As you well know, I love TED Talks. I appreciate how they introduce me to new ideas and persons, and I value how they inspire me to think differently and to aspire to change…my ideas, my world, myself. All of this helps explain why I was so intrigued by this searing critique of TED Talks in a, well, TED Talk given by Benjamin Bratton, Associate Professor of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego. The core of his many concerns about TED Talks is their profound over-simplication of complex problems and potential solutions to those problems. He’s not against popularization, per se, but rather creating a false sense of...

When I think of crossword puzzles, I think almost immediately of two people. The first is my mother, who has delighted in doing crossword puzzles for as long as I can remember. (Which always came in handy when I was stumped for a Christmas gift for her. ☺) Whether sitting in the living room of our home or on the screened-in porch at the family cottage by Otsego Lake, my mom regularly has a book of crossword puzzles in hand. The second person I think of is my uncle, Franklin Fry, who worked late into the night, slept in each morning, and awoke to do the New York Times crossword…in pen. I suspect many of us know folks who loved the...

There’s something about a cappella singing that is hard to beat, especially at Christmas. This rendition of A Little Drummer boy, by the 5-person group Pentatonix, is no exception. So amid all the shopping or sermon writing or decorating or baking or traveling, I hope you can find a few minutes to relax one of the favorite extra-biblical, yet still beautiful Christmas stories. (And if you’re a “Little Drummer Boy” fan, check out last’s year’s post on the Little Rockin’ Drummer Boy.) Notes: 1) If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click here to watch the video. 2) Again thanks to...

The second installation of the Hobbit film franchise – 3 films, total screen time equal to or longer than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy! – opens tomorrow. That’s right: Friday the 13th. Despite the ominous date, I’m optimistic…if only because I don’t think it can get any worse than the first outing! The problem with the last film? An entirely bloated script that tried way too hard to make us remember the look and feel of the Lord of the Rings instead of simply telling the story at hand. After sitting through more than two-and-a-half hours of plodding plot lines (both the Hobbit proper and as much back-story to LOTR as they...

Feeling a tad stressed this December 10? Just two weeks shy of Christmas Eve, and amid all the hustle and bustle of holiday parties, or shopping, or decorating, or writing your Advent 3 sermon (yes, Working Preachers, I’m thinking of you), or studying for finals and writing papers (yes, my students, now I’m thinking of you!), or of making lists and checking them twice (oh, yeah, that’s supposed to be Santa’s job!)? Well, wherever you may find yourself or whatever you may be doing, I’d invite you take a three-minute Advent mental health break and enjoy this early Christmas present from The Piano Guys. It’s a rendition of Angels We...