She Waits Her Turn/She Waits Her Time

"Lisa Hannigan's breathy vocals...often shadow Rice as he sings, like remembered or imagined counterparts in an unending internal conversation."
-Rolling Stone


As a fan of Irish singer Damien Rice, I quickly became a fan of the young woman that sang on many if his songs, Lisa Hannigan. Like many I suspect, I was immediately looking up what other music this woman, with one of the most enjoyable voices I ever heard, was responsible for. Turned out, nothing.

Despite being a multi-instrumentalist, she was Damien Rice's female vocalist and that was really about it. I found I was looking forward to new Damien Rice music mostly to hear new stuff from Lisa Hannigan. Then Rice did Hannigan, and maybe us a giant favor. He fired her.

Ten minutes before a show in Germany.


Although there has never been any explanation behind the firing, Hannigan cites, or maybe assumes, creative differences.


"Looking back with some healthy hindsight, I can say it was the best thing that ever happened to me." -Lisa Hannigan

There are also reports Rice quickly regretted his decision and asked Hannigan to come back. I think he realized, he might find another female vocalist to fill Hannigan's role, but he will never be able to replace her.

For me, Hannigan is that artist you want to share with friends, but not everyone. I have the selfish desire to have her stay a bit under the radar; to stay just a bit of a secret. A secret I feel special for being in on.








"It's that moment where you see the turn of somebody's elbow or a book peeking out of someone's bag on the train," Hannigan says. "And — I do this anyway — I sort of construct a person behind it, invariably positive. And I think that song is about that moment, where you're sort of full of hope about someone you really have no idea about." -Lisa Hannigan

Song of The Week (Bohemian Rhapsody)

The World's Greatest T-Shirt

Creativity presents itself in sometimes unlikely places. The Mountain Men's Three Wolf Moon t-shirt was released years ago. Who knew where this would wind up.

What is the appeal of a shirt that has sold so many, it is one of Amazon's top sellers of any item?

To get an idea, check out the customer reviews.


Last year, B.Govern wrote:

Pros: “Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women.”

Cons: “Only 3 wolves … cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.”

Then in May of this year people started responding with similar reviews.

Now there are 1563 reviews and counting, many extrememy humorous.

The Chicago Tribune dubbed this, Customer Review Comedy.

"The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him."


"Unfortunately I already had this exact picture tattooed on my chest, but this shirt is very useful in colder weather.

"I admit it, I'm a ladies' man. And when you put this shirt on a ladies' man, it's like giving an AK-47 to a ninja."


Even when given a negative review, people seem to find good things to say.

" There is one thing, though, and that is that whenever I wear the wolf shirt I have a lot less issues with involuntary urination. I have not studied it long enough, however, to establish a cause/effect relationship.

Once, however, while wearing the wolf shirt I was mistaken for Schneider, the building superintendent on "One Day at a Time.

So I guess the jury is still out. "


There is another thread of Customer Review Comedy on Amazon for, Tuscan Whole Milk.

A witty reviewer named Edgar wrote out a quite lengthy parody of The Raven.

Once upon a mid-day sunny, while I savored Nuts 'N Honey,
With my Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 gal, 128 fl. oz., I swore
As I went on with my lapping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at the icebox door.
'Bad condensor, that,' I muttered, 'vibrating the icebox door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Instead of a raven, our poem gives us a cat at the end, who has spilled Tuscan milk on the floor.

Toward the mess she showed no pity, 'til I said, 'Well, hello, kitty!'
Sought she me with pretty eyes that seemed to open some rapport.
So I pleaded, 'Tell me, tell me what it is that you implore!'
Quoth the kitten, 'Get some more.'

Catherine Swinford analogizes her Tuscan Milk relationship with the state of her marriage. That starts off so passionately, but eventually, turns sour.

After a long hard week full of days he would burst through the door, his fatigue hidden behind a smile. There was an icy jug of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz in his right hand. With his left hand he would grip my waist - I was always cooking dinner - and press the cold frostiness of the jug against my arm as he kissed my cheek. I would jump, mostly to gratify him after a time, and smile lovingly at him. He was a good man, a wonderful husband who always brought the milk on Friday, Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz.

Then one day, he stops bringing home the milk.

That was when I knew. He was tired of this life with me, tired of bringing home the Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz. He was probably shoveling funds into a secret bank account, looking at apartments in town, casting furtive glances at cashiers and secretaries and waitresses. That's when I knew it was over. Some time later he moved in with a cashier from the Food Mart down the street. And me? Well, I've gone soy.

Poetry: "Engorging the nostrils of naughty milk maids."

Serious warning: "Do not buy this product used!"


And if you were wondering about drinking Tuscan Milk, while wearing the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt...

“I accidentally spilled a glass of Tuscan Whole Milk down the front of this shirt, and my soul was torn from my body and thrown into heaven by a jealous God.”

I Was Taken Out Of Context

Today is a historic day for you, the readers (usually forced) of this website. Your leader has been quoted by CNN.COM

Today we are one step closer to that Nobel Prize. And by we, I mean, me. I was just being polite.

This is what was written.

Matthew Bailey, a parishioner in the Franktown United Methodist Church in Virginia, and the genuis behind MattBaileyForthe NobelPeacePrize, believes that the meaning of the ritual is what matters.

"If people are willing to go to the trouble of giving their own Communion, then it is quite probably 'real' for them," he says. While Bailey chooses to remain at his face-to-face church, he believes any person "faithfully attending an online church service, is being more proactive, and thus probably more attentive, than many longtime churchgoers."

This is what I said.


"People who have gone to church for years often lose sight of why, beyond its routine. Someone new to Christianity, that is faithfully attending an online church service, is being more proactive, and thus probably more attentive, than many longtime churchgoers."

Jeesh...

Check out the article at

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/13/online.church.services/index.html

There is also a quote from the guy that started this whole discussion (for this site). Shore native and author of SimChurch, Douglas Estes. And the only reason I got to talk to CNN.

Is SimChurch....Church?

Brick-and-Mortar Pastor Defends Virtual Church as Real



by Lillion Kwon Christian Post Reporter



The Christian church is engaging far less than 1 percent of the 70 million people who are active in the virtual world. This means the virtual world is by far the largest unreached people group on planet Earth, says one pastor.


Douglas Estes, a pastor from San Jose, Calif., has no vested interest in virtual or internet churches – a relatively new phenomenon – but given the large "unreached" population on the internet, he says he has a desire to see healthy churches proliferate "regardless of context."

Although he leads a brick and mortar church (Berryessa Valley Church), Estes defends virtual churches against critics in his newly released book, SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World, maintaining that they are real churches with real people.

He summed up his argument in a recent post on Christianity Today's Out of Ur blog: "People are led to believe that members of online churches all connect to their video-game church as anonymous zombies in a Tron-like world. Supposedly these virtual (fake) Christians never really know each other, it’s all a facade, and that this is the sum and total of a virtual church.

"The real truth is that every virtual church I’ve ever attended has flesh-and-blood people in virtual (real!) community with other flesh-and-blood people whose primary meeting place is in synthetic space."

In recent years, Christians have begun to take on the internet by building church communities in virtual worlds like Second Life and The Sims and launching internet campuses where anyone from around the world can join weekend worship services live on the Web. The growth of virtual worshipping communities, however, has sparked debates on whether such churches are effective and biblical.

A major argument against internet churches is that they lack physical contact, Estes pointed out. But that same argument could be made against megachurches and any other church, for that matter, where people never really touch or come to know each other, he argued.

Virtual churches, critics say, also don't have real community.

Estes, however, pushed back by pointing out that church isn't about where it meets. "Isn't church supposed to be about people in communion with God rather than the building? ... Since when does the location of a church determine the quality of its community?"

"Virtual churches may meet for services in the virtual world, but they are not the one-dimensional illusion that critics like to easily prop up so as to knock down for their friends to applaud," he maintained. "And here’s the irony: Even as virtual churches seek to create community in both virtual and physical space, so too do their critics use virtual space when it is convenient for them in their brick and mortar ministries."

Bob Hyatt, pastor of the Evergreen Community in Portland, Ore., didn't buy Estes' argument.

He stressed, "It’s not where we meet, but that we meet," according to his post on Out of Ur.

"And whether people are actually meeting together – that is, whether you and me watching the same video stream, silently reading the comments in the chat room as we sip our individual portions of grape juice and eat crackers, rises to the level of 'ecclesia' and the picture of Acts 2:42 – has yet to be determined.

"In other words, I have yet to be convinced that simultaneity equals community," Hyatt stated

Hyatt has major concerns over the threat virtual churches or video venues represent to the overall "maturity of the Body of Christ." A virtual church, he contended, fails to engage in discipleship and leadership formation as well as church discipline.

"The worship, equipping, and discipling ministries of the church simply can’t take place through the internet. Pieces of them can, but eventually the jump has to be made," he said. "A truly biblical Church requires that we heed the biblical call of Hebrews 10 to not give up gathering together and being present to one another in real, actual life."

For Estes, as long as the people of God are meeting together for the purpose of glorifying Him, it's a real church. And in the end, he believes a local church could not really reach the whole world. Virtual churches, however, will have that kind of reach, he says in his book.

Notably, Estes doesn't believe virtual churches will or should replace real-world churches. Both accomplish ministry objectives that the other cannot. But he hopes that in the future, real-world churches will adopt more virtual elements and virtual churches will create real-world ministry teams to reach people in the real world and in the virtual world. Moreover, he hopes people will view virtual churches not as a form of church different from real-world ones, but see both as just churches.

Song of the Week (The Swell Season)

The Night Of The Hunter

Dream, little one dream/Dream my little one dream

Oh the hunter in the night/ fills your childish heart with fright
Fear is only a dream/ So dream little one, dream


The Night of the Hunter is a rather blatant tale of good vs evil.

Much of it is filmed as if a child's dream. A new viewer to this film might see aspects of other films that have come since. I surmise it is one of the most effective horror films ever made.

“It's really a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale we are telling,” Charles Laughton.

Acclaimed actor, Charles Laughton, directed The Night of the Hunter. A film that was not a hit, either commercially or critically upon its release in 1955. Discouraged, Laughton never would direct another film. Today, The Night of the Hunter is considered one of the great American films.


"Beware of false prophets....... which come to you in sheep's clothing ...
... but inwardly, they are ravening wolves."

This is said by Lillian Gish at the opening of the film. She appears in the night's sky as if an angel. She is reading Bible passages to children.

Then we look down upon earth and witness children playing hide and seek. The innocent scene is disrupted by the discovery of a dead woman by one of the children.

It is then that we meet Harry Powell.


We see Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) driving down a country road. He is dressed in a sharp suit, hat and string tie. And he is talking to God.

Harry: "What's it to be, Lord, another widow? Has it
been six? Twelve? ... I disremember. You say the word, and I'm on my way.

You always send me money to go forth and preach
your Word. A widow with a little wad of bills
hidden away in the sugar-bowl.

I am tired. Sometimes I wonder if you really
understand.
(pause)
Not that you mind the killin's..."


The stones of a country graveyard shine in the last daylight.

Harry: "Yore Book is full of killin's.

But there are things you do hate, Lord:
perfume-smellin' things -- lacy things --
things with curly hair --"


Powell struggles with his desires for women (he is probably impotent) but sees no problem with violence.

Mitchum's Powell is one of the best villians in film history. Well liked by most upon first meeting, his violent preacher contradiction is literally written on his hands. Some see him for who he is, most fall for the act.




We first see Ben Harper (Peter Graves) as he is running away from the police and drives up to his front yard. His two children, John and Pearl are playing in the yard and act excited to meet him until it becomes obvious something is wrong. We will find he has killed two people in a robbery gone wrong and still has the money with him. He quickly hides the money and then makes a covenant with his two young children.

Ben: "Listen to me, son. You got to swear. Swear means promise. First swear you'll take care of little Pearl. Guard her with your life, boy. Then swear you won't never tell where that money's hid. Not even your Mom."

This becomes a promise that Ben could not have forseen how difficult it would have been to keep. Especially on his son, John.Harry Powell is arrested for stealing a car and ends up the cell mate of Ben Harper's. Powell quickly realized what an odd man he is bunking with.

Ben: "What religion you profess, preacher?"

Harry: "The religion the almighty and me worked out betwixt us."

Harry is convinced Ben's children know where the money is hid. Harry gets out of jail soon after Ben is hanged for his crimes.

Harry finds the Harper family and tells them and their friends he worked at the jail and befriended Ben. Everyone believes and likes this strange man. Everyone but the young son, John.

Feeling she needs a father to her children, Ben's widow, Willa (Shelley Winters) quickly marries Harry. Pearl tells her brother John she loves their new father and wants to tell the secret of where the money is hidden. But John will not give in, despite Harry asking about the money every moment Willa is not around.

And soon Willa will be dead. In her bedroom, shot to resemble a church, she is murdered by Harry Powell. And in her death she feels she is being saved. Being made "clean."

Willa: "He made you marry me, so's you could show me the Way and the Life and the Salvation of my soul! Ain't that so, Harry?"


Leaving John and Pearl orphans. Orphans who then go on the run to escape their evil step-father. Like No Country For Old Men's, Anton Chigurgh, Harry Powell is pure evil. We see no redeeming value in him. Which makes him all the scarier when people, usually females, believe him to be good. But Powell is no man of God; though it seems he might just be a demon. John and Pearl stay only moments ahead of their pursuer. Travelling along the river by way of a rowboat. One night they sleep in the hayloft of a barn. John wakes in the night to the sound of Harry riding nearby on a horse, singing the hymn, "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms."

John: "Dont he never sleep?"


The children escape back in the boat. By morning they are awakened on shore by the old woman we saw in the very first moments of the film, Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish).

The contrast between Cooper and Powell is obvious from the start. She is legit. She has three other children she has taken in and cared for and takes in John and Pearl without thinking.

Soon Harry Powell shows up at the house and asks for John and Pearl. Thinking he could be their father, Rachel fetches them. But she soon sees Powell for the wolf in sheeps clothing.

John: "He aint my dad."

Rachel: "No, and he aint no preacher neither."


Knife out, Powell goes for John, who crawls under the porch. Rachel then scares Powell away with a shotgun pressed against his back. Harry Powell leaves, but promises to be back at night.


This all sets up one of those beautiful scenes that you never want to forget. Rachel, sitting in a rocking chair, is framed like Whistler's Mother. Only difference is she is holding a shotgun.


We see Harry Powell through the window, sitting in the front yard. He begins singing his favorite hymn once again, but this time it becomes a duet. Rachel joins in. In a sense she is reclaiming this praise to God. It is a stark contrast of "good vs evil," "christ vs antichrist."



"It's a hard world for little things."


The last line of the film is Rachel Cooper looking into the camera and saying (about children) "they abide and they endure."

It is a necessary ending for what has come before. These children have been through much and survived; won even.

But the more powerful scene is the arrest of Harry Powell a couple of minutes before.

The cops arrest Harry Powell in an almost identical scene to Ben Harper's arrest at the beginning of the film. And in spite of John's feelings for Powell, the memory of his father's arrest floods back.

He runs to Powell and throws the money on him. Begging him to take it.


John: (crying) "Here. Here. Take it back dad. I don't want it dad. Its too much. I dont want it. Here."


The Night of the Hunter is a feminist film in the end. Particularly, the redemption of the biblical character, Eve.

Until Rachel comes along in the last act of the film, how good at making smart decisions are the women in the film? Willa quickly marries Harry Powell. Her friend, Icey, telling her she needs a man to raise her children.


Willa is obsessed about feeling "clean" from her sins.

After being told Ben Harper got rid of the money, she exclaims, "I feel clean now. My whole body's just a-quivering with cleanliness."

When Ben Harper made his son John, swear to keep the money, he did not trust Willa to know.

"Swear you won't never tell where the money's hid. Not even your mom...You've got common sense, she ain't."


Pearl wants to tell Harry Powell their secret.

Pearl: "I love Mr. Powell lots and lots, John."

Even after they have been running away. When Powell finally catches them, Pearl walks right to him. The age of Pearl makes this somewhat understandable. More difficult is teenager Ruby, one of the orphans under Rachel's care. After just a brief encounter with Powell, Ruby also becomes infatuated. To the point that even when he is arrested for murder, she utters a perplexing statement.

Ruby: "I love him. You think he's like them others."

Rachel is not just the opposite side of the coin of Powell, but also of Willa and the other women in the film.

But Rachel does not just vindicate Eve; John does as well in a subtle way.

His christmas gift to her is the only one that is different. "Oh, another pot holder."

He gives her an apple. And reverses the gender order.