Angie has long been one of my favourite competitors, and was the first bodybuilder to ever model one of my Hot Rod Anglican T-Shirts:
Friday, August 7, 2009
New IFBB Pro - Angela Salvagno
Congratulations to newly minted IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Angela Salvagno. Angie turned Pro by winning the overall title at the NPC USA bodybuilding contest.
Angie has long been one of my favourite competitors, and was the first bodybuilder to ever model one of my Hot Rod Anglican T-Shirts:
Angie has long been one of my favourite competitors, and was the first bodybuilder to ever model one of my Hot Rod Anglican T-Shirts:
Complete Failure of Leadership
I agree with this.
From here.
It’s time for the Diocese of South Carolina to join the new North American Province: Anglican Communion North America. Anything short will mark a complete failure of leadership
From here.
Monday, August 3, 2009
How I Got This Way
By now you will have realized that I am essentially a low-brow individual and that I speak Sophistication only as a second language. I lay the blame for this squarely at the feet of Scholastic Book Services who, for the princely sum of 45¢, delivered to me the book you see below. Once a month or so, an order form was distributed to us at Kenwood Elementary School in Champaign, Illinois. We put little tick marks by the books we wanted to order, and then a few weeks later the books were delivered to the school and handed out to the students.
Of all the books I ever ordered from Scholastic, this is the only one I remember. It is not an overstatement to say that it has influenced me more than any books except the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
Here it is: Dragging and DRIVING, by TOM MacPHERSON!
That is a scan of my original copy (now in the collection of my son). The cracks in the cover were put there by yours truly, as I read and re-read this all the way through high school. Here are scans of the beginning sections of my 3 favourite chapters:
The rest is history. This book is what put the "Hot Rod" in "Hot Rod Anglican"!
Of all the books I ever ordered from Scholastic, this is the only one I remember. It is not an overstatement to say that it has influenced me more than any books except the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
Here it is: Dragging and DRIVING, by TOM MacPHERSON!
That is a scan of my original copy (now in the collection of my son). The cracks in the cover were put there by yours truly, as I read and re-read this all the way through high school. Here are scans of the beginning sections of my 3 favourite chapters:
The rest is history. This book is what put the "Hot Rod" in "Hot Rod Anglican"!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Our First Trophy
We went to the 9th Annual "Bash at the Beach" at Detroit's "Metro Beach" today. This is a regional meet for the Fairlane Club of America. For the past several years, schedule conflicts or mechanical issues with the car had prevented us from attending.
Today was fabulous, from the perfect weather, to some great conversation with fellow Fairlaners. (The FCA allows Mercury equivalents of the Fairlanes to join, so our Meteor fits the bill.) And, lastly, Eliot's car received its first-ever car show trophy. It got 3rd place in the 1962-65 Fairlane/Meteor class.
Here is the cool trophy they gave out:
Today was fabulous, from the perfect weather, to some great conversation with fellow Fairlaners. (The FCA allows Mercury equivalents of the Fairlanes to join, so our Meteor fits the bill.) And, lastly, Eliot's car received its first-ever car show trophy. It got 3rd place in the 1962-65 Fairlane/Meteor class.
Here is the cool trophy they gave out:
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The One and The Many
One of the central philosophical questions for which only Christianity, of all the world's religions, offers a viable answer is the problem of The One and The Many.
There are various statements of this problem, but all of them involve the relation between essential oneness and essential diversity. In almost all philosophical systems, either the principle of The One takes precedence, or else the principle of The Many takes first priority.
Not only does Christianity "solve" this problem (to the extent that we can sanely say that a Mystery is ever "solved"), but it solves it by understanding this issue as being at the center of the identity of God Himself.
In the doctrine of the Trinity, there is diversity and differentiation (the Many) in the context of essential Oneness. So critical is this issue to the survival of the Christian faith, that tightly written statements have been formulated to protect either aspect (the One or the Many) from overshadowing the other. For the Many to take inordinate precedence would mean tri-theism, and for the One to do so would yield a radican monism. Nowhere is this balance so delicately and painstakingly spelled out than in the Athanasian Creed.
But I'm not here to talk about theology today. I want to write about musical bands. I'm in a band, and I like to listen to bands. It is my contention that the "band" is such a successful concept precisely because it, too, solves the problem of the One and the Many. Once, during a visit to Austin, Texas, I heard two bands play, and they illustrate the right and wrong ways for bands to be. First, I went down some steps into a large, dank beer hall, in which the worst blues band I've ever heard was playing. Each musician was competent at his instrument, but each thought himself a God. Instead, they were godawful. The goal of each musician seemed to be to drown out all of the others. You heard, essentially, four continual, competing solos. There was no harmony as these four "gods" waged sonic warfare against each other and their audience.
I did not stay there long. Shortly after this, I stumbled upon a streetcorner band. In this trio the instruments (vocal, guitar, and accordion) blended in a generous, gracious, playful, creative, complex and harmonious fashion. The Oneness was evident, though you could pick out the individual parts. It gave me a very similar feeling to the one I received listening to King's X (another trio) one evening at a place called Jezebel's, in Anaheim, California.
To watch a well-oiled and harmonious band of musicians (whatever the number of them) is to watch a little picture of the relation and unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And these little pictures are written everywhere around us. Thanks be to God!
There are various statements of this problem, but all of them involve the relation between essential oneness and essential diversity. In almost all philosophical systems, either the principle of The One takes precedence, or else the principle of The Many takes first priority.
Not only does Christianity "solve" this problem (to the extent that we can sanely say that a Mystery is ever "solved"), but it solves it by understanding this issue as being at the center of the identity of God Himself.
In the doctrine of the Trinity, there is diversity and differentiation (the Many) in the context of essential Oneness. So critical is this issue to the survival of the Christian faith, that tightly written statements have been formulated to protect either aspect (the One or the Many) from overshadowing the other. For the Many to take inordinate precedence would mean tri-theism, and for the One to do so would yield a radican monism. Nowhere is this balance so delicately and painstakingly spelled out than in the Athanasian Creed.
But I'm not here to talk about theology today. I want to write about musical bands. I'm in a band, and I like to listen to bands. It is my contention that the "band" is such a successful concept precisely because it, too, solves the problem of the One and the Many. Once, during a visit to Austin, Texas, I heard two bands play, and they illustrate the right and wrong ways for bands to be. First, I went down some steps into a large, dank beer hall, in which the worst blues band I've ever heard was playing. Each musician was competent at his instrument, but each thought himself a God. Instead, they were godawful. The goal of each musician seemed to be to drown out all of the others. You heard, essentially, four continual, competing solos. There was no harmony as these four "gods" waged sonic warfare against each other and their audience.
I did not stay there long. Shortly after this, I stumbled upon a streetcorner band. In this trio the instruments (vocal, guitar, and accordion) blended in a generous, gracious, playful, creative, complex and harmonious fashion. The Oneness was evident, though you could pick out the individual parts. It gave me a very similar feeling to the one I received listening to King's X (another trio) one evening at a place called Jezebel's, in Anaheim, California.
To watch a well-oiled and harmonious band of musicians (whatever the number of them) is to watch a little picture of the relation and unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And these little pictures are written everywhere around us. Thanks be to God!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Very Model of a Father Disciplinarian
I found this to be delightfully clever ...
I saw it here on Fr. Steven Kelly's YouTube page ... and it is from the recently concluded St. Michael's Conference for Youth - Midwest. This is a week-long conference for Anglican youth which my son and many of his Anglican friends attended. It is an amazing week for the kids, though it seems to almost kill the priests and others on staff!
The "Father Disciplinarian" is Fr. Paul Sterne, and his talented accompanist is Fr. Ron Drummond.
I saw it here on Fr. Steven Kelly's YouTube page ... and it is from the recently concluded St. Michael's Conference for Youth - Midwest. This is a week-long conference for Anglican youth which my son and many of his Anglican friends attended. It is an amazing week for the kids, though it seems to almost kill the priests and others on staff!
The "Father Disciplinarian" is Fr. Paul Sterne, and his talented accompanist is Fr. Ron Drummond.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Video Coverage of the NPC Natural Michigan
From Eric Seals of freep.com comes this short video story on the bodybuilding contest I entered on Saturday, July 18. If you look at the (countdown) time counter, you can see where I appear in this video, three times in all. The first one is at 1:29, and I am at the far right of the Men's Open Lightweight class. The second one is at 1:21, also the Open LW class. The final one comes at 0:30, which is from the Grand Masters class. In that shot, I am the farthest of the 3 men from the camera.
NOTE: If embedded video (above) is not working, try this link to see the video.
NOTE: If embedded video (above) is not working, try this link to see the video.
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