church 2.0 - same ol' deal?

in response to a post by jonny baker about church 2.0 I wrote the following:

i've been thinking a lot about this idea of community/people as content and something just struck me: in the wikipedia of the world, we christians are the definition of christianity and who christ is. constantly updated and morphing - many voices changing it all the time, but ultimately the world's understanding of christ is framed through us.

not a new concept, but new terminology.


which is simultaneously a scary and reassuring point - get your voice out there! contribute - if you don't like the cultural understanding of Christianity, help bring it back!

ex-building in toronto

ghosthouse
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

i've always loved ex-buildings, and the stains they leave, expecially when they were built first and added on to, then removed leaving scars in the newer building's side. the sun was in the perfect spot the other day to describe the dimension of a possible foundation...

words made from flickr pics

code auto generated at http://metaatem.net/words/

love in the face of violence

After having seen Paradise Now and feeling very ignorant in my understanding of the Palestine/Israel conflict, I am trying to do as much reading and research as I can on what seems like a very devicive issue - especially in Christian circles... I'm currently reading a book by a Palestinian Melkite Christian Priest, Abuna Elias Chacour, entitled We belong to the land about his experiences in Israel. Just wanted to share the following quote which I found so simple yet so striking:

"The answer to hatred and violence is a genuine, personal initiative completely independent from the reaction to violence. Respecting human rights and protecting human life should never be a reaction to violence, but should arise out of one's love for human beings, for life.

This is the message of the man from Galilee. Jesus Christ teaches us today, as he did two thousand years ago in this very place, that we are not to love people out of charity or for Jesus' sake, as if others were a tool, an instrument, or a tunnel to pass through to reach the goal. Rather, the other - the Jew, the Palestinian, the American, the Muslim, the Christian - is to be loved becauase that person is loveable as who he or she is. We are to love as God loves. God's love is unconditional and sacrificial. God is love."

sheer volume (of sites unseen)

Sites Unseen has the most incredible list - so vast! - of christian related anything. found some cool bands, still browsing the rest. I had to post it, not so much for the content as the connectivity - this is the web after all... I'd love to see a map of the interconnectivity of all these links as a tagcloud or like something from visualcomplexity which is a network of maps of networks.

stillnotstill - beautiful meditative video art

still not still by Sue Costabile is one of the most beautiful pieces of video art I have seen in a long time... paired with lovely audio work by AGF. She does most of her work live using Jitter (part of Max/MSP). check out minimoviemovement too for more of their collaborations... inspiring lovely stuff.

freedom toaster - vending machine for free open source software

The Freedom Toaster project puts free open source software (including operating systems) on the streetcorner. Simply bring a CD to burn, click and go.
In South Africa, it is often hard to gain access to Ye Olde Interwebbe, especially to download large files/software. Problem no more. Just go find a toaster!

the cyborg identification quiz

fill in the blank in the following statement:

_____________ is a crutch for the weak.

a) religion
b) alcohol
c) blogging
d) a bicycle
e) a car
f) love
g) power
h) community
i) literacy
j) television
k) a crutch
l) all of the above

snowsuit photoblog

Snowsuit.net - an amazing photoblog.

$100 laptop plan - save the interweb!

I've been thinking about the $100 laptop and enjoyed the Banksy style take on it that Jonny Baker posted about (from gizmondo: a moment of perspective).

One of my favourite quotes from the $100 laptop website FAQ is the following:

"In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home."

#$%&*%^@$%^$*!!!!

as my sister and wife just pointed out, why not just buy them $10 windup lamps? better yet (i suggested) if they need information too, give them a book to read and then burn for light...

This technotopic vision seems to me to really be about not saving the word (as if) but about saving cyberspace. The biggest problem (as I see it) with the Internet saving us (humankind) is the issue of access. How can we claim it is the great democratic and freespeech leveler unless everyone has one? so save the internet and give everyone a laptop. they wouldn't even dream of selling it to buy food... unless of course they access the internet and start getting ideas...

Paradise Now

Saw this film (Paradise Now, 2005) last night with my dad at Cinema Kingston... Aside from being a really well made film (good drama/suspence, maintains tension and interest level throughout) it really brings to the forefront the humanity of Palestinian suicide bombers. I found myself very ignorant of many factors involved in the occupation/conflict and this movie really drove me to want to know more... While the movie does have a focus (humanizing people who are constantly dehumanized by the western media), it also presents a wide variety of viewpoints on what sort of response/protest is worthwhile - debates relevant to any situation not just the one depicted in the film. I'm somewhat nervous about displaying my ignorance in this obviously heated topic, but wanted to reccomend seeing this film - which I think is a really important voice that needs to be heard in the ongoing hope for some sort of peace.

new musical tracks posted

my my myspace page now has three tracks for your listening pleasure - new since the christmas private release of the flk ep. name changed to akaflk (adding more redundant letters!) because some lousy punkband in the states used the name already... check out myspace akaflk page

my[54cr3d]space

hideleho! I've joined the ranks of myspace... (on forbes' suggestion). see myspace here... you can listen to one track on the page... my shareware mp3 converter ran out of trial conversions. pah. more tracks to come when i sort that out.

easter art

my friend andrew and i have been having a really interesting dialogue as he has recently started curating art/worship events at the church he works at in waterdown. It thrills me that he is involved in such things, many years after we had conversations about new possibilities of melding of art and church... way to go mr. hyde! the following is from an email he sent out... i urge you to check it out if you are in the area around easter - i probably won't be able to make it as i'll be involved with Freedomize's easter thing... which is still in the 'works in progress' catagory! Not sure if this is actually an open call for submissions, but if you comment here, i'll forward ideas to mister hyde.

link to his church blog to see more pictures from Encarna

Easter Art Show 2006
Grindstone Valley Bible Church & St. James United Church – Waterdown

As a follow-up to the ENCARNA worship installation at Christmas, St. James and Grindstone are teaming up to put on an Easter Art Show during Holy Week.
The art show will take place on Palm Sunday, April 9, at the old St. Thomas Church in Waterdown (44 Flamboro St.). This is a really great space for the art show, as all the pews and fixtures in the old church have been removed, leaving an open and majestic space. The exhibit will be open from 9am to 9pm, with a culminating worship service taking place at 8pm.
Currently, we are looking for artists to showcase their art in this exhibit.
The aim of this art show is to prepare people for the special celebration of Easter – the Christian understanding of our redemption through Christ’s death and resurrection. Therefore we are looking for art that draws people into the Easter story in a profound way.
The art in this art show will be divided into two major categories (along with their subsequent themes).
GOOD FRIDAY – depicting themes of sacrifice, injustice, pain, separation from God, sin, etc.
EASTER – depicting themes of resurrection, new life, victory over death, hope, holiness, purity, etc.
Have you made any art, or would you like to create a new piece, that we could exhibit in this art show? If so, please contact either Jeff or Andrew as soon as possible, giving a brief description of the piece and why you’d like to exhibit it. If you can, it would be great to email a picture of the piece, so the organizers can plan ahead.
We are really excited about this event. It should prove to be a profound and meaningful way to move into Holy Week and the life-giving celebration of Easter.

pandora

multiple people seem to have caught on to this simultaneously... so good. pandora.com allows you to type in a song or an artist and get a sweet playlist of similar tracks streamed to your 'puter... ANY MUSIC OF ANY KIND. genius. refine the list and add other artists or start a new playlist - register to have and save multiple stations. sweet.

I have a sweet little F.S. Blumm/Tin Hat Trio/Christian Wallumrod Ensemble list going on right now... try it and see beautiful musics!

vinebranches

vinebranches
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

more flickr pics added... trying to set up a myspace band page so those of you in webland can hear my latest audio experiments/play. throw me an email if you want a demo disc and we'll make plans... or wait for updates re:my myspace page.

pics on flickr

I got a digital camera for christmas - yay! - and I'm uploading to Flickr like a fiend. I find their 'organize' tool to be really slow or entirely unresponsive, so I haven't yet sorted them all out. see my pics here: my Flickr pics. So excited to complete so many photo projects I've had in mind for so long! So excited to be able to take so many pictures! Recent uploads include: the Freedomize going away party for Todd (our now-former-senior-pastor-all-on-good-terms-!), and 'arty' stuff I took playing around with my little camera just after I got it.

Bono icon

Not sure where this originated but my friend andrew sent it to me in response to my contemporary icons...

Happy New Year!

creative sound play

Creative sound play with bunch o' guys jumping and stomping and making noise... flashtastic.

"How Great Thou Art"

How Great Thou Art is a videoart piece currently on exhibition at invisiblevenue.com. The piece is by Melissa Day who is the sister of a girl in my "Art, Faith and Postmodern Culture" class at ICS. The class is amazing and has been slowly undoing all that OCAD has taught me (!) over the last four-and-a-bit years. The artwork in question is also quite stunning and worth a watch. To see the other work in the current show, click this.