Scott Stilson

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I preached a meditation on hope in the New Testament to help the folks of University Baptist & Brethren Church ring in the first Sunday of Advent. (Here’s video evidence.)

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“Roman Catholic” is an oxymoron.

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There is a very fine line between abstruseness and nonsense. And neither writer nor reader can distinguish for sure.

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Just re-listened to Electric Warrior by T. Rex (1971). I know it’s only rock ’n roll. But I like it.

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If your hope for heaven holds that nothing you do here matters, then to hell with it.

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Heaven is not a judgement-free zone.

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Just re-listened to A Home and a Hunger (2017) by Caroline Cobb. Very devout singer-songwriter Bible stuff that sounds like a fledging, lady Andrew Peterson. Gabe Scott’s tasteful CCM production, including bouzouki, banjo, lapsteel, dulcimer, and dobro, helps make that comparison. More Bibley than Peterson. Highlights: “There Is a Mountain,” “All Is Vanity (Ecclesiastes),” “Emmanuel (Every Promise Yes in Him),” and “Only the Sick Need a Physician.” Two of the other numbers cry out for a full-on gospel music treatment. I’m glad talented lyricists are still writing very Christian (instead of merely theistic) songs for the church and getting good production value.

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Here are the correct answers for “What are the best performances of Ravel’s Boléro on disc?”

In case Spotify goes out of business by the time you’re reading this, here’s a text-only list of the same, sequenced least best (but still quite good) to best:

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One of the reasons—maybe the main reason—I find the built environment in Europe more charming that in the U.S. is the relative lack of billboards and overhead power lines.

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I realized the other week that I didn’t own a copy of a recording of Rhapsody in Blue. That felt un-American, so I went shopping. I listened to the following eleven renditions in search of one to buy:

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Kitchen towels are much more effective at soaking up water if, instead of constantly moving them around, you let them rest. My attention is a kitchen towel.

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I don’t feel at work the stress I feel at home, where stress accompanies not only the drive to get things done, but even the desire for recreation!

Why the difference? I’m not certain. But my surmises are several:

Might I import those circumstances into my non-DiamondBack life? Yes. And in :

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I tend to hold in tension my intentions with your own ✏️ 🎤 🎵

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I make lists. Here’s one: “Scriptural snippets that may indicate everyone makes it to The Party.”

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Here’s my latest working definition: “forgive”

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“Hold fast to reproof, don’t let go. Keep it, for it is your life” (Proverbs 4:13, Alters). Lord, may I cherish correction.

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Just re-listened to Saxophone Colossus by Sonny Rollins. Classic and therefore at this point entirely unsurprising tenor sax-led hard bop that maintains its faculty to please. It might have been better titled Saxophone Colossus with Drum Titan.

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I do what I can
I can what I do ✏️ 🎤 🎵

(h/t Carla)

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Carla: Oof, Sully’s YouTube video made me nauseated. Is that a thing? Can a YouTube video make you nauseated?
Scott: Carla, anything can make you nauseated.

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Crosby, Stills, and gnashing of teeth
Wanna keep the young away
It’s not that I don’t wanna fight no more,
It’s just that I had a bad day. ✏️ 🎤 🎵

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One step closer to nowhere ✏️ 🎤 🎵

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I don’t feel sad like I did in 2016. I just feel angry and perplexed that the majority of American voters selected a unabashed narcissist, mythomaniac, sexual predator, and otherwise very well-established heel as their leader.

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L’État, c’est lui ?

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Just watched: La Haine (1995) written & directed by Matthieu Kassovitz. A memorably stylized, scalding French portrait of three young fictional residents of the Parisian projects. A perfect film. In conversation with Do The Right Thing (1989). A borderline must-see for the sake of humanity. Borderline and not a shoe-in probably because I’m classist and racist. 🍿

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Just listened to: Young Liars by TV on the Radio. For as much as I prize chordal playfulness and generosity as the prime musical virtue, I can really get into your endless chordal repetition if your vocals, fuzzy walls of sound, and/or rhythmic loops are striking enough. Which they are on all five slightly post-apocalyptic tracks here. Easily takes its place with Chronic Town, Kindred, and Magical Mystery Tour as one of my favorite EPs ever.