Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

Once again I must thank the Whited Sepulchre for bringing this to my attention (I'll try not to shamelessly rip him off). University of the Cumberlands , a Southern Baptist affiliated college in Kentucky has caught wind of the fact that Broadway Baptist (where Whited Sepulchre and my heresies are tolerated) has been ex-communicated from the Southern Baptist Convention for insufficient hatred of gay folks. University of the Cumberlands was to host the Broadway youth choir for part of their summer choir tour. That was last week. According to Whited Sepulchre (who is unusually well-connected) and legitimate news sources , a Cumberlands spokesperson called, days away from the choir's departure, with the news the choir would no longer be welcome . As part of their trip, the youth were to perform mission work with Mountain Outreach , a UC program that builds housing for poor in the Appalachians. The Mountain Outreach web site says "In keeping with the tradition of the progra...

If you've never seen it, Spin , by film-maker Brian Springer, is a brilliant essay on the art of political spin. Created over a dozen years ago it's still relevant today. It's part of the Illegal Art Exhibit , which features a number of works considered "illegal" because of various copyright encumbrances ( Spin makes use of pirated, raw unedited network satellite feeds). It's yet another example of how copyright law has been twisted to all sorts of purposes not intended by by our nation's founders. This is the brainchild of StayFree! a non-profit magazine founded by Carrie McLaren in 1992 about the politics of culture. Check the other stuff on the Illegal Art site - worth your time. Spin and other films can be downloaded from Archive.org .

It's been a rough week for celebrity deaths: first Ed McMahon, then Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Now comes the most shocking of them all: William D. Mays, Jr., better known as Billy Mays the infomercial king, has gone to that great toll-free number in the sky, dead at the age of 50 . If you watch any cable or satellite TV you've seen him hawking all manner of amazing products, including OxiClean, Orange Glo and god knows how many other household goods. Best known for his in-your-face braying delivery (" Billy Mays here! ") and take-no-prisoners style, Mays has in recent years become America's most successful product hawker. In April 2009 he was featured in Discovery Channels documentary Pitchmen . Despite the slight air of sleeziness that exudes from "as seen on television" commercials, the products we've bought (they're in stores, too) have (mostly) lived up to the pitch. If Billy promoted it, you knew it would be worth the price (" ...

I met up with the Whited Sepulchre , my fellow former Southern Baptist , and drank a beer in public at a place where men and women openly smoked cigars together. We briefly discussed whether we should dance together but neither of us had a quarter for the jukebox (besides, cigar breath -- ugh). Sunday I'll be at Broadway Baptist wearing a shirt a made of mixed fibers and listening to a woman minister preach. I feel so liberated.

My friend and sometimes sparring partner the Whited Sepulchre alerted me to the fact that Broadway Baptist Church of Ft. Worth, where my heresies are tolerated, has been given the boot by the Southern Baptist Convention. The nominal reason was because we tolerated homosexuals in our midst. Well, la-dee-dah. There was great huffing and puffing from Louisville, Kentucky, the scene of the crime. "The church was in effect saying that it was OK to have members who are open homosexuals," said a member of the Executive Committee. Shocking. The truth is, the SBC has been pissed at us for quite a while. Broadway, if I may venture an opinion, stopped caring years ago. The only things keeping us in the convention at all were the desire to accommodate Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty members who needed to be at a church in good standing (whoops) and the presence of a dwindling number of older members who nursed a sentimental attachment to what the SBC used to be befo...

Briefly noted: Reuters reports Kodak has announced it will cease production of Kodachrome film after 74 years of production. No word on the fate of its sibling Ektachrome. Kodachrome was a mainstay of amateur and professional photographers for years. My father shot miles of 8mm movie film with his trusty Brownie movie camera of me and my siblings in various embarrassing hijinks. How technology has changed us: the Brownie was spring driven, which meant each take was limited to 30 or 40 seconds before you'd have to rewind the spring. Video allows the photographer to shoot excruciatingly long Andy Warhol-esque takes with no breaks. I prefer my boredom in smaller chunks, thank you.

Rep. Steve Buyers claims smoking tobacco is no more dangerous than smoking lettuce. I wonder what this guy smoked while he was in college? Hat tip to Salon.com , where I saw this clip.