Monday, July 27, 2009CRAIGSLIST
Online Marketing Specialist (campbell)
________________________________________ Date: 2009-07-22, 3:18PM PDT Reply to: job-em5ec-1283793788@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?] ________________________________________
We are a fast-paced education technology start up looking for an individual with outstanding creative writing and proven online marketing skills to work closely with the marketing team in reviewing, re-writing and designing new content for anything from website content and newsletter advertisements to advertorials. Responsibilities: Requirements Please respond with a cover letter, resume, and 2 writing samples. We are looking to fill this position starting immediately. ____________________________________________________________ Monday, February 23, 2009SUNDAY VISITOR (Transfiguration Sunday 2009)
Someone from Finland visited our church. I asked him about the war between Finland and Russia. He pointed out there were two winter wars 1939-1940 and 1941 -1945(?)
I told him of the book FIGHTER OVER FINLAND. It was about a Finnish fighter pilot. The visitor recognized the American made airplane the Brewster Buffalo. This is the plane the Finns used against the Russians. While the Buffalo was ineffective against the Japanese in the Pacific, it was apparently very effective against the Russians. He told me that his Grandfather fought in both wars. I was able to introduce him to some of our members. One member told him I was an "amateur historian." While I have an interest in history, I feel a bit unworthy of the title "historian." I guess I just have an interest in history. Maybe I could be called a "history otaku." When the visitor heard this he responded that he also has an interest in history, especially military history. My guess at this point someone from the Assyrian church came to mind. The Assyrian church member mentioned reading about a German general who pioneered tank warfare, when I visited his church some time ago. I later dropped by the Assyrian church and told the Assyrian about the Finnish visitor. It would be nice to introduce this Finnish visitor to the Assyrian sub-deacon. Before I forget, I should mention that the Finnish visitor told our pastor that his brother studied at the Concordia Fort Wayne Seminary for his STM (Masters of Sacred Theology). It turns out his brother was at the same time as the pastor's son. So it's possible that the pastor's son may have met this Finnish visitor's brother. It is indeed
Monday, January 19, 2009A SELF CRITICISM: failure to make full use of the hymnal and liturgy.
While I am not comfortable with view screens or overhead projectors, before we liturgical church members get smug, we should ask ourselves about how well do we use our hymnals? One former Jesuit, who became continuing Anglican, advised using the hymnal as my prayer book, if I remember correctly. While Lutheran Worship (LW) is not as good as The
Lutheran Hymnal (TLH), in my opinion, it does have the advantage of a good lectionary. The LW also had Luther's Small Catechism. How many people have consulted the Small Catechism since confirmation or adult instruction? We now have the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). I admit I have not purchased a copy yet. But if I do get a copy, I should probably do more than sing the hymns on Sunday and read through the lectionary. Perhaps view screens might be more convenient than holding hymnals. But with the hymnal or prayer book we can take the contents with us outside church. Well the contents can be put on a laptop. The early church did not have the modern conveniences we have. They probably did not even have hymnals. My guess is the liturgy was introduced in catechism and practiced in worship. The scripture lessons were most likely not projected on to a big screen. The scripture lessons were read to the congregation. And they probably memorized the text. The reason why I write this is other cultures communicated by reading to the people instead of people reading the books. Though John Steinbeck is novelist, not a Bible Scholar, what he wrote in a letter sort of relates to learning the faith. Steinbeck wrote that the Greek people did not learn about the Persian wars by reading about them. Instead the accounts of the Persian wars were READ TO them. Steinbeck really hit home the point of memory. Instead of reading the text, they had the text read to them and they memorized the text. Or eventually after having the text read to them, over the years, they internalized the contents. Perhaps we might want to do more with exercising our memory. I know of one pastor who seemed to favor simply listening to the reading instead of listening and reading along while the lessons were being read. I think reading could have been a distraction. But others argue that one must read along and get hit with information on more than one level. I suspect others would argue one should exercise the memory. Steinbeck wrote that the written word must have destroyed (or disabled) what must have been a remarkable tool, that is memory. ____________________________________________________________ Thursday, January 08, 2009MAISON IKKOKU
This manga series (which later became an anime series, a live action movie and even later a two part television drama) is an interesting look at human relationships and emotions. I guess many can identify with the main character Godai, who is a social klutz. He wishes to marry the apartment manager, but he is always getting the manager mad at him. In a way it is a retelling of the pauper who wins the hand of the princess in spite of the odds of having to compete against the rich tennis coach. The author of this series is a very clever writer, who introduces all sorts of conflicts, challenges and puns. One would think that the tennis coach would have an easy time winning the hand of the princess or apartment manager. But the problem is she still remembers her deceased husband and she has a pet dog named after her husband. And the tennis coach suffers from "dog phobia." To make this situation even more hilarious, the author, Rumiko Takahashi, has the tennis coach meet this beautiful lady for an omiai or arranged marriage meeting. This is sort of a formal date. Unfortunately for him, this beautiful rich lady is a dog lover. Being from a rich family she can keep a number of dogs, including a Saint Bernard. Her family name is Kujo. ( I don't think the author's choice of family name is an accident. My guess is that it's a tribute to Stephen King and his novel CUJO).
I guess I can give away the ending by saying the pauper does win the hand of the princess, but the adventure is in seeing how he overcomes the various obstacles, from people to circumstances. P.S. The word "maison" is the French word for house. Certain foreign words have made their way into the Japanese language. The Japanese word for bread is "pan," which comes from the Portuguese. "Tempura" actually comes from the Latin via the Portuguese priests. Portuguese missionaries were active in Japan in the 16th century. The Japanese later banned Christianity in the 1600's. The Japanese Roman Catholics went underground and were called the "Kakure Kirishitan" or "Hidden Christians." They kept their faith alive for 250 years. Unfortunately isolation caused a deterioration in doctrine and these people became
Monday, December 29, 2008MY CHRISTMAS SEASON
It was nice that people gave me gifts to help me along. I'm glad I could splurge on a tasty meal at the Outback and go to a Messiah sing.
A clerk at a gift shop asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told her that I wanted vol.15 of the manga NODAME CANTABILE, which the gift shop carried. A manga is a graphic novel or glorified comic book. She gave me the manga on Christmas Eve, when I dropped by the shop. I quickly read through the manga that day. While this is a fictional story, I found it somewhat informative in discussing music. Some of it was disgusting such as Mozart's fascination with excrement. Mozart was not the only musician mentioned. Ravel, Beethoven and Bach were also mentioned in passing. The live action TV drama, which was based on the manga, made some changes in the choices of music performed. While I took music appreciation the TV series exposed me to works I had not heard before such as Ravel's Albarado del Gracioso. Yes, I already know about Ravel's Bolero. Of course this is old hat my trivia night team mates. But for me this is a new discovery. The TV aired around Christmas season of 2006. I followed the series with NO subtitles. I read the manga, and Garten's summaries of each episode. There were a total of 10 episodes. In addition I watched the action of the characters. Dave Endresak in his now defunct mailing list made a point that one should observe the non verbal acting of the actors. While I disagreed with Dave on a number of issues, I think his point on that issue was very insightful. In hindsight it is amusing to reflect on Garten's comments that a sequel would NOT likely be made. Apparently Japanese dramas rarely have sequels. Believe it or not the series was so popular a two part special lasting a total of 4 hours was made and aired January 2008. I'm not saying Japanese TV is better than American TV. But I believe NODAME CANTABILE had some positive effects. Classical music became very popular in Japan. Yes, there is a Bach fad. I don't know how long that will last. But classical music became popular among young and old. I met one Japanese national who expressed an interest in learning piano. A Korean national told me the same thing. When he was young he was obligated to take piano lessons. But he was not enthused about it since his friends were into sports. In my humble opinion Fuji TV should license the series and have it broadcast with subtitles in English, Korean, Chinese, French, and German etc. A German speaking person told me that German dialogue was hokey. Nevertheless this German speaking person also fell in love with the series. He could identify with the main character, Nodame, who could play by ear, but not sight read music very quickly. He was the same way. He could play the clarinet by ear, but was not adept at sight reading. I know I'm going off the path in talking about my Christmas season, but before returning to my Christmas season, I want to say that I was impressed by the level of discussion at Garten's website. In a way the website posts made me think of discussions which may take place in a college level English class. Perhaps NONDAME could be an indirect and more fun way to learn music appreciation. I should add that discussion of anime series might be a way to teach English literature. I'm not saying we should ignore Shakespeare. But I am saying that one can get into literary discussions with some anime series. I think it was on Dave Endresak's mailing list that I heard the term "story arc." Yes, anime and manga can be mindless entertainment. But I think some series such as MAISON IKKOKU can be an interesting look at human relationships and emotions. Well, getting back to my Christmas season. I've written before about my visits to the Christmas Eve services at the Japanese Christian church and the Assyrian church. On Christmas Day, I went to my home congregation, which is part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The assistant pastor preached an excellent sermon tying in the Easter season with the Christmas season. I think we tend to lose sight of the reason why Christ was born. The pastor pointed out that Christ was born and came to earth because of our sin. If we had not fallen there would be no need for Christ to be born and then to die on the cross for us. I guess the words "goodwill to men" from the MESSIAH also come to mind. It is not "goodwill among men." It is not "lets all be good neighbors." It is instead God extending his grace towards us. Past sermons tie in with this message I remember our former assistant pastor made the point about the cradle and the cross being connected. And I remember our senior pastor making the analogy of Christ's birth to D-Day. Christmas is not the end of the story. It marks the beginning of Christ's redemption and reclamation of humanity and creation. As the carol goes "Remember Christ our savior was born upon this day to save us all from Satan's power when we all had gone astray." In celebrating Christmas we must not forget Good Friday and Easter. I would recommend listening to the Christmas sermon at www.lcos.org. P.S. It was interesting to see how a Christmas carol has crossed geographical and denominational lines. Over this Christmas season I've heard "Angels, we have heard on high" in Japanese, Assyrian and English.
|
