Proxy Car Going Well ...

The results for the first round (Egg, Switzerland) of the slot car Thingie Proxy Race have not yet been posted, but apparently the Anglican Beach Party entry (middle car above) has done okay. It received no penalties for illegalities, and received a pretty glowing report from the Race Director, being chosen as one of his 3 favourites to drive (out of 34 cars in the 1/24 Fast & Scratchbuilt category):

So relaxing to drive you forget how fast it is proving all those good handling techniques...

I Was A Teenage Pietistic Dandy

Here I present two YouTube clips which, together, comprise a short Super8 film created around 1983 by my brother (The Rev'd Charles Erlandson, Diocese of Fort Worth) and me. We made it as a project for a "Vorthos" class taught at our Humble, Texas parish by the pastor, George Grant.





Part 2 is essentially a primitive music video, and features the Italian-made Vox Phantom VI which I owned at that time, and which also features my brother attempting to dance The Freddie.

My proposal to save Anglicanism

For over 10 years, I have been ruminating over how Anglicanism might be saved. For I love it, and desperately want it to be saved. And now, emerging over the dim eastern horizon, I see Anglicanism's temporal rescuer, the thing that will save it, rejoicing like a champion to run its race: Marketing.

Now I generally hate Marketing as much as the next guy, but hear me out. For something like 7 or 8 years I have been running a money-losing business called Anglican Beach Party. It is not much of a business. But enough of a business that I get voluminous amounts of mail (chiefly Credit Card offers) addressed to me care of Anglican Beach Party.

Or, actually not exactly addressed that way. What began as a small trickle of envelopes addressed to Angelican Beach Party is now a torrent: 95% of my mail now says Angelican rather than Anglican.

I used to get angry ... but then it hit me ... why not rename all that is good and truly Anglican to be called Angelican?! We would be the church of St. Michael, St. Raphael, St. Uriel ... and, putting my Marketing cap on again ... Angels currently exhibit much better brand strength than England.

I always had wondered if the "Anglican" name had been holding us back, particularly among Hispanics, for whom it would be a work of supererogation to join an Anglo- anything? For to be tied to England, and especially in a day when the Archbishop of Canterbury talks of sharia law being enforced there, is a bad thing. But everyone loves angels. Even Credit Card companies.

Join the Worldwide Angelican Communion ... today!

2008 European Slot Car "Thingie" Proxy Race

In slot car terminology, a "Thingie" is a car whose body is not representative of any production car or full-scale race car. Rather, it has a body which was dreamed up for utilitarian purposes (speed on the track), or simply for beauty and to be different.

Here is our entry (mine and my son's, that is) for the 2008 Thingie Proxy Race. A Proxy race is one in which you send the car somewhere far away, and other people drive it in the races for you. Last year there were 6 such races in 3 countries in Europe.

Our car this year is a scratchbuilt chassis with a Shinoda Mongoose body, painted by Jairus Watson:





See pictures of more groovy Thingie entries here on slotforum!

Just back from the Arnold Classic

Every year, in late winter, Columbus, Ohio becomes host to thousands of teeming muscleheads. The event, actually a conglomeration of hundreds of events, is referred to as simply "The Arnold."

My trip this year was probably my best ever. Here I am, meeting some muscular ladies:

Scary, but true!

July 19, I will be entering a bodybuilding contest. A lot of work to do in the gym before that day. I will have just turned 50, so I'll be entering the "Grand Masters" (old guys) division.

The following send-up of Rowan Williams is the funniest thing I've read in several years:

Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte.

An Archbishop of Canterbury Tale