Yet again, my remarkable good taste confirmed

Mrs. Curmudgeon broke down and got me the gift at the top of my list for Christmas: an Ion Tape 2 PC, which is a dual cassette deck with a USB connection. Along with a handy software package, this allows one to easily convert one's old and vast audio cassette collection into mp3 files, thereby redeeming the hundreds and thousands of dollars I spent a couple audio recording revolutions ago. I've started with the As ("Art of Noise" this week), and expect to be done with the process a couple years from now. (I still have a day job.) I must say, even going back some 25 years, my musical tastes hold up remarkably well. If I do say so myself.

Thanks, Mrs. Curmudgeon!

Gambrinus

I have discovered my new hero, thanks to dictionary.com.

My free download addiction

I just discovered I have nine distinct versions of "In the Bleak Midwinter" (Shawn Colvin prefers to hyphenate the last word of that title) in my iTunes. An indication of obsessive downloading of mp3s, or just a good beginning?

The Incarnation & Christmas excess

Lapsed Protestant theologian R.R. Reno gets it just about right in his essay "The Incarnation" over at the First Things website.

Christmastime is beer

I'm not sure why, but I love hops. In moderation, though: I find I enjoy only one bottle at a sitting, and then it has to be drunk by itself, sans any food to get in the way of the hoppy experience. The hops come out in full force for the winter solstice, featured heavily in most brewer's Christmas offerings. I've always looked forward to Breckenridge's Christmas Ale, but this year have fallen for the Full Sail Wassail. A recent review in the Denver Post points out it's not really a wassail, but it's not really like I care very much about that point.

When will the madness end?

Flash-mob singers spark California mall evacuation

The singers were performing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

A spontaneous musical concert at a California shopping mall ended with the entire complex being evacuated after some 5,000 people turned up to sing.

You know, he's got a point...

Hah! Get it? Point?

Today's Candorville, by Darrin Bell.

The Presbyterian Curmudgeon wishes you a merry Christmas album

Each year, I allow myself one new Christmas album. In practice, that translates into several impulse buys, although Amazon's many free albums tend to temper that tendency.

An easy rationalization is the clearance offer. When I found Christmas with Johnny Cash in the same Christian junk catalogue from which I order last year's Christmas cards, it was easy to add it to my shipment. Unfortunately, there's not much to get excited about here. The Man in Black delivers competent renditions of the classics, along with a sentimental look at an impoverished Christmas. About what you'd expect, but not more than what you'd expect.

Annie Lennox's new Christmas Cornucopia is a real treat, though. She avoids the recent pop material and instead concentrates on ancient hymns and carols, giving each a respectful and powerful performance. As always, she rises to and above the quality of the material and brings out the strengths so often overlooked by less thoughtful singers.

The big surprise this year is The Christmas Gig, available as a free download from Target. Target recruited a bunch of hepsters who've turned in a collection of pop-heavy originals, a couple of which are in Spanish. It's a great deal of fun, and (did I mention?) free!

Yup. Target.

Time to start preaching politics

According to the Denver Post, two competing bills have been submitted to the Colorado legislature for its next session. One, representing the forces of light, truth, and all that is good, would opt Colorado out of the national folly which is daylight savings time, leaving the clocks in this great state permanently in tune with the daily progress of the sun across the sky, in accordance with the natural creation order. The other, representing bolshevikism, oppression, and all that is vain and empty in this corrupted world, would require the citizens of Colorado to keep their clocks on daylight savings time year-round.

If ever there were a moment for a presbyterian pastor to preach on upcoming legislation...

The Genius of Miles Davis

I know many of you wanted to gift me this box set designed specifically for obsessive-compulsive lunatics (in a trumpet case! A trumpet case!) this Christmas, but were intimidated by the $1200 price tag. The good news, according to a recent Denver Post jazz column by Brett Saunders, is that it's now been reduced to a much more reasonable $750.

C'mon. Make a curmudgeon smile.

The Church-integrated family

One of the most under-appreciated efforts of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is its journal for Church officers, Ordained Servant. Originally a print magazine, under G.I. Williamson's editorial direction it was a reliable font of practical resources for elders and deacons. Since it went online and Gregory Reynolds became the editor, it has taken more of a foundational direction, looking more to first principles and philosophical underpinnings than the nuts-and-bolts of ministry (although it is not entirely lacking in hands-on advice). While written for officers of the OPC, the webernet makes it accessible to just about anyone, and so I hope many are making use of it (although I fear too few are).

Ordained Servant continues its notable contributions to the health of the broader Church by making this month's lead article my essay "The Church-Integrated Family," based on a lecture I first delivered in 2002.