Behold! The return of David Brent.

Part 1

Part 2

I recently watched the documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005, d. Greenwald). The film designation “documentary” is analagous to the label “non-fiction” in the publishing world. Go into a bookstore and one will find numerous sub-categories of the non-fiction meta-category. Non-fiction encapsulates everything from cookbooks to biographies to the latest opinionated tomes of political pundits. The designation documentary is too large and needs similar sub-categories. The High Cost of Low Price is akin to editorial investigative works such as Fast Food Nation and has more in common with films such as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room or Super Size Me than it does with an episode of Nova.

The High Cost of Low Price is biased and makes a specific argument—in a word, that Wal-Mart’s current business practices hurt society. Because a film makes an argument does not in itself discount the research of the filmmakers or the merits of their claims. One cannot expect, however, that they are watching a completely objective work. (Whether or not objectivity exists is not something I wish to discuss in this post.) Admittedly, I came to The High Cost of Low Price already sympathetic to any work that criticizes Wal-Mart. As the son of small business owners, I find many of Wal-Mart’s business practices to be detrimental to the economy and fabric of society. That said, I believe that The High Cost of Low Price is an articulate and moving work, though one lacking differing opinions.

So I was looking at the UC Davis football scedule for this year, thinking that the Causeway Classic (Davis vs. CSU Sacramento) would be approaching. Much to my surprise and delight, I see that the great rivalry game is now closer to the end of the season—traditionally it has been played early in the year as Sac State and Davis are not in the same football conferences. I prefer this timing as it more closely resembles the great rivalry games of other NCAA teams, which occur on the last week or near the last week of the season (think Ohio St. vs. Michigan or USC vs. UCLA). For those who are interested, check out the UC Davis Aggie Pack Causeway Classic page and notice the results at the bottom—a certain University of California has dominated a certain state school for six years in a row. I expect the trend to continue.

Go Ags! Huck the Fornets!

The AP reports, “Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet.”

Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.

Textbooks will need to be rewritten.

“Faithful to God, Science,” by Stephanie Simon is a great story in today’s Los Angeles Times about Francis Collins, the scientist who headed the Human Genome Project. He is also a devout Christian, believing in both the God of the Bible and evolution, for which he draws heat from all sides. I find I resonate greatly with Collins.

He urges his fellow scientists to give up the arrogant assumption that the only questions worth asking are those science can answer. He entreats his fellow believers to recognize it’s not blasphemous to learn about the world.

One day last summer, in the basement office of his suburban home here, Collins dictated this manifesto into a tape recorder: “Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced. God is most certainly not threatened by science; He made it all possible.” It became the central thesis of his book — with this addendum: “Abandon the battlements.”

These statements are somewhat reminiscent of something Dieterich Bonhoeffer wrote (I read this in A Year With Dieterich Bonhoeffer, 214):

Weizsacker’s book The World View of Physics is still keeping me very busy. It has again brought home to me quite clearly how wrong it is to use God as a stopgap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. If in fact the frontiers of knowledge are being pushed further and further back (and that’s bound to be the case), then God is being pushed back with them, and is therefore continually in retreat. We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don’t know; God wants us to realize the divine presence, not in unsolved problems but in those that are solved. That is true of the relationship between God and scientific knowledge, but it is also true of the wider human problems of death, suffering, and guilt.

We could have three more planets in our solar system according to the AP story, “Plan would add planets to solar system”:

The universe really is expanding – astronomers are proposing to rewrite the textbooks to say that our solar system has 12 planets rather than the nine memorized by generations of schoolchildren.

Much-maligned Pluto would remain a planet – and its largest moon plus two other heavenly bodies would join Earth’s neighborhood – under a draft resolution to be formally presented Wednesday to the International Astronomical Union, the arbiter of what is and isn’t a planet….

If the resolution is approved, the 12 planets in our solar system listed in order of their proximity to the sun would be Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, and the provisionally named 2003 UB313. Its discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, nicknamed it Xena after the warrior princess of TV fame, but it likely would be rechristened something else later, the panel said.

I find it strange that there has never been an official definition of what constitutes a planet. Scientific fields are usually pretty clear on defining and classifying the physical universe. Anyway, it’s fun to have astronomy in the news.

As I recollect last night’s concert and the opening act, Mates of State, I started thinking that opening acts at concerts would make a good top-5 post. So, without further ado, here it goes. My top-5 favorite opening acts of concerts I’ve attended and the artist for whom they opened the show.

1. Paul Simon for Bob Dylan (Arco Arena, 1999). Okay, so technically both Dylan and Simon shared top-billing on the tour, but Simon came on stage first at this show. That counts as opening up for the other artist—Dylan would open other shows on the tour. Simon gave a wonderful performance only to be overshadowed by Dylan later. The two came out between their sets and sang three duets: “Sound of Silence,” “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” and “I Walk the Line/Blue Moon Of Kentucky.” Amazing.


2. McCoy Tyner and The Dave Brubeck Quartet for Ramsey Lewis (Hollywood Bowl, 2004). Another example of cheating since all three shared the bill as the “Piano Masters.” I was excited to see Brubeck who delivered and then some. Tyner, whom I had never heard or heard of was simply amazing. It was a great evening of jazz. Lewis was also good, but both Tyner and Brubeck had set the bar so high as well as taken most of the audience’s energy that Lewis just didn’t have the oomph needed to close out the show. Not his fault, however. Seriously, Brubeck at 84 gave one of the best performances I’ve seen and worked the crowd like an old, stately Bono in a white tuxedo.


3. The Blind Boys of Alabama for Peter Gabriel (Staples Center, 2002). The gospel quartet was simply awesome as their harmonies filled the arena. They easily stole the show that evening, and it was a good show on Gabriel’s part. Though I was a bit worried when one of the Blind Boys walked around the stage unaided and came close to the edge.


4. Black Eyed Sceva for Poor Old Lu (Shadrach’s, 1996). Along with Dime Store Prophets—who I liked live, but never cared for their albums—this show was one of the most consistent bills I’ve ever seen from top to bottom. For those who don’t know, Black Eyed Sceva sounded like a harder Toad the Wet Sprocket and later changed its name to Model Engine.


5. Spiritualized for Radiohead (Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 1998). Spiritualized complimented Radiohead perfectly and set up a sonic atmosphere that readied the audience to have their minds blown away by the headliner. Perhaps the perfect example of an opener—didn’t draw too much attention to themselves, but drew the audience in and prepared them for a great night of music.

In case you’re wondering, some of my least favorite opening acts include No Doubt for U2 (Oakland Arena, 2001), DC Talk for Michael W. Smith (Selland Arena, 1993)—a bad show all-around—and Fight for Anthrax (Wilson Theater, 1994). That last show was near the end of my metal days and I plead whatever Ammendment it is that grants you immunity for some of your musical tastes when you were fifteen.

Some days, I just want to spend hours reading “Jesus Creed,” Scot McKnight’s blog. It is one of the most consistently interesting blogs I check on a regular basis. Anyway, two posts of an ongoing series about Emerging and Orthodoxy are worth noting. In the first post, he discusses how contemporary churches understand and employ the Ecumenical Creeds and doctrinal statements. He offers, what is, in my opinion a supremely wise comment.

I do not believe we should ever publish our local church doctrinal statements unless it is below or after (on a piece of paper) one of the classical creeds (Nicene is the earliest; some use Chalcedon; others use Nicean-Constantinopolitan). It should be seen as a local, modern, rendition of what the Church has always believed. Publshing them without the creeds turns the Church away from its history and gives the idea that no one has every gotten it right.

The second post defines orthodoxy and heresy:

Orthodoxy refers to the faith statements of the classical creeds. “Heresy” refers to teachings contrary to those creeds.

The post also deals with creedal formulations found in the Bible, how they developed into the creedal statements of the Early Church, and how the term orthodoxy is now used as compared to its historical use.

My two cents on the posts: read ‘em.

Last night Carey and I went to see Death Cab for Cutie at The Greek Theater. Mates of State and Spoon opened. Mates of State were impressive, whereas Spoon left something to be desired. The headliners, however, delivered. I haven’t seen Death Cab perform live before, either in person or taped. They had a lot of energy, but appropriately so since their music is rather mellow. They danced around and had a rather ecclectic set—a good mix of old, new, fast, and slow songs. The stage dressing and lighting were interesting without being overpowering as some stage shows can be. The standout songs were “What Sarah Said,” “Tiny Vessels,” and the encore of “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark.” The Greek was a good venue for Death Cab and was not too large for their music. I would love to see them in a smaller, club setting.

I have three invites for eBible.com. Leave a comment if you want one—first come, first served. eBible is supposedly a Web 2.0 Bible program. I’d like to see more translations available as well as a breadth of secondary materials, but it’s still just in beta, so we’ll see what happens as it grows and develops.