Archive for August, 2005
Saturday, August 27th, 2005
IbisWorld Australia has just released its report on Gen Y and Marketing in the Sydney Morning Herald. Titled, “Advertisers Woo Net Generation”, the report looks at the ways in which those born between 1979 and 1994 are spending money on technology.
“Cashed-up and brand-conscious, the net generation spend money on DVDs, mobile phones and iPods, and advertisers are bending over backwards to woo them.”
Jason Baker says that Gen Y, 3.3 million people in Australia, are becoming increasingly cynical of advertising. He predicts that by 2007 DVDs will be superseded by the online delivery of movies and entertainment.
IbisWorld provide regular reports on strategic business information for a wide range of industries. Their monthly email is free. Their printed reports are available for the reasonable sum of $32. The Australian company is closely associated with IBISWorld USA.
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Saturday, August 27th, 2005
John August Swanson of Los Angeles is another of my favourite online artists. His painting, “Festival of Lights”, was featured on the book, “Practicing Our Faith“, and featured in the Seasons of the Spirit material a couple of years back. John provides some of the background for the painting on his site:
“It is a dark night with a star-filled sky. Tiny lights are seen on the distant hillsides, gradually becoming figures carrying candles as they come closer to the foreground of the painting. …
I thought about liturgical processions I had seen. I remembered walking with groups in candlelight for peace in Central America. The symbol of candles shining in the dark night is powerful to me. Star-filled nights are images that help give me a sense of the place we are in the universe.”
From John’s online bio:
John Swanson’s art reflects the strong heritage of storytelling he inherited from his Mexican mother and Swedish father. His narrative is direct and easily understood. He addresses himself to human values, cultural roots, and his quest for self-discovery through visual images. These include Bible stories and social celebrations such as attending the circus, the concert, and the opera. He also tells of everyday existence, of city and country walks, of visits to the library, the train station or the schoolroom. All his parables optimistically embrace life and one�s spiritual transformation.
www.johnaugustswanson.com
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Saturday, August 27th, 2005
The Daily Telegraph, based in Sydney, has just done a feature on Tom Stuart’s DVD sermons. Tom’s based in Parkes and resources a number of small rural congregations. But instead of delivering a sermon in each little place he’s prepared a sermon, recorded it on video camera and sent it out on DVD. It’s a good move. Also included in the package is a selection of childrens songs and hymns. I had a look at some of them earlier this year. Some of the music is a bit daggy. But the concept is great. The locals certainly appreciate being able to meet at their own building without having to burn themselves out preparing new learning material each week.
Here’s the introduction from Samantha Williams’ article from August 22:
“A REVEREND dressed as a bushman isn’t what you expect to see at church on Sunday, but this isn’t an average congregation.It’s 9.30am and church is about to begin but there is one thing missing - the vicar. In his place is a DVD. There were only 14 at the combined Gunningbland/Bogan Gate service at a country church that could hold 40 in the state’s west yesterday. However that didn’t deter lively interaction with congregation members. It’s a typical service with prayers, hymns, readings, youth messages � the only difference is they sit and watch a DVD, which is on a screen at the front of the church where the vicar would normally stand.”
Samantha finishes with a reader survey. “Would a DVD sermon encourage you to go to church?”
There’s an in-house story on the Mid-Lachlan region in NSW Synod, Uniting Church Insights Magazine.
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Saturday, August 27th, 2005
I’ve put up my third podcast at PostKiwi Podcasts - on heaven.
It’s a 50 minute dialogue from Logan Uniting Church, Sunday evening, August 21, 2005. (16 MB) mp3 file.This was part of worship.com, a worship experience aimed at young adults.
We started with three TV adverts, including the Carlton Draught Big Ad, DB Heaven and God Tabasco. See notes from last weekend for input from Mercy Me and CS Lewis, “The Great Divorce”.
We broke up into groups for 10 minutes to brainstorm questions and imagery. The questions ranged from “What will we do in heaven?” to “What about people from other religions?” and “Will there be Playstation in heaven?”
Podcasting sermons is not as easy I thought it might be. First of all - there’s the quality of the tape. Using a lapel radio microphone leaves a bit of hiss. The hand held microphone seemed to produce a better quality sound. You could possibly put up with that in a high quality recording but when you get down to 16 or 32 bps the hiss turns into an annoying high pitch line of noise.
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Saturday, August 27th, 2005
Sixteen weeks to go until King Kong hits the screens again. And to guide us through that time we’ve got the Kong is King site, featuring trailers, production and post production diaries, a history of the movie, and video clips of Peter Jackson and actors such as Naomi Watt and Jack Black. It’s like having the DVD Special Features before the movie comes out!
Jack Black says “I can’t believe you get to see me in makeup and costume. Isn’t that verbotten?”
KingisKong.net - where One Giant Ape Rules Supreme!
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Friday, August 26th, 2005
Phil at Signposts has started a series on Geoff Bullock’s rewritten songs. Today’s post is “Have Faith In God”, developed originally for Hillsong. Tim of Established and Emerging comments on the dynamic back in 1993 that led Geoff to change the words to suit the faith focus of Hillsong. Anyway, Geoff is a lot freer now to focus on grace.
I’ve used Bullock’s updated lyrics a few times. At first there are a few puzzled looks as people discover that their favourite songs have morphed. But then the words start to have their impact.
Have faith in God
Let your hope rest on
His grace that’s sufficient for all.
Always assured
Forever secure
In His grace that’s sufficient for all
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Friday, August 26th, 2005
Noting that the next Catholic World Youth Day is to be held in Sydney, locals are starting to ask about the cost and who will bear it.
According to the World Youth Day 2005 blog, German organizers recently estimated the costs for the 2005 production at roughly 100 million euro ($120.7 million). Even in prosperous Canada, the last World Youth Day in 2002 left behind a debt of $23.8 million.
One of the problems faced by the Toronto and Cologne organisers was that only about half the attenders registered and paid for the events.
The question here in Australia… is there room for an ecumenical approach to “World Youth Day”?
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Friday, August 26th, 2005
Fernando Gros in New Delhi has posted his concerns about continuing tendencies to divide music into secular and sacred.
“I see it is counterproductive to try and divide the world up into places where God is and God is not and putting cultural artefacts into rigid secular or sacred boxes is often misleading. Those who want to deny the ‘world’ in these ways are often seeking to keep the church pure, rather than keep the mission in tact. In contrast, I’m for world-embracing evangelism, rather than world-denying churchism.”
Good stuff.
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Friday, August 26th, 2005
I’ve long been a fan of the work of Jim Janknegt, a painter from Elgin, Texas. His religious painting provides a link between gospel stories and modern or postmodern settings.
From one of his sites:
Jim is an artist, a Christian (Episcopalian), who paints oil paintings some large, some small. He paints parables of Jesus, angels, demons, biblical stories and stories from the bible. He is a modern artist or maybe a post-modern artist I doubt you would call him a traditional artist. He has paintings for sale. He has been an Austin artist but is now an Elgin artist.
You can see twenty years of Jim’s work at his non-commercial site, and can see larger versions and purchase prints at his commercial site: Brilliant Corners Art Farm.
Pictured here is a small version of Jim’s painting, “Four Seeds”.
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Friday, August 26th, 2005
Journey, the magazine of the Queensland Synod, Uniting Church in Australia, has relaunched its online presence. Osker Lau, web designer and graphic artist just along the corridor from office, has been busy getting it ready over the last couple of months. Today all is revealed! The magazine is available to view in full colour in portable document format.
www.journeyonline.com.au
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