or not-so-covert, depending on your perspective) social statement. racism and bigotry is absurd and borat shows it.

17. the curious case of benjamin button. 2008. this movie caught criticism for being forrest gump, pt. 2. when someone says that, i immediately go see it. this was a sweeping, epic of a movie that featured two of the most beautiful people in the word: brad pitt and kate blanchett. both proved they have much more than beauty, as they both punched in incredible roles.

16. million dollar baby. 2004. this isn't the last time you'll see a clint eastwood movie on this list. eastwood's movies are so emotionally intense and just as equally visually intense and beautiful. this wasn't just a boxing movie or a sports movie, but a movie about the fierce pull of love and innate human compassion.

15. the bourne supremacy. 2004. the bourne movies are american james bond movies with much more action (sadly, the latest bond movie tried to actually be a bourne movie...and failed). matt damon played this character just as it should be and 2004's sequel to the bourne identity. in this case, the sequel superseded the original.

14. ocean's eleven. 2001. who doesn't love a heist movie? throw in george clooney, brad pitt, matt damon, don cheadle and a cast of countless other actors you love and want to be like and you've got a great movie. this movie knew how to weave an intricate plot while remaining light and enjoyable.

13. little miss sunshine. 2006. how many movies have tried to be "this year's little miss sunshine" since this came out? imitation is the greatest form of flattery and this movie has been flattered over and over. it was quirky, it was fun, it was deep, it was hilarious. it was great.

12. no country for old men. 2007. i know many people couldn't get past the way the movie ended (which i thought was great), but the movie—from start to finish—was great in every way. from its beautiful cinematography to its unforgettable characters to its intense edge-of-your-seat plot, this movie was one of the best of 2007 and of the decade.

11. napoleon dynamite. 2004. much like little miss sunshine, everybody wanted to be the next napoleon dynamite. and much like LMS, its predecessors generally failed. there was something just so strange and wonderful and absurd and bizarre and warm about this movie. few movies have prompted me to watch it over and over and quote it over and over like this one.

10. mystic river. 2003. my favorite clint eastwood. so beautiful. so depressing. so moving. so engrossing. eastwood and his cast of superb characters played by sean penn, tim robbins and kevin bacon masterfully portrayed the gritty underbelly of what a crooked father will do to avenge the death of his daughter. i think after 7 years, i'm still recovering from this movie.

09. casino royale. 2006. i'm not much of a james bond fan. i certainly don't dislike them, but i'm just 'eh' about them. not this one. this, as far as i'm concerned, is the best bond film i've certainly ever seen. it was kitschy or contrived. it was (relatively) real and that made it great (not to eva green). :)

08. best in show. 2000. oh, the mockumentary. christopher guest knows how to do them. while there's been some great, great christopher guest movies, this one tops the list for me. a good mockumentary has to be paired with a great concept is dog shows are the ultimate ridiculous concept. go see this movie. now.

07. moulin rouge!. 2001. yes, moulin rouge. i know, i know, i am surprised i'm into this also. i reluctanctly saw this probably 2 years after it came out in theaters and i couldn't believe how great it was. the movie is simply beautiful and you can't help but to love a clever and uniquely performed musical (not to mention nicole kidman traipsing around in very little). :)

06. bowling for columbine. 2002. if mystic river still has me recovering 7 years later, then this movie still has me in a state of sadness 8 years later. again, the name scares people away, but this is a movie that i recommend to every single person. following the columbine tragedy, people were searching for answers and this exposes an ugly reality that answers some questions and asks many more. as a sidenote, the footage of the security cameras inside columbine were probably top 1 or 2 hardest to watch movie moments i can remember.

05. anchorman: the legend of ron burgundy. 2004. serving as the anti-bowling for columbine, in 2o04, will ferrell managed to create one of the most hilarious movies of the last several decades. to this day, a good anchorman quote still goes a long way and receives an everlasting laugh.

04. nacho libre. 2006. on the heels of the success of napoleon dynamite, jared hess sought to capitalize on the momentum with this movie. for many, this movie was a bit of a letdown, but for me, it instantly became my favorite comedy of the decade. it was weird. it was random. it was quirky. and it featured jack black in stretchy pants. enough said.

03. gladiator. 2000. there have been few beautiful, sweeping epics like this movie ever made. in 2000, i don't think i knew who russel crow was or even what this movie was about when i went to see it (at uca, for free), but i walked out wanting to sit down and watch it all over again. through elaborate costumes, epic sets and a beautifully compelling story of redemption and truth, gladiator stands as one of the great cinematic efforts of the decade.

02. lord of the rings trilogy. 2001-2003. i know, this is cheating. i've picked 3 movies for #2. in reality, though, this is just one movie. it's just that audiences (as well as the studios) had no desire to sit for 8 or 9 hours in the theater. :) the funny personal story related to this movie is that i didn't even see any of these until the 3rd one came out in the the theater. i had zero interest and didn't want to jump on the bandwagon. but jump i did and there was no looking back given the reality that these are not only some of the greatest of this decade, but of all time.

01. the dark knight. 2008. a batman movie is #1? absolutely. i can't express how deeply compelling this movie was. i knew it would be good. i knew it would be memorable. i waited very expectantly. but i never imagined how great it actually was. it's almost cliché to talk about how great heath ledger was, but he managed to take a character that dresses like a clown and make him multi-dimensional and oscar-worthy. there are so many layer upon layers to this movie and i can't imagine the follow-up. it's sure to be another instant classic…or be a colossal disappointment. if you're the 1 person who hasn't seen this, go get it now and open yourself to its greatness.

so there you have it. there's the list. what do you think? i've certainly missed some big stories. what are they? i've, no doubt, ranked some things too high or too low. what are they? help me to flesh out and "correct" my list.

see you in a few days with my next list: cover songs.

25 in the 2000s: tv shows

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:15:00 +0000

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.

you absolutely cannot talk about tv in the 2000s without immediately turning to reality television. it's certainly the hallmark of the decade and reveals a lot about cultural attitudes and values. but even beyond reality tv (which you'll find over in and over in my list), tv, in general, reveals the cultural climate during a time period. so, with this list, my selections should tell you something about both the decade and the lens in which i viewed it (both literally and figuratively).

25. jackass. let's just start this list off with some good, old fashioned keepin' it real. yes, mtv's jackass was a great showed. whether it was johnny knoxville testing out tasers or the boys playing nutball or the frequent trips into bushes thanks to shopping cart, jackass was must-see in my household.

24. chapelle's show. surprisingly, i didn't really get into chapelle's show until late in the series. but once i did, i quickly discovered its greatness. dave chapelle was doing brilliant stuff and, for my money, none is better than this.

23. the sopranos. admittedly, i'm only a very casual fan of the sopranos. nevertheless, though, this is sort of the nirvana nevermind of this list: i know it's great, but i'm just not a huge fan personally. despite that, though, this is a piece of 2000s tv culture that is essential to any list.

22. the tom green show. at the dawn of the decade, tom green mania swept across the nation, making fans long for the slutmobile, poo on microphones and the bum bum song. yes, we were young. we were starved for entertainment. and we loved it.

21. meet the press. if there's an anti-tom green show, i guess this could be it. meet the press is must-see tv on sunday morning, bringing an assured media legitimacy and trust that few others can supply. the show is a piece of 2000s tv history with the passing of tim russert, who i personally still miss each week.

20. jimmy kimmel live. by far, kimmel is my favorite late-night talk show host. whereas the rest of the guys, by and large, rely on one-liners and carefully crafted jokes, kimmel comes across as a regular dude who you just want to hang out with. and because of his time slot and likable personality, he gets away with things that the other late night hosts just couldn't pull off.

19. the soup. the soup, in various incarnations, has been around for a very long time, but it has never been better now that it is hosted by joel mchale. mchale is snarky and has perfect comic timing. the soup also highlighted one of my favorite talk show clips ever. see it remix here.

18. dexter. the reality is that i'm only 5 episodes into season 1 (the show is currently in season 4). after hearing people talk about how great it is, i finally gave in and began from the beginning. showtime has crafted a great show that deals with blood, guts and the internal conflict of a man driven by the need to kill.

17. eastbound and down. allow me to summarize this show: drugs, gratuitous cussing, brief nudity, coarse joking. oh, and hilarious. from the minds of will ferrell and danny mcbridge, eastbound and down is a show from hbo about a washed up former major league baseball player who returns to his hometown to teach high school gym. brilliant.

16. real time with bill maher. real time is the dirty and funnier version of the aforementioned meet the press. whether you love or hate bill maher (i often have both those feelings at the same time), his shows brings together varying minds to discuss the current politics of the day. in the end, it's, at minimum, a conversation starter.

15. mad men. you know, this almost falls in the category of the sopranos: brilliant, but i'm just not a huge fan. while i've gotten into it, it's just not a show that particularly connects with my sensibilities. nevertheless, it's easy to see the greatness of the show and i look forward to seeing where it's going.

14. united states of tara. put together diablo cody's wit and toni collette times 4 and you've got a great show in the making. the show centers around tara—who has dissociative identity disorder—her 3 "alters" and her sordid family. it's great viewing and has proven to be yet another hit for showtime.

13. the apprentice. let's just clear the air right of the bat: yes, i think donald trump is a royal douchebag. but, the show isn't about donald trump. it's about people who are hungry to make it in business and their ensuing quest to achieve greatness in the tough new york business world. after slumping ratings, celebrity apprentice has helped to bring a bit of revival to the show.

12. the real world. please do your best to erase the sad and pathetic real world that you've come to know over the last 6 or 7 years and go back to the first couple years of the 2000s. in the early 90s, mtv created a show that was somewhat revolutionary and continued to produce a compelling show about real people up until 2002's raunchy season in las vegas.

11. rob & big. here's your challenge: watch the 1st episode of season 1 and try to not want to watch more. you absolutely can't do it. this is one of the most hilarious shows of the decade thanks to professional skater rob dyrdek's unlikely relationship with larger-than-life bodyguard big black. unfortunately, after just 2 seasons, rob & big moved on to other endeavors, ending the show's brief run.

10. the wire. i truly had zero interest in the wire up until a few months ago when, much like dexter, the buzz won me over and i had to check it out. what i found was a cast of characters who you love and hate and dislike and want to know more and more. beyond that, the grim realities of street culture and racial wars make the show deeply compelling.

09. desperate housewives. yes, i'm putting this on my list. at #9. when the show began several years ago, i refused to watch. it looked shallow, cheap and soap opera-ish. but after literally watching one single episode with christen, i had to watch the next one and the next one and the next one. it's fun, it's light-hearted and it's a great show.

08. top chef. the irony of my loving this show is that i would eat very, very little of what they cook. but, watching it all unfold on the screen is intensely captivating. top chef is able to go beyond your generic reality show competition blue print and create a show that is very real and very compelling. as long as the show continues to find top-tier up-and-coming chefs, it should continue to see excellent response.

07. the office. i'm not a bandwagon kind of person. when everybody talks about something, i tend to shy away. so it was with the office. several years ago, it was the must-see show to watch and talk about in your office the next morning. much like desperate housewives, though, after one viewing, i was absolutely hooked. i think it's safe to say that it's—bar none—the funniest show on television.

06. american idol. i have no shame whatsoever in my love for american idol. does it cheapen music? maybe. does it commoditize musicians? maybe. either way, though, it's our generation's fame and it provides week after week of an exciting and compelling rise to fame by many, young, talented singers. while the show has produced some not-so-great artists, it's hard to argue with the likes of kelly clarkson, carrie underwood and other sustained talents.

05. project runway. much like top chef, i acknowledge the irony of me liking a show that creates high fashion that i will never wear. but it's brilliant tv. not only is there the interpersonal dynamics essential to a good reality show, but there is simply incredible raw creative talent. when you win project runway, you aren't just seen as a "reality show star", but as a legitimate force in the fashion industry.

04. friends. although friends, ultimately, is a "90s" show, it wrapped up in may 2004 with a memorable final episode in which ross and rachel, of course, end up together. until it got bumped—for me—at thursday night at 7 pm by a certain upstart reality show that we'll get to shortly, friends was my only scheduled viewing each week. the characters were iconic, the scenarios seemed so shared by the viewer and it was just a flat-out hilarious show.

03. breaking bad. here's yet another show to file in the "watched it because of the buzz" category. several months ago, after much hype, i decided to get seasons 1 and 2 and catch up. what i discovered was a show that i would literally stay up til 2 or 3 in the morning just to watch another episode. i felt, ironically, like a junkie with my need to see what happens next. the show is about joy and pain and sorrow and lies and deceit and truth and family and loneliness and disease and about everything that makes for deeply, deeply compelling tv.

02. survivor. here's the scenario: you take a group of strangers, put them on a deserted island with little to no food, no contact with the outside world and make them vote each other off the island. that, my friends, is the making of not only a great tv show, but a fascinating study in human nature and sociological phenomenon. while the show will never be as great as the initial season, it continues to rely on its never-failing original concept to create great television.

01. big love. what have i not already said about big love that i can add here? it only took the better part of a single season (now approaching season 4) to make this shoot right to the top of this list. there are so many layers to this show: religion, family dynamics, current news headlines and more. the show is perfectly cast and perfectly written to strike a balance of this other-worldly feeling while still feeling completely genuine and straight from real life. season 4 starts next month and it looks like we're going to see the beginning of the unraveling of the family. so, as always, we can expect the unexpected. most of all, though, we can expect a show that transcends what we know as tv.

so there you have it. there's the list. what do you think? i've certainly missed some big stories. what are they? i've, no doubt, ranked some things too high or too low. what are they? help me to flesh out and "correct" my list.

see you in a few days with my next list: movies.

a few thoughts concerning the shane montgomery arrest

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:06:00 +0000

today has been a day full of assorted and disparate emotions. this morning, like many of you, i learned of yesterday's arrest of shane montgomery, the now-resigned church planter/pastor of the river church. while most people know the story at this point, in essence, shane has been accused of (and, according to some sources citing the arrest report, admitted to) sexual contact with a 15-year old male who he met online this past summer.

before i go any further, i think it's important to state a couple things. first, i have never met shane. we actually had plans to meet about a month ago, but those plans fell through at the last minute. second, it should be noted that we have a few eikon people who used to be a part of the river church prior to coming to eikon. i say that simply to say that my knowledge about him as a person, pastor and leader is minimal and based on the sparse comments from these mutual friends, my own basic (from a distance) observations and general personal discernment. i feel this is a fair matter of disclosure.

as stated, today has been defined by a barrage of emotions. upon knowledge of the news early this morning, i could have literally just sat and cried in deep sadness. sadness for shane's wife and children, for the molested boy and his family and for the people at the river church. from sadness, i moved to disbelief to anger to confusion to heartbreak and then settled back to general sadness. the devastation of these types of situations is deep-seated and widespread. so many people are deeply effected and for many (like the boy), the real effects may not be experienced for years.

one of the most heartbreaking aspects of this scenario is that it's become less and less of a shock to hear of a pastor doing this. we lived through the catholic priest sex scandals, but it's clear that the catholic church wasn't the only one with problems. in seminary, we talked in length throughout various ethics classes about sexual abuses by "authority" positions within the church. what makes these crimes particularly heinous is that pastors and church leaders have a very societally unique position in which people share their deepest weaknesses, pains, fears and shortcomings in hope (for better or for worse) that the spiritual leader can offer some words of hope and insight. because of this, pastors are in a unique position to prey on the weakest people, using their particular vulnerabilities against them. these cases are truly the deepest betrayal.

please understand, though, that i have absolutely no desire to lump on judgment or shame on shane. many people are, sadly, already doing that in various online outlets and will continue to do that as more details emerge and this continues to play out in the media. while i am deeply saddened and angered by his awful actions, this is a time to practice what i (and many of you) preach: grace, non-judgment, forgiveness, love, compassion and waiting for all the facts before jumping to conclusions. i blogged about my feelings toward curtis vance—anne pressley's killer—a while back and dealt with the fact that in spite of the fact that he did a horrendous, unimaginable crime, he is still a human being who deserves love and compassion. shane montgomery is no different.

so, with that said, i thought i would address various groups of people involved with this tragedy.

to those who have already chosen to and will continue to crucify shane in water cooler conversations and online outlets: please see that people who do these atrocious things are usually hurting and broken people who are acting out with tangible gestures of that hurt and brokenness. as stated, i don't know shane, but i'm sure he's no different than other people who do these acts. most of them are not monsters, but rather, people who are trapped in a prison of their own internal conflict, intense temptation and the fear of telling anyone about it. this absolutely does not excuse his morally, ethically, spiritually and legally wrong actions, but it helps us to attach some context to the situation.

to shane's wife and children: just like shane, i don't know you, but i can say that my heart deeply hurts and breaks for you. i truly have no idea what you're experiencing, so i cannot imagine the hurt, embarrassment and sorrow this has caused. my family and my church family will certainly be keeping you in prayer.

to the river church community: for every emotion i have experienced as an "outsider," i can only imagine that you must feel them ten times over. this was the person you confided in, prayed with, learned from and trusted as a spiritual leader in your lives. you have experienced a sting of betrayal that will certainly not leave you any time soon. as a pastor, i encourage you to see that a church should not be defined by one man, but as a community of faith that comes together under the umbrella of christ. let this be something that ignites your community toward revival rather than tears it apart.

to the molested boy: you have been violated in a way that you will probably not understand for several years, at least. the actions of this man are not a accurate representation of jesus, christianity or pastors. it was a betrayal of authority and you didn't deserve this abuse. my prayer is that you find counseling that leads to wholeness and wellness.

to the jaded people who gave christianity one final chance thanks to the river church and/or shane's ministry: please don't give up on your journey in discovering what it means to follow jesus. i can certainly understand if this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. there's something bigger, though, than one man's abuse of the church. if nothing else, the church is a collection of broken people who are redeemed by jesus. we screw up. we do atrocious things. jesus does not. my prayer is that you also find a place of wellness and connection.

to atheists and/or those with agendas against the church who will use this as fodder for their attacks and justification for their feelings: i understand. i would probably do the same thing if i were you. i, myself, can regularly become sad about the state of the church. you have the right to feel like you do. but please pause and think about the bigger picture. the church, for all its flaws, has been and is the source of many beautiful, redeeming and right things in the world. we can screw things up with the best of them, but at the root of jesus' teachings are things that create a deep sense of good in our world that needs a lot more good.

to men and women planting churches and pastoring: please pause and take a significant amount of time to realize the deep, deep impact you have on the lives of people. whether its right or wrong, people look to you as a model of faith and one who can be trusted to offer spiritual insight into their lives. you see people in their greatest times of weakness and you are trusted in times of intimate sharing and confession. be jesus to people. in other words, be authentic and honest and open and transparent. find multiple accountability partners, including your spouse (if applicable) and trusted friends inside and outside the church. when you experience intense temptations, share it with these people. don't let pride get in the way of honesty. don't let the fear of job or financial loss get in the way of authenticity and honesty. if you cannot do these things, stop pastoring. it's not worth the intense and lifelong harm you create as is the case with this incident.

i hope you've found my thoughts to be sincere and in a spirit of reconciliation. i was extremely hesitant to write a blog post that was reactionary, so i hope my thoughts seemed thought out and in proper context.

continue to pray for everyone mentioned in this post, including shane. god is a god of redemption, who puts broken things back together and makes them beautiful. i think that could be the case here if we allow it.

25 in the 2000s: sports moments

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:15:00 +0000

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.

one of the hallmarks of any time period is a reflection on what occurred in the world of sports. naturally, the 2000s are no different. while it's still hard to completely put its impact in historical context, the 2000s certainly had many memorable moments and were defined by some of the greatest athletes of all time: lebron james, peyton manning, albert pujols, shaquille o'neal and many more. so, here's a look at the greatest sports moments of the last decade

25. Sammy Sosa's corked bat. on the heels of the 90s—a decade defined by a historic home run race between mark mcgwire and sammy sosa—sammy fell apart...and so did his bat. on june 3, 2003, the curtain was pulled back when sammy sosa's bat shattered and it was revealed that sosa's home run spree had been helped by a whole lotta cork.

24. Jake Brown's X-Games Fall. admittedly, i'm not a huge x-games fan, but i just happened to be watching on the night of august 2, 2007 when jake brown fell about 45 feet on a failed trick. instead of me describing it, just watch it.

23. Randy Moss moons the Packers. randy moss scores. randy moss fake moons the packers. what else do you need to know? brilliant. watch it here.

22. Mike Tyson Wants to Eat Lennox Lewis' Children. how could we forget our friend, iron mike, saying he wanted to lennox lewis' children? so poetic. prior to their fight in 2002, this is exactly what mike tyson uttered in an interview with jim gray, making it one of the most bizarre sports moments of the decade. watch it here.

21. Michael Phelps Channels Cypress Hill. you've won a billion gold medals. you've got a zillion dollars worth of endorsements. you've got innumerable fans. and then you get your picture taken smoking a bong. good work, mike.

20. Joe Namath Hearts Suzy Kolber. awkward. painful. uncomfortable. awesome. i mean, what more could we have been feeling as we watched this.

19. Chad Johnson becomes Ochocinco. in honor of hispanic heritage month, the cincinnati bengals' all-pro receiver, chad johnson, declared that he would no longer answer questions when referred to as chad. in october 2006, ochocinco was born. see it here.

18. Barry Bonds Break the Home Run Record. aargh. that's pretty much what i think about this. but, you can't deny that this is one of the biggest sports stories of not just the last decade, but in baseball history. so, there you go.

17. Usain Bolt is Fast. we've seen some fast people. we've seen some amazing feats at the olympics. but at the 2008 beijing olympics, jamaica's usain bolt did things that were superior to any human race we've ever seen. in the 100m, he pulled up early in celebration and still put up a 9.69, a number most thought was unimaginable.

16. The Evil Empire Falls to the Diamond Backs. just after 9/11, the yankees made it back to the world series against the upstart arizona diamond backs. favored heavily, the yankees fell in one of the most exciting world series ever. led by curt schilling and randy johnson, the diamond backs' victory led to a book by buster olney called the last night of the yankee dynasty.

15. Tiger Woods. Period. there's not much more to say about tiger woods. more than a sports moment, it's impossible to talk about the decade in sports without talking about the incredible 10-year (and counting) run he's had. certainly now, he's in the press for all the wrong reasons, but it doesn't take away from his more-than-human accomplishments on the golf course.

14. Lions go 0-16. no nfl team has ever lost 16 games. and then someone did. the 2008 lions managed to reel off 16 straight losses, setting the standard for badness. ironically, the lions went undefeated in the preseason (good trivia fact), but managed to reverse their fortunes throughout the season.

13. Lebron James. Period. in 2003, the cleveland cavaliers became the luckiest team on planet earth, winning the rights to draft lebron james #1 in the nba draft. from that time on, lebron has been a basketball and cultural phenomenon. he's the best player in the nfl. he's talked about playing in the nfl. he makes a zillion dollars a year from endorsements. he's actually likable. and he's just getting started. as a huge michael jordan fan, i can safely say that this guy is as close to michael jordan that we'll probably see for a very long time.

12. Redeem Team. in the early 90s, the dream teams dominated the world in basketball. their was no conversation about who was the greatest hardcourt power in the world. and then we lost. and we lost. and then we lost some more. in 2008, though, the so-called redeem team—led by lebron james, kobe bryant and dwayne wade—was formed and we regained world domination.

11. Celtics Turnaround. in the 2006-07 season, the boston celtics won 24 games and were one of the most dysfunctional teams in the nba. then came kevin garnett and ray allen. and things. in the span of 1 year, they went from worst to first. the celtics ended up beating the lakers in the finals and capped one of the most remarkable turnarounds in sports history.

10. Lance Armstrong. well, how about we start with 7 tour de france victories and then we'll end by re-iterating the fact that he won 7 tour de frances. how's that? enough said?

09. Mark McGwire isn't here to talk about the past. yeah, he told us that over and over and over in 2005's congressional testimonies concerning his steroid use. mcgwire had one of the greatest sports stories of all time in the home run race of 1998 and now, due to his less-than-honest revelations since that time, he has been consistently the subject of shame and mistrust throughout the 2000s.

08. Michael Phelps wins and wins and wins x 8. the aforementioned usain bolt was a huge story from the 2008 olympics, but not even his speed could match the unbelievable run by michael phelps. honestly, i got amazingly tired of hearing about michael phelps, but it doesn't diminish the fact that 8 gold medals is an incredible feat that won't be soon forgotten.

07. Dream Team Loses. well, we've talked about the redeem team, so you know the happy ending. but, here's the incredible part of the story: we lost. in 2004, the "dream team", coached by larry brown and featuring stars such as lebron james, allen iverson and tim duncan, walked away from the athens olympics with a bronze. remember that team in 1992 who beat people by 70? yeah, this team got beat by puerto rico by 19. enough said.

06. Ron Artest Wiles Out. in november of 2004, one of the ugliest scenes in nba history occurred when a fight broke out between the pacers and pistons and eventually spilled over into the stands. after being hit in the face by an object thrown by a fan, ron artest decided to take justice into his own hands and this happened.

05. Allen Iverson talks Practice. bar none, this is my favorite sports quote moment of all time. when allen iverson was pressed about missing some practice, he lets the media know what he thinks about practice. please just watch this.

04. Boise State Beats Oklahoma. the 2007 fiesta bowl was one of the most exciting college football games that many people have ever seen. it's hard to describe everything involved with this game, but in summary, the game was highlighted by an 18-point comeback by oklahoma in the second half, a combined 22 points scored in the final 1:26 of regulation, and three trick plays that helped Boise State win the game. if you want to read about all the insane events, you can do that here.

03. Giants Beat the Patriots. in the early 2000s, the patriots were easy to love. they had spent years as doormats of the nfl and we all wanted them to win. by the mid-2000s, though, they had become the evil empire. so after becoming the first undefeated team since the 70s, it was so, so good to see them get beat from start to finish by the giants in the super bowl that year.

02. Texas Beats USC. despite the outcome that i so desperately did not want, the 2006 rose bowl very well may be the greatest college football game i've ever seen. the game was characterized by stars such as reggie bush, matt leinart and vince young and it lived up the hype of those superstars. the play of the game, of course, was vince young's game-winning 4th down touchdown run with 19 seconds remaining in the game. it was usc's only rose bowl loss since 1989.

01. Red Sox Break the Curse. in 1919, the boston red sox won a world championship. and then nothing. until 2004. and the curse was over. sadly for cardinals fans, the series was absolutely no contest, with the red sox sweeping the series. it seemed to be destiny. in reality, the series was a sleeper compared to the american league championship series where the sox came back from being down 3-0 against arch rival new york yankees. still, the red sox finally winning is the most enduring sports image of this decade.

so there you have it. there's the list. what do you think? i've certainly missed some big stories. what are they? i've, no doubt, ranked some things too high or too low. what are they? help me to flesh out and "correct" my list.

see you in a few days with my next list: tv shows.

25 in the 2000s: technological innovations

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:29:00 +0000

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.

in technology standards, 10 years is a very, very long time. innovative people and programs are constantly looking for new ways to connect people, spread information and make life easier through advances in technology. in this list, i've used technology in the broadest sense: science, mechanics, computer, social media, etc. so, here's the best in what's happened in technological innovation over the last 10 years.

25. Kindle/E-Book Readers. admittedly, i have about 0% interest in these. i simply don't have a consistent need, but certainly, many people do. save trees, ease the load of lugging around multiple books & instant access to a seemingly infinite catalog of books: all great advances.

24. Flash Drives. this may seem incredibly run-of-the-mill or boring, but think about life before flash drives. you had to burn a hundred cd's or, at best, go through the hassle of constantly erasing and burning rewritable discs. even though i've, by and large, moved on to other methods of transporting data, i still have regular use for my flash drive.

23. Gaming Systems. much like the kindle, i have no interest in gaming systems. but, clearly, the advances made in gaming systems such as xbox, wii and playstation have been incredible. graphics have, in some cases, become near cinematic and the wii became an unparalleled gaming sensation.

22. Flat Screen TVs. in order to have a large tv only 5 years ago, you had to have a half acre of living room space just to fit the tv. now, with the aid of a mount above your mantle, you can get up to 150 inches of tv with just a bit of wall space.

21. Adobe Creative Suite(s). alright, as a graphic designer, here's my geek out moment of the list. there's a bad word i don't like to use, but it's necessary here: quark. yes, before adobe decided to nearly revolutionize the software platform for designers with indesign, having an efficient, coherent workflow was difficult, at best. the constant advances in the creative suite are exciting and should only continue to get better.

20. Satellite Radio. this is a strange time to talk about satellite radio simply because its in a state of flux. but, it cannot be overlooked how great of an advance it has been over the last decade. terrestrial radio has become atrocious, so when a radio platform was announced that gave the user control and cut the crap, it was a welcome advance.

19. External Hard Drives. it's almost become cliché to talk about the computer you used to have that only had 64 mb of hard drive space, but the reality is that that was a reality. now, it's hard to imagine having less than a couple terabytes of data storage and backup. due to external hard drives, we have more secure data and the option of increased data portability.

18. Blackberry. it's no mystery that i'm a staunch iphone supporter and, quite frankly, i find the blackberry to feel very ancient. BUT, the blackberry's impact in the evolution of the phone over the past decade can't be overstated. still the companion of legions of business people, this became the go-to status symbol and on-the-go work necessity.

17. iTunes. itunes was genius. people needed a place to organize and play their music. apple needed a place to sell the people music. hence, itunes. much like other apple products, what separated itunes from winamp and other "competitors" was its ease of use and beautiful simplicity in design.

16. DVDs. much like many other items on this list, dvds weren't invented in the 2000s, but they became the standard over the past decade. from movies to data storage to backup discs, much like flash drives, life before them is hard to remember. we've yet to see if blu-ray will push out the dvd format any time soon, but either way, it's a worthy technology.

15. GPS. seriously, how did we get anywhere prior to gps? if not for google maps on my iphone, i would be lost when traveling. gps brought a military technology to the masses and has transcended a mere technology and become something that empowers people to travel and brave exploration.

14. BitTorrent/File Sharing Proliferation. just over 10 years, we all reveled in the greatness of napster. and then our world came crashing down. lars and the music industry came huffing and puffing. what they didn't realize, though, was that the mass thrust forward in file sharing was just taking off. torrenting proved to be the ultimate whammy, aided by advances in networks such as kazaa, limewire and sites like rapidshare and megaupload.

13. Mac OS X. pc users have somehow become convinced that mac users are a part of some great conspiracy to dupe people into believing macs are great. there's no conspiracy, but here's the reality: macs have the most full-featured, beautiful, user-friendly, virus-free operating system since the dawn of personal computing. in september 2000, the first mac os x public beta was released and it was literally shocking to see the overhaul from os 9.

12. Laptops. mac, pc, whatever, laptop innovation has been incredible. in the beginning of the decade, laptops were bulky, lacking in hard drive space and generally slow. laptops were only a consideration to those whose jobs demanded constant work outside of the office. now, laptops are often considered before desktops and have the power and size to back it up.

11. Hybrid Vehicles. george bush was correct when he famously said that we're addicted to oil. a key part of our addiction was huge gas-guzzling suv's. hybrid vehicles, enter stage left. while hybrids began appearing just prior to the new millennium, the technology has skyrocketed and only looks to become more and more advanced. we have probably seen just the tip of the iceberg.

10. Digital Cameras. i distinctly remember, in 2001ish, having a conversation with an award-winning, incredible photographer friend about how a lot of people are selling out to digital cameras and how they'll never be able to even come close to film cameras. ummm... yeah.... well, i will say that there's still something great about film cameras, there's just not much place for the slowness and cost of film these days.

09. Facebook. facebook started as an exclusive website intended to network college students. now, 5 years later, your mom and your grandma are on it. :) in many ways, facebook can thank myspace. on the heels of the myspace boom, facebook built on myspace's success by doing several things: cleaning up the ui, allowing for greater privacy and focusing on networks. going into the next decade, facebook only seems to be gaining steam.

08. Myspace. speaking of the devil... in 2003, a few people decided to duplicate the idea of friendster and within a matter of days, launched myspace. within a matter of years, myspace was the most highly visited site on the web. its explosion was unparalleled and ushered in the craze of social media. while it's clear that facebook is more lasting and just better than myspace, it can be overstated how absolutely huge myspace's impact was on the decade.

07. Youtube. one of the chief descriptors of the 2000s is that everyone became a celebrity. from reality tv to social networking, anyone could become famous. but nothing was more at the forefront of everyday celebrity than youtube. wanna be a rockstar? upload a video of you singing a backstreet boys song. wanna be an instant internet meme? just upload a video of you doing something wacky. youtube continues to be a leader in instant video gratification.

06. Tivo/DVR. remember when you had to incessantly fast forward, rewind and, god forbid, watch commercials??!! that was life before tivo and the proliferation of dvr's. tivo didn't just duplicate the vcr experience. it absolutely, fundamentally changed the way we interacted with tv and each other. i don't have to watch survivor on thursday night at 7 p.m. sharp. i can take the phone call at 6:54 and watch survivor later. i don't have to hold it until a commercial break. i can run late in getting home from work. why? i have tivo.

05. iMac. sure, there was already a self-contained computer (the original imac). sure, there are computers with better out-of-the-box specs. BUT, in 2001, when steve jobs revealed that hemispherical base with the rotating neck, the computer game changed. since that time, the imac has evolved into simply a thin monitor that is fully-contained. ultimately, this is more of a symbol of apple's innovation and commitment to beautiful, functional design throughout the last decade.

04. Twitter. twitter is the baby of the list...and it's #4. that alone should tell you about the impact. facebook is huge. myspace is huge. there's blogs and tumblr and all these other things, and twitter beats them all. why? because of its immediacy of impact and cultural saturation. while it certainly got annoying, over the last several months, you couldn't go an hour without hearing some news outlet run a story about it or a talk show do a segment about it. twitter is everywhere and that isn't changing any time soon.

03. iPhone. i almost put this #1 and i think it could be, but we may have to wait a year or so more to see its greatest peak. the iphone simply revolutionized the cell phone industry. in literally the span of a keynote by steve jobs in 2007, the iphone became the standard-bearer for an industry in which it had never been a part. the iphone is innovative, beautiful, forward-thinking and just plain cool.

02. Google. what more can we say about google? it's incredible simplicity is almost what makes it so great. how does a simple homepage with next to nothing on it become a cultural and technological sensation? google now runs the world and it's everywhere. besides the website, they have a mobile platform, apps and, of course, they own youtube.

01. iPod. much life google, how does a little white box that holds music become such a global phenomenon? from the little white earbuds to the catchy commercials, the ipod is one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable technological innovations of all time. since its inception in 2001, apple has continued to innovate and introduce new features. what's next for the ipod? who knows, but i'm guessing it will continue to push the bounds of technological creativity. and, of course, sell zillions.

so there you have it. there's the list. what do you think? i've certainly missed some big stories. what are they? i've, no doubt, ranked some things too high or too low. what are they? help me to flesh out and "correct" my list.

see you in a few days with my next list: sports moments.

25 in the 2000s: religious stories

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:29:00 +0000

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.

it seem as if the last 10 years have been a particularly explosive and salient time in the world of religion. from a new pope to the brazen use of religion in political campaigns to the culture of islamic suspicion since 9/11, religion has been at the forefront of conversation and headlines. in the following list, i'll talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of the decade in religion.

25. Westboro Baptist Church. fred phelps and his legion of crazies in topeka, kansas have been around for several decades, but it's over the last 10 years that they've soared to the top of the headlines for their anti-gay picketing as well as protesting of deceased soldiers' funerals. as the homosexuality debate within the church increases, we'll only see more of their sad antics.

24. Christian Publishing Bestsellers. it's difficult to talk about american christianity, particularly, in the last decade without talking about the christian book publishing frenzy. from the left behind series (and subsequent awful films) to the prayer of jabez to anything by joel osteen, christians couldn't get enough of cheesy, watered-down theology in book form. sure, we had moments of light like don miller's blue like jazz, but that was a bit of an oasis in the desert of bad.

23. Jyllands-Posten Muhammad Cartoons Controversy. in 2005, the danish newspaper, jyllands-posten, ran 12 editorial cartoons largely depicting image of the prophet muhammad. to put it lightly, muslims weren't that fond of the cartoons, leading to protests, violence in the streets, burning of the danish embassies in syria, lebanon and iran and eventual death threats.

22. Faith Based Government Programs. one of president bush's hallmark domestic policies was the formation of the white house office of faith-based and community initiatives in 2001. of all the blunders that bush orchestrated, this initiative was actually successful, as he realized the financial and numerical power of the faith community in the united states. in 2009, president obama chose to continue the program.

21. Lakeland Revival/Todd Bentley. also known as the florida healing outpouring, this 2008 revival—originally intended to last 5 nights—lasted for over six months. led by evangelist todd bentley of fresh fire ministries, it was estimated that over 140,000 attended and 1.2 million watched online. on its own, the revival was a big story, but it became even bigger when abc's nightline ran a report detailing bentley's false healing claims, finances and criminal history.

20. Christian Music Goes Mainstream. the aughts were the best of times for christian music and the worst of times. sadly, the worst of times may be ultimately more fitting, but certainly, when it was good it was good. from p.o.d. to switchfoot to flyleaf, christian music has regularly found its way onto mainstream airwaves and the rotation at mtv. in a spiritually charged culture, it's become less difficult to make it big.

19. Jeremiah Wright. former pastor of trinity united church of christ—the obama family's home church in chicago—reverend wright became a lightning rod in the 2008 presidential campaigns due to his inflammatory statements such as "god damn america" and the "united states of kkk america". famously, wright's remarks led to obama's speech titled, a more perfect union.

18. The Rise of Scientology. in the mid-50s, l. ron hubbard—founder of scientology—launched project celebrity in which he targeted celebrities to convert to scientology in order to become prominent disseminators of the religion. it worked. and in the last decade, these efforts have been particularly in the forefront with the likes of tom cruise and john travolta singing its praises. the greatest scientology moment, of course: "matt, matt, matt, matt...you're glib."

17. Postmodernism/Relativism. it's difficult to overstate the impact of postmodernism on today's religious landscape. cultures shift and american religious culture has decidedly shifted toward relativism in which all religions are equal in truth (or non-truth) value. all in all, though, i've consistently said that postmodernism is quite possibly a good thing for christianity, as long as the church understands it and reacts properly.

16. Saddleback Church Presidential Debate. regardless of whether you like or dislike rick warren and saddleback church, it's certainly a monumental moment in our nation's history when a presidential debate is held at a church—or any religious establishment, for that matter—and centers around issues of faith. now, unfortunately, the "debate" wasn't really a debate and the questions were pretty softball, but it was still a big moment in religion and politics.

15. The Rise of the Megachurch. speaking of saddleback, the impact of the rise of the megachurch can't be overstated. saddleback alone has been responsible for mass copycatting across the united states and when you throw in joel osteen's lakewood church, ed young's fellowship church and willow creek, the effect is only duplicated that much more. don't get me wrong, there's been some good stuff from all the aforementioned churches, but certainly, the megachurch mentality has also done some damage to the american church psyche.

14. Mother Teresa’s Season of Doubt. nearly 5 years after her death, mother teresa's diaries were published and some fascinating and somewhat shocking revelations were discovered. no one knew, but for nearly 50 years, she struggled with what she described as great emptiness in her spiritual life. her life and ministry were plagued with doubts and uncertainties about her life's mission. it was a great reminder that even the giants of the faith experience intense seasons of doubt.

13. The Rise of the Christian Blogosphere. much like mainstream culture, for better or for worse, the blogosphere has given way to the culture of "everyone-has-a-voice." i view this as largely a good thing, whereas the powerful are no longer in control of the conversation. there's a wealth of information, insight, criticism and speculation out there concerning religion. while certainly the blogosphere has always paved the way for some good ol' wars of words, it's been largely a great thing.

12. A New Pope.in 2005, the world mourned the loss of one of the most beloved pope's, john paul II, and watched as pope benedict XVI was elected as the new leader of the catholic church. while there is certainly quite a bit of grandiosity and excess to the election of a new pope that i find sad and off-putting, it is certainly a sight that i found myself glued to via nearly every news outlet on television and the internet. benedict has brought a new era of conservatism, so his election had an immediate theological impact on the world's largest religious group.

11. 9/11 and the Islam Fallout. little more can be said about the impact of 9/11, but one of the realities is that it brought the world of islam to the forefront. sadlly for our islamic friends, it brought forth, more or less, only the worst aspects. in a single moment, a group of extremists hijacked (seriously, no pun intended) a religion and (likely) forever changed the american perspective of it. while there were pockets of american empathy toward islamic arab-americans, there have been much greater areas of suspicion and disdain.

10. Jerry Falwell. in 2007, the world lost one of the most controversial, bombastic, fundamentalist, in-the-news, fear-mongering pastors it ever knew. there's plenty to say about the founder of thomas road baptist church, liberty university and the moral majority, but his remarks about the 9/11 tragedy may best summarize his gift to the 2000s:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

09. Ted Haggard. "pastor ted" was the founder and former pastor of new life church in colorado springs, colorado, founder of the association of life-giving churches and leader of the national association of evangelicals. annnnnnnd, then he had an affair with a gay prostitute and smoked some meth. the proverbial shit, indeed, hit the fan. haggard was certainly demonized by all sides, but i have to say, after watching the documentary, the trials of ted haggard, i felt deep sympathy towards a man who is clearly repentant and continuing to fight demons.

08. The New Atheism. over the last decade, there has been a national conversation, following a series of best-selling books and media spots, that has been called the new atheism. led by authors such as sam harris, daniel dennett, richard dawkins and christopher hitchens, their plight to remove religion from the public consciousness has gained quite a bit of traction in the light of christian hypocrisy, scandals and the perception of islam following 9/11.

07. The New Calvinists. oh, the new calvinists. my friends..... led by the likes of john piper, mark driscoll, matt chandler, al mohler and even ed stetzer (to an extent), this group has looked to restore "correct doctrine" while doing church in modern, relevant ways. some of the hallmarks of this group are militant doctrine, regular attacks on anyone connected to the emerging church (though they've co-opted the term in some situations) and extreme conservative political stances that are equated to biblical standards. which brings me to my next point...

06. The Emerging Church. in the late 90s, a group of young pastors—including tony jones, doug pagitt, chris seay, mark driscoll and brian mcclaren—gathered to talk about the shifts happening in american christianity. after a couple fallouts and a bit of splintering, emergent village formed and began to reshape the way many "emerging" christians viewed scripture, the church and god himself. since that time, many "denominations" of emerging churches have since been named, but regardless of the splintering, the impact continues to grow and mutate.

05. The Joel Osteen Effect. dubbed "cotton candy theology", joel osteen's message is as fluffy as his mullet and cheesy smile. BUT, let me not downplay the immense effect he's had on christianity in the last 10 years. for better or for worse, osteen is one of the leading voices in the american christianity consciousness. his book are little more than self-help books, but they've caught like wildfire and can assuredly find their way to the top of the new york times bestseller list with each release.

04. The Passion Of The Christ. christians are desperate for heroes. and they found one in 2004's the passion of the christ director mel gibson. the guy who womanized throughout the better part of the 80s and 90s—not to mention played mad max—was now the poster child for all that's good and holy. the intense sensationalism and controversy surrounding the movie easily made it one of the top religious stories of the past decade (and beyond). the movie, despite all the aforementioned swirling issues, was actually a well-made and well-directed movie.

03. Catholic Priest Sex Scandal. one of the sad realities of this decade is that you cannot talk about it without bringing up the catholic priest sex scandal. after millions of dollars of legal settlements and under-the-table priest-shuffling, the catholic church has faced an intense amount of deserved shame. many were to blame for this fiasco. the evil of the actual molestation is at the root, but the many people who helped to cover this up and turn the blind eye were of equal blame.

02. The Homosexuality Debate. another sad reality of the past decade in religion is the intense and ongoing homosexuality debate. in the first half of the decade, george bush and karl rove devised a plan to rally their base, campaigning on a traditional interpretation of marriage. what occurred was that the evangelical population bit and the church found itself engrossed in a hotbed of political and religious debate. it has only intensified since now that various denominations have visited the issue of gay clergy. ultimately, the most disappointing aspect of the debate is that it really stems from a certain political stance and was then co-opted by a particular brand of christianity. i'm not suggesting that this conversation doesn't have a place in the church (it does), but the tone and vigor of debate should be very, very different. which brings me to #1...

01. Christian = Republican. karl rove deserves an award. he deserves a shrine or a monument. no one in the history of politics have been able to pull off such a great and sweeping coup as what happened when karl rove, george bush and the republican party convinced millions of evangelical christians that one of the pillars of christian expression is voting only for republicans. to vote for a democrat is to vote against your god, your scriptures and your conscience. amazing. for decades, many christians actually sided with democrats (like my ultra-conservative grandparents), but the elections of 2000 and 2004 changed the game for a very long time. the trickle-down effect is that, now, in order to be a doctrinally-sound, morally-upright christian (shall i say, a new calvinist…), you must despise barack obama and any policy he propagates. you must put abortion at the top of your sins list, or, at minimum, gay marriage. you must vehemently oppose anyone who doesn't want to throw out all the immigrants. you must wave the banner of war and the death penalty. these things, of course, are at the heart of christianity and, subsequently, republicanism.

so there you have it. there's the list. what do you think? i've certainly missed some big stories. what are they? i've, no doubt, ranked some things too high or too low. what are they? help me to flesh out and "correct" my list.

see you in a few days with my next list: technological innovations.

25 in the 2000s: an introduction

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:00:00 +0000

the year: 1999. your shopping list: several flash lights, 4 or 5 large packs of batteries, a few cases of bottled water, nonperishable food items, a swiss army knife and several boxes of zombie repellant.

why? y2k, of course.

yes, in 1999, the world prepared itself for the certain meltdown of all that we had previously known as organized civilization. now, we find ourselves in 2009—a decade later—still waiting for the world to come to a screeching halt. while we're waiting, though, i thought it would be a good time to bask in what has been a great decade: the aughts.

so it is that i bring you my latest blog series that i'm simply calling, 25 in the 2000s, in which i'll recap 25 items representing the good, bad and the ugly from the past 10 years (2000-2009). an important disclaimer is that this isn't a best of series. it's certainly part best of, but it's more of a hybrid best/my favorite/important series. some of the realities i'll list will be things that i loved, but, from time to time, i'll offer insights that i simply did not love, to say the least.

i'll kick things off tomorrow (sunday) with the first list and it will go throughout the next few weeks. here's a list of the upcoming lists as currently planned.

1. top religious stories
2. technological innovations
3. sports moments
4. tv shows
5. movies
6. album covers
7. worst bands/artists
8. songs
9. albums
10. things that shaped the aughts

what else?? i'm up for creating some more lists (if i have any kind of knowledge/expertise in the suggested field).

so, be looking out for top religious stories tomorrow (sunday) and the rest to follow in the coming weeks.

from the eikon blog: a day of eucharist

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:38:00 +0000

here's a little something i wrote over on the eikon blog and rather than trying to force the obligatory, "what i'm thankful for..." post, i thought i'd just reblog what i wrote there.

so, happy thanksgiving.

------------------------------------------------

i grew up in a faith tradition that didn't use the vernacular of eucharist, so it wasn't too long ago that i began to explore its meaning and usage. as the word began to find its place in my sphere of acknowledgment, i soon discovered that it was simply another way of referring to what my—and others'—faith tradition referred to as communion or the lord's supper. but there's something that seems much deeper, much more rich, about the word eucharist. on this thanksgiving day, the word becomes even more vibrant and alive with meaning.

few people realize that eucharist is a greek word that literally translates to thankfulness or gratitude or giving of thanks. in paul's account of the last supper in his first letter to the church at corinth, he recounts the events of that evening,

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks (eucharistéō) to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24)

jesus gave thanks—eucharist. as he gathered with his closest friends and allies, he engaged in the eucharist. for what? for his body. that would soon serve as an eternal sacrifice for the very people with whom he sat. for the wine—the symbol of his soon-to-be shed blood. for remembering. remembering the brokenness that would soon be occur.

jesus and his disciples gathered for a meal. in that time of closeness and deep sharing over the bread and the wine, jesus gave thanks. he celebrated the eucharist—thanksgiving.

so it is today. as we sit down for a meal, in a time of deep closeness and reconnection and thanksgiving with those who are closest to us, let us remember. let us break bread. let us drink the wine. let us give thanks together.

but in the end, it isn't the bread and it isn't the wine. it isn't the turkey. it isn't the dressing. it's much deeper. it's much more lasting. it's something that connects thousands of years of those who remember. those who break the bread and those who drink the wine. those who gather with friends and loved ones. those who celebrate the eucharist. those who remember the christ.

so may the god—on this thanksgiving day—who breaks the bread and pours from the cup, help us to remember to remember.

pro-abortion, anti-communion: when religion becomes a weapon

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:47:00 +0000

religion can be used as a lot of things. it can be used as a way to bring seemingly disparate people together. it can be used as a mode of transcendent conversation. it can be used as a way to connect thousands of years of generations of people and to bring hope to people who might otherwise feel hopeless. certainly, it can be used for many, many great and noble things.

but it can also be used in very dangerous and divisive ways.

sadly, those who choose to use religion as a weapon of politics has become more and more frequent and severe.

so is the case between senator patrick kennedy and roman catholic bishop thomas tobin. in an increasingly public dispute, it came out a few days ago that the bishop informed the senator that he would refuse kennedy communion due to his pro-choice stance.

religion, indeed, as a weapon.

the catholic church takes one of the hardest lines against abortion than any other denomination or religious group. their teachings have been very clear concerning this issue, and there's actually been a bit of a precedent set for this type of religious/political denial of one of the most sacred and personal sacraments.

rather than getting into all the details of this particular scenario (which you can find here), i wanted to explore our current religious/political climate that had led to this type of conflict.

it's worth stating that i am pro-life. i oppose abortion, the death penalty, war, economic disparity and unattainable/unjust healthcare disparity. all those things are equally important to me. equally. abortion isn't the trump card. i find abortion one of the saddest realities of our society, but no more sad than a war that kills hundreds of thousands of innocent (or even not-so-innocent) people for the gain of a nation.

so where do we draw the line at where/when we use religion as a political weapon?

senator patrick kennedy supports abortion. he is refused communion.

what about the soldier who kills all the inhabitants of a small village in the name of the united states of america? is he refused communion?

what about the entrepreneur who profits at the expense of others? is he refused communion?

what about the person who pulls the switch on the electric chair in a state-sanctioned killing? is he refused communion?

these are all issues of sanctity and value of life, so where do we draw the line?

but it isn't just these issues of life. if we take seriously that god doesn't weigh one sin differently than another, then we run into other majors problems.

what about gossip? what about reckless sexual activity? what about lying? what about gluttony? what about alcohol abuse? which of these are or are not denied communion?

every single week, bishop tobin and thousands of other clergy serve communion to their congregants—congregants who do all the aforementioned listed things: gossip, lying, abuses of all sorts, etc.

bishop tobin: serve senator kennedy. serve the killer and the gossiper and liar. and remind them all that when we partake in the body and blood of jesus, we acknowledge the reality that those sins were wiped away by that very broken body and spilled blood.

religion can be used for so many beautiful and healthy things. but not as a tool of political coercion or punishment. when religion is hijacked and used as a weapon of politics, it leaves everyone a prisoner to a tragic abuse.

do you f*#@ing love bacon!!??: a religious flowchart

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:17:00 +0000

over on the blog of john hardin, john posted a great religious flowchart from holy taco. so, which religion should you follow??

hbo's big love returns in january 2010

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:30:00 +0000

it's no secret that i'm a huge fan of hbo's big love. bar none, big love is my favorite tv show of all-time. it has drama, humor, mystery, intrigue, death, religion, plot twists…everything you could possibly want from a tv show.

in typical hbo fashion, the gaps between seasons of big love are long and maddening. so, it's with great excitement that i post the teaser trailer for the upcoming season—season 4—of big love that will begin in january 2010. the rumor mill has been saying that this season will see the dismantling of the family in some form or fashion and this trailer seems to hint at that (with a brilliant reference, as well, to michelangelo's the hand of god in the sistine chapel).

enjoy (despite its fuzziness).

our sweet little olive turns 1

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:30:00 +0000

one year. wow.

it's nearly impossible to avoid all the necessary clichés with this type of post. it feels like yesterday... time flies... she'll be a teenager before you know it. blah blah blah. the reality, though, is that all the clichés are true, really.

it does seem like just yesterday that we were taking off for the hospital at 1:30 in the morning and seeing olive for the first time just a little after 5 a.m. (you can read the overview of those events here). time does fly when you have a sweet little girl that turns 1 without you realizing that even a day or a week has passed. and yes, the reality that she'll be all grown up very soon sets in when you begin making plans for that first birthday party.

but without dwelling on too many of the overused descriptors, i thought i would offer a few thoughts on our little girl. the number 1 question we've gotten over the last year from people is, "is she always like this?" the fact is, olive is one of the sweetest, most content babies you'll find. she just has a loving, sweet spirit that takes in the world around her without demanding too much attention or care. olive just does olive.

i think she's going to be patient and strong when she grows up. she's had to be in order to survive the attacks of big sister. :) lucy can certainly beat up on olive from time to time, but olive continues to love and adore lucy. she looks up to her already and loves to waddle behind her through the house, just waiting for the next unsuspecting pounce.

simply put, olive is beautiful. i know every parent thinks this, but there's just some spark in olive's little eyes that makes you melt when she looks at you. whether she's laughing or crying, olive is a beautiful reminder that she's a reflection of all of god's beauty and created perfection.

so, to olive, on her first birthday, i love you. you have made my life more full and complete. life without you is darker and less beautiful. you are a reflection of your beautiful big sister and stunning mother. you remind me to laugh when i don't feel like laughing and to cry tears of joy in those moments when nothing around me seems joyous. you melt my heart and repair it all at once.

i love you olive. happy birthday.

twitter me this: 5 twitter gripes

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:05:00 +0000

i love twitter.

for a lot of different reasons. it's fast, it's streamlined, it's connective, it's educational, it allows regular exercise in brevity, it's ADD-friendly, it's bridge-building, it's uniquely expressive. :) it's all this and more.

but.

i do have a handful of gripes. there's several things that consistently bug me on twitter. one of the beauties of twitter is that it's not too strictly-defined, so you can use it for whatever purposes you might have. so my list of gripes is highly personal. it isn't like these things are violations of some kind of twitter equivalent to the code of hammurabi or the 10 commandments. and while i do think my list is probably shared by a large number of twitterers, it's still necessary to say that it's just sorta "one of those things" kind of deals for me and maybe not for anyone else.

alright, here's my list.

1. reciprocity. so, the basic idea is, "i follow you, you gotta follow me." um, not so much. i simply have no interest in following someone just because they follow me. and i'm not talking about spammers here. i'm talking anyone. if i get followed by the dude down the street from me, i don't feel obligated to reciprocally follow him—unless i find him interesting or engaging or whatever. honestly, i have a hard time keeping up with the nearly 200 people i follow as is, so i'm very choosy about who i follow at this point.

2. twexperts. generally speaking, if i see someone say something about being a "twitter guru" or "social media expert" or some close facsimile thereof, i don't follow that person. don't get me wrong, there are certainly twitter experts and social media mavens who really know what they're doing, but it's more about having to tell everyone you're that person and proving it by posting 400 tweets a day about it. just engage twitter and let me see for myself that you know what you're doing. don't tell me.

3. twreally? speaking of "twexperts", let's take it easy on adding a tw- to the beginning of every word. i'm mean, tweriously. see how dumb that sounds? now, there's some appropriate times, admittedly. if it's insanely clever or obviously a joke, it's ok. but if it doesn't fall into those categories, then we're just dealing with over-saturation of a once-clever phenomenon.

4. follow-whoring. this probably isn't what you think it is. i'm not referring to people who ask people to follow them or retweet them or hype their thing. (although we'll get to that...). what i'm referring to is the obsession with people tweeting, blogging and linking to things about how to increase your followers. the worst part is that i see this a lot from well-known, highly-followed twitterers. it's not just joe followwhore doing it. having a broad base of listeners is great, but being followed by the masses is much more about ego than influence.

5. twassumptions. oh, the humanity...i did it again with the tw-... :) i began with a bit of a disclaimer by saying that one of the beauties of twitter is that it isn't overly-defined. twitter is a micro-blog. it's a way to goof off. it's a multi-person instant messenger. it's a means of having a voice. it's a stalking tool. :) it's all those things. it's none of those things. it's more than those things. so, that's why it drives me nuts when people have assumptions of what twitter must be. i've had a couple people tell me to lighten up with some of my tweets because this should be a place that's playful and not too serious. why is that? if you want to spend your days tweeting about imminent death and all things morbid, more power to you. i've also, on the other hand, had people say that they're tired of me "goofing off" on twitter. why is that? if you want to talk about the smell of your farts and tell knock knock jokes all day, more power to you.

so, these are the 5 things that come up over and over for me in terms of gripes on twitter. i could list more (people twittering in massive clusters, people writing articles/blog posts about "twitter 101", people taking things personally, people who state the obvious and act like it's breaking news, people who don't actually reply but rather just type a new tweet, etc.), but this will suffice for now.

so, have a good time with twitter. do your thing, but just lay off these 5 things and the twittersphere will be a happier place. :)

do you have any twitter gripes? what bugs you about twitter? leave a comment!

pulaski academy, marching bands & the new racism

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:11:00 +0000

when i saw, on the arkansas blog, the teaser, "A local blogger has written—unhappily—that Pulaski Academy won't send its band to a football playoff game in Helena-West Helena", i thought this was going to be a flashback to 1993 when the conway high school football team lost to pine bluff in the state championship game. after a searing defeat, some conway fans looked for a direction in which their finger could point. of all places, they found the band, saying that their minimal playing caused the team to lose. yes, you read that correctly: the band's lack of horns and drums and cymbals. so when i saw this headline, i thought i was in for the same disbelief from nearly 16 years ago.

that, though, is not what i discovered.

what i found was a piece written by the parent of a pulaski academy student exploring the reasons behind the decision for pulaski academy's band to forego the trip to PA's first-round playoff game at helena-west helena. her conclusion: social elitism.

the crux of the issue is that the band parents of pulaski academy—primarily composed of privileged white kids—don't want their kids traveling to a town—primarily composed of poor black people (70% black, over 50% under poverty line)—in which "past events in the area" have caused concern. as the blogger points out, i don't know what the "past events" are, but i think it's safe to assume that "past events" actually means "there's a lot of poor black people just waiting to shoot my child."

in reading the blogger's thoughts about the PA band issue, i couldn't help but to think about the broader story line here. whereas i have strong feelings about (not) sending kids to private schools (especially private, christian schools), i don't want to just pick on pulaski academy. the big issue is that racism is alive and well and in many ways, more subversive than the out-in-the-open version 60 years ago.

my working thesis here is that the new racism is racial avoidance.

people know you cannot get away with saying you don't like black people (or any minority group). you simply cannot be blatantly racist without swift and severe social consequences. you have to say things like "past events in the area" or that you just want your kids to "feel safe in their school" or, my favorite, that you moved to a different town because "iron sharpens iron" (a.k.a. everyone looks, thinks and acts like me).

so what can you do? you avoid other races. you move out of little rock. or you move only to hillcrest or the heights. you drive your child across town to go to a certain school when another's just a couple miles away. you visibly convey your confusion and disdain when a coworker tells you that they send their children to a little rock public school. you drive to walmart 10 miles away instead of going to your neighborhood grocery store just minutes away. you go to church where everyone looks the same as you.

you stay away. you arrange your life in such a way that you only come into contact with black people when it's inexorable. you avoid.

that's racism. putting a sign above the lesser water fountain signaling that this is the appropriate fountain for a black person to drink out of is atrocious. but uprooting your life and your family and colonizing with only those who look like you is twisted. avoidance takes long-term commitment to a life separated. it's lifelong. it's passed down. it breeds itself.

it's also much more widespread and "accepted" than outright racism. let's just put it out there: why do you think cabot is the fastest-growing city in arkansas? one of the notoriously whitest communities in arkansas is the fastest growing? coincidence? maybe. but there's likely something much more veiled and unspoken than shear coincidence.

why has home schooling skyrocketed over the last 20 years (among several reasons)? why has private school enrollment dramatically increased in urban areas? why am i sometimes the only white person in the entire grocery store that sits right at the foot of the quapaw quarter?

the new racism is underground. it's unspoken. avoidance is veiled in niceties but is just as or more sinister than what we've seen in the past.

it's time for us to seek out others who don't look like us. who don't act like us or believe like us or who don't share the same cultural customs. learn something. share something. just be around something different.

anne pressly & curtis vance: the uncomfortable unspoken reality

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +0000

for this post, i'm working under the assumption that most of you know the story of the rape and murder of little rock news anchor anne pressly. it's a heartbreaking and deeply saddening story that received a little closure today with the announcement that vance was found guilty of all charges.

as a father to two daughters, i can't begin to imagine what it would be like to be anne pressly's parents and family. the deep, deep pain would be unbearable and it would be difficult to maintain any semblance of a normal life. it's honestly hard for me to think about it as i write this.

on the other hand, though, as i watch all the coverage of the trial, i keep coming back to one particular thing: i have a deep sense of sorrow that goes out to curtis vance and his family.

in the midst of this horrific time for anne pressly's family, there's just something in me that keeps thinking about the loss that's being experienced by curtis vance's family. granted, they haven't physically lost him like the pressly family, but they soon could if he's sentenced to death and either way, he's going to be locked in a cage for the rest of his life.

i want to be very clear: i don't want to downplay the brutal nightmare that anne pressly experienced and that her family is now experiencing.

that is not my intent. rather, my intent is to shed light on the fringes. to uncover what's been brushed away by society and to engage a conversation about what is culturally frowned-upon.

this, of course, is the acknowledgement that curtis vance—the killer, the rapist, the criminal—is a human being.

there's an uncomfortable and unspoken reality in this all that there are multiple victims in this tragic case. anne pressly. her parents. her friends. her colleagues. the hillcrest community. our city of little rock. all victims.

but curtis vance also has a soul. he has a family. he has people who invested time in his life. he has grandparents. he has a Creator.

something isn't right when people hurt and kill and rape and brutalize people. something isn't as it should be. but that shouldn't make us push those people away. rather, it should compel us to invest even more in those people. i'm not suggesting that curtis vance wouldn't have still done this horrific thing, but i am suggesting his odds would have been better of making it. growing up in poverty pushes people to extremes. growing up in abusive situations radically alters peoples' lives. having drug addicted parents tweaks what was once right and good.

i'm not saying curtis vance shouldn't go to prison. he certainly should. i'm not saying curtis vance should be excused of his crimes. he certainly should not. and i'm not saying curtis vance was something who we'd all love to hang out with. he probably wasn't.

but what i am saying is that we shouldn't insist on the proverbial lock him up and throw away the key. we shouldn't—as someone (a christian) said on facebook earlier—prime the needle! we should pray for curtis vance. we should pray for his family. we should look at him as a human being, a deeply troubled human being. we should, as jesus suggested, go visit him in prison. we should engage in the work of seeking out at-risk young people like curtis vance and investing in their future.

the death of anne pressly is a horrific tragedy. and so is the dismissal of curtis vance's life. let us not forget either of those things.

from mcsweeney's: an open letter to the guy at my gym who screams when he lifts weights.

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:14:00 +0000

mcsweeney's consistently produces both quality and hilarious content. one of their best ongoing series is their Open Letters to People or Entities Who are Unlikely to Respond. it's reminiscent of the Budweiser Real Men of Genius commercials from several years ago, but even smarter and more biting.

i came across one today that was so great that i had to repost here. you can find it at the mcsweeney's website or you can read it here. we've all seen (or know) this dude, so i thought it's something the beingryanbyrd crowd would enjoy. so, enjoy.

---------------------------------------

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE GUY AT MY GYM WHO SCREAMS WHEN HE LIFTS WEIGHTS.

November 9, 2009

- - - -

Dear Mr. Gym Screamer,

I applaud your intensity, your work ethic, and your dedication to building freakishly huge biceps while managing to utterly forsake those fragile, colt-like stilts where your legs should be. During those brief moments that you lower yourself to look my way, you are no doubt perplexed by my apparent fascination with the treadmill and the rowing machine, and comforted by the fact that the otherworldly orange glow of your leathery tan eclipses me as you walk by. I am like a pale, thin ghost next to your magnificence, but you don't need me to tell you that.

I can see in your eyes that you are smugly congratulating yourself on the knowledge that you could beat the ever-living shit out of me. This is probably true, provided you could catch me, but I don't mind. I also don't mind that you cause such a riot of commotion, what with all the noisy breathing and those heavy plates crashing to the ground. Nor do I mind that you spend so much time staring lovingly into the mirror at your profile, though this is unnecessary; just ask anyone in the gym and they'll assure you that your arms are wicked huge, bro.

What I do mind are those startling war screams that occasionally escape from somewhere inside your bowels. When you did this yesterday, I nearly dropped the weights I was holding. It sounded like a cross between a dry heave and the come cry of some fantasy-novel humanoid—an ogre perhaps. Dry heaves are disgusting, and I imagine ogre sex is too.

After the initial shock of your gurgled scream wore off, I had only the sincerest concern. I assumed that anyone uttering that sound must have just had an aneurysm, and would be lying dead on the floor, or was perhaps battling a mean case of Giardia, and would be standing in a puddle of liquid excrement. I was, however, annoyed when I figured out that it was just you again, living in your steroid-induced moment of pure, weightlifting ecstasy.

So I beg you, please tone it down, so that I might break my humble sweat in peace. And save some of that intensity and energy for all of the nubile young women in the gym who are most certainly lusting after you. Because, as you are well aware, there's nothing hotter than bulging shoulder veins tearing at the seams of a sleeveless T-shirt with the neck cut out.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Kime

when churches attack!: scaring the hell out of the masses, pt. 2

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:06:00 +0000

last week, on halloween, i blogged about the phenomenon over the last 20-30 years of churches putting on what's commonly known as hell houses. to put it lightly, i didn't really give them a glowing endorsement. :) you can read it in its entirety here.

well, the plot thickened yesterday when listening to a podcast of which i'm a subscriber. the drew marshall show is (i believe) the highest rated christian talkshow in canada (and well known for this video). he had a segment called is scaring the hell out of people the right way to sell jesus? obviously my ears pricked.

in it, he played the audio of a youtube video that was mind-blowing. so, i thought it was an appropriate follow-up. without further ado, here's the video.

**DISCLAIMER: if graphic, bloody scenes of abortion and suicide bother you, then this is not the video to watch. oh, and if you're so saddened by the actions of some groups of radical christians that you're on the brink of losing your faith, it's probably also best to not watch this as it will probably set you over the edge...**

when churches attack!: scaring the hell out of the masses

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:15:00 +0000

wanna talk eternity? hell yes?

hell no, actually.

tonight, across the country, there's a wave of church productions that will be saying no to hell as well. eternity house. hell house. i'm sure there are other names than those out there, but maybe you've heard of one of these in some similar iteration.

in case you're not aware of this phenomenon that has gained momentum over the last 10-20 years, here's how our friends at wikipedia describe it:

Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by American, fundamentalist Christian churches or parachurch groups. These depict sin, the torments of the damned in Hell, and usually conclude with a depiction of heaven. They are most typically operated in the days preceding Halloween, although they are not part of the holiday.

A hell house, like a conventional haunted-house attraction, is a space set aside in which actors attempt to frighten patrons with gruesome exhibits and scenes. The format is that the various scenes are presented as a series of short vignettes with a narrated guide. Unlike haunted houses, hell houses focus on occasions and effects of sin or the fate of unrepentant sinners in the afterlife. They are scheduled during the month of October to capitalize on the similarities between hell houses and haunted attractions.

The exhibits at a hell house often have a controversial tone and focus on sins that are also issues of concern to evangelicals in the United States. Hell houses frequently feature exhibits that depict sin and its consequences. Common examples include abortion, suicide, use of alcoholic beverages and other recreational drugs, adultery and pre-marital sex, occultism, homosexuality, and Satanic ritual abuse. Hell houses typically emphasize the belief that anyone who does not accept Christ as their personal savior is damned to Hell.

as you can gather, they're a barrel of monkeys!

i know you'll all be surprised to learn that i'm not a big fan of these. shocking, i know.

but i don't want to just dump all over the concept without going into a little of why i harbor these feelings and beliefs.

DISCLAIMERS

the first important piece of information to offer about these productions is that i've been involved with them in the past. i was actually in one nearly 10 years ago. not only was i in it, but i played the most menacing character of them all: satan. yes, i was satan. [insert ryan is satan joke here] :)

while the past is what it is, let me say a couple things. first, i was a very different person then than i am now. that's moderately self-explanatory. second, even then, i felt conflicted about the whole thing. i actually knew nothing about it when i got talked into doing it and, surprisingly, never even saw it fully acted out until a couple days before it was showtime. throughout the handful of performances, i felt uncomfortable with various elements, but felt compelled to fulfill my obligation. by the final night, i had little trouble deciding that this wasn't something i'd be involved with again.

so, that's an important piece of my argument. i'm not just a critical outsider. i was actually a part of it.

another important disclaimer in this is that my time spent with this production taught me a very important thing: there are many, many sincere, well-intentioned people who are behind these and are a part of these. these people are not bad people. they are not hateful people who want to prey on people's vulnerabilities. these are people who genuinely want people to accept jesus.

ok, now for the giant but...

THE CORE PROBLEM

while my beef involves various bits of theological minutiae, the overarching issue i have is the core driving force behind these productions: fear mongering.

one of my pet peeves is seeing people driven by fear. fear makes people put 37 locks on their doors. it makes people move out of certain parts of the city. it makes people vote for certain candidates. it makes people reluctantly (or not-so-reluctantly, at times) support war and torturing. it makes people hate other people.

but fear has also been used in religious contexts for thousands of years. fear doesn't only make us do "bad things." sometimes fear pushes us to do "good things". like accept jesus. like do whatever it takes to avoid burning for eternity in some place called hell. like make a hasty decision after experiencing frightening scenes of death and eternal damnation.

allow me to make a case from the world of psychology.

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG'S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

kohlberg is an american psychologist who developed a six-stage moral development theory. in brief, his series works from stage 1 being the most simplistic up to stage 6 which is the highest level of social and moral participation. (read more here.) his six stages are based around what is called the heinz dilemma, which offers the following scenario:

A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

stage 1, in essence, says that the lowest form of moral recognition is based on fear of punishment. so, in this scenario heinz should not have broken into the man's store to steal the drug because he will go to jail, which means he's a bad person. the dilemma, in stage 1, is based around whether or not the action leads to punishment.

this, my friends, is the stage of moral reasoning that these productions pander to. fear is what makes you accept jesus. here's the equation:

not accepting jesus + dying = you will get in trouble from god which leads to burning and torturing for eternity in hell

so, the natural choice here is that if i want to avoid punishment, i will accept jesus. the equation then becomes:

accepting jesus + dying = jesus is happy with me and lets me live with him for eternity where it's white and they play mercy me songs forever and ever

CONCLUSION

so, what do we do with this? am i saying that everyone who accepts jesus via this production is actually just as lost as when they came in? no. am i saying that the people who lead the production are actively leading people to a false sense of salvation? no. am i saying that these productions might actually do more harm than good? maybe. probably so. am i saying that there's a much better ethic of introducing people to jesus? absolutely.

i agree with my brothers and sisters who run these productions. to the question of eternity, i say hell no.

moreover, though, i say yes to a message of love. i say yes to a jesus sees god in everyone. i say yes to a god of grace. i say yes to a christ who breaks bread with the drunk and the whore and the religious alike.

a solution to the little rock homeless problem: let them die

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:49:00 +0000

on any given day, there are thousands of people living in the streets of little rock. we have to walk by them. we have to hear them ask for money. we have to cross to the other side of the street when we see them ahead. we have to feel guilty when we drive by in our hard-earned suv.

it's a real problem.

so, i'm offering a solution: let them die.

any time i have a situation where keen problem-solving is required, i like to try to create solutions that are realistic. this one certainly is.

letting homeless people die. it seems to be working so far. certainly, there are some people aiding them by giving a few cents when asked and others who run shelters to help to keep them alive, but for the most part, this solution is already being enacted.

ok, ok...maybe you're right. my solution does seem a little harsh. but it also seems effective, right. zero homeless people living = zero homeless problem.

we're in good luck because we're entering a season in which this solution could be expedited. mother nature calls it winter. it's cold. it's rainy. and if we're lucky, it's snowy. not to mention that suicide rates are the highest during the holiday months due to depression. so, all the pieces are here for a real problem-solver.

now, there are some of you already preparing to fight this solution and actually try to help homeless people. you guys are making it difficult for us hard-working, proud, god-fearing home-dwellers.

in fact, there is one particular person and group who is actively seeking to destroy my effective and unifying effort by creating a counter-assault. her name is libby delay and not only is she part of the eikon church community (who is consistently up to no-good...), but she's a part of the soar network, a comprehensive network dedicated to improving the quality of life of the homeless of central arkansas. as you might guess, this organization is a real buzzkill to my idea...

libby is heading up an organization within the soar network called warm spaces. in essence, what this group is trying to create is a network of churches and businesses who can provide 90 days/nights (december through february) of spaces where the homeless can sleep and escape the cold of the winter. they're hoping to kick off december 1, so they're actively seeking people to offer their spaces for use. in addition to spaces, volunteers will are needed to stay overnight, help with security checks and be of general assistance.

if you want to see for yourself how ridiculous this is, here's a clip of libby being interviewed on thv's this morning:

as you can see, this is a bunch of hooey.

so, join with us in letting homeless people die.

it's only a matter of time, really.

designing obama: scott thomas talks about obama design campaign

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:10:00 +0000

i don't write a lot about design, but i have certainly written my fair share about politics. this is a post where those two things meet.

if you've kept up with my blog since at least this time last year, you know that i'm, um, to say the least, a supporter of president obama. one of the many layers of his campaign and subsequent victory that i focused on was the design campaign that was particularly pivotal. never in the history of presidential (or any other kind) elections has design played such a prominent role than it did with obama's campaign. everyone knows obama's logo. everyone knows the "obama blue" and everyone knows gotham font (even if they don't know it's called gotham...which i still regularly find myself obsessed with...).

no matter if how you feel or felt about obama and no matter if you voted for him or someone else, there's no denying that his design campaign was historically unparalleled and visually stunning. while we had john mccain using optima (font) and that sorta weird murky blue and while hillary clinton's website looked like something straight from bill gates' desktop, obama utilized design concepts that created both instant nostalgia and hip "now-ness". it communicated to both an older generation with its historical references and to the youngest generation with its apple-inspired freshness.

today, i came across a video of scott thomas speaking about the obama design campaign and the associated process from conception to execution. thomas was the design director for the campaign, so he was really involved in every step of the undertaking. in the video, he offers some interesting insights into the concepts and principles that most people never saw. it also—generally speaking—let's people see what it's like to thoughtfully design something, as opposed to slapping something together in 20 minutes in publisher. :)

so, take a look.

**one final note: i'll be blogging (hopefully) in the next week or so about a related project i'm involved in that i couldn't be any more excited about. it's another design meets obama type of thing that was an unexpected surprise. more on that hopefully soon.**

BeingRyanByrd.com has low self esteem, receives a facelift

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:23:00 +0000

it was just time. really.

i redesigned this website last december/january and i had just gotten really tired of staring at all the heavy colors and overworked design. so, here you have it: the newly redesigned BeingRyanByrd.com!

some of the changes are very obvious, while some are not-so-obvious. here's a quick list of changes for your perusing pleasure.

1. captain obvious here: just thought i'd point out that the overall design has been changed: new header, new background, several design tweaks in the realm of css
2. much of the sidebar remains unchanged but a couple things there: first, i've added a list of links after ditching my links page. it begins with friends/family then moves to notable theology blogs i regularly read and wraps up with other sites of interest to me. second, you'll find a prettier, tidier archives drop down menu. you can peruse throughout the last year and a half of the website there.
3. i've changed each blog post into a summary, rather than viewing the entirety of posts when the page loads. this should help with load time and allows you, the reader, to be more choosy in what you read and what you don't.
4. you'll notice a new slate of menu options. most notably, mixday and track5 have been added (whereas links has been axed). i'll spend a lot more time very soon (hopefully) talking about track5 (which i'm very excited about), but mixday is basically the online repository for the newly launched ABPG #MixDay that i'm curating. each friday, you'll find a couple new downloadable mixtapes from my coworkers. should be a lot of fun.

alright, i think those are the notable changes. so, look around and i'd love to have your feedback and if you encounter any bugs.

happy browsing.

a graphic debate: liberals vs conservatives

noreply@blogger.com (ryanByrd) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:46:00 +0000

every day and night, there's a political war that takes place on network and cable television, pitting republicans and democrats, conservatives and liberals and certainly other oppositional euphemisms against each other. generally, it can be as mild as a unhelpful caricatures or as aggressive as an uninformed shouting match.

well, someone has come along and prettied up the debate. :)

i swiped this graphic from bryan jones' extraawesome.com (via dataviz) and it lays out the polar viewpoints in both a graphically beautiful and helpfully insightful way. certainly, one could argue that this uses a handful of terms a little too simplistically, but nevertheless, it helps to makes sense of—if nothing else—the cultural and sociological forces that drives the left vs right debate.

so, check it out and see what you think. (click to see it larger)