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Having received his Brother, the Wandering One's, latest fraternity lip-synch competition entry, the Lost One must, now post it (Even though, truth to tell it's not that good [Sorry Bro]. It seems their dancing consists chiefly in buttoning, and then unbuttoning their suit jackets. Kinda lame, still...):



Now this one from two years ago, much better (Can you tell which is The Wandering One?):


The Lost One knows what you are thinking, Dang, those nerds have game. The Lost One knows, Right? Who knew that MIT kids had it in them?
Until next time.

News of both...

The Sacred:

Two students who were threatened with suspension at the College of Alameda after
one of them prayed with an ailing teacher in a faculty office can sue the
community college district for allegedly violating their freedom of speech, a
federal judge has ruled....The women sued, and U.S. District Judge Susan Illston
ruled in San Francisco that their case could proceed, saying a college student
has the right to pray in private outside the classroom.

San Fransisco?!??!! Huh, who'd a thunk it?:

Kyriacou prayed with the teacher, Sharon Bell, at an office Bell shared with
other teachers, on two occasions in November and December 2007. The second time,
a day when Bell was feeling ill, another teacher entered the office and told
Kyriacou, "You can't be doing that in here," and the student stopped praying and
left, the suit said.
Kyriacou and Omaga received suspension notices 10 days
later. Omaga was accused of praying disruptively in class, Illston said, citing
testimony at the students' disciplinary hearings.

Well, it looks like someone is about to get their tenure snapped. Heh heh.

Now on to the "Profane". Washington, DC is often referred to as "Hollywood, for ugly people", but it would seem that that is only true of American politics. So here's a link to a list of the 65 most beautiful women in international politics. (Scroll down past the Espanol [OK, so it's not that profane, none of the pictures are "risque" so it's totally SFW, but the Lost One had a perfectly good set up to use]). Smart and pretty = *Sigh*. Enjoy. Oh, but watch out for #46.

Via, drum roll please, Ace (AAAE).

Episcopal Denomination, Now with Less Crazy!

Now, in an effort to get back to the funny, Lost In The World, proudly presents: Ann Holmes Redding, The Priest who doesn't bother with all that boring Bible reading. The Lost One first became aware of Ms. Redding waaaaaaaaaay back in the days of yore known as the magic land of 2007. It turns out that then Rev. Redding attended an interfaith Class, from the Seattle Times:

at a St. Mark's interfaith class, another Muslim leader taught a chanted prayer and led a meditation on opening one's heart. The chanting appealed to the singer in Redding; the meditation spoke to her heart. She began saying the prayer daily.

First, we have the obvious question: Why was a Christian church hosting an Islamic class on how to pray like a Muslim? Is it just the Lost One? Was this made a best practice while he wasn't looking? Anyways...

Eventually, Ms. Redding decided, well let's let her tell it:

"I could not not be a Muslim...At the most basic level, I understand the two religions to be compatible...I am both Christian and Muslim."

But how you say, does that work?

"There are tenets of the faiths that are very, very different,"said Kurt Fredrickson, director of the doctor of ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "The most basic would be: What do you do with Jesus?" Christianity has historically regarded Jesus as the son of God and God incarnate, both fully human and fully divine. Muslims, though they regard Jesus as a great prophet, do not see him as divine and do not consider him the son of God.

And how did Redding respond?

Redding doesn't feel she has to resolve all the contradictions..."why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam?"

Umm, because YOU'RE A FREAKING PRIEST!!!???!! So how did she get here?

"It wasn't about intellect,"

You don't say.

"All I know is the calling of my heart to Islam was very much something about my identity and who I am supposed to be."...As much as she loves her church, she has always challenged it. She calls Christianity the "world religion of privilege." She has never believed in original sin. And for years she struggled with the nature of Jesus' divinity.

So we have a radical lefty, who never actually committed to the basic tenants of Christianity. And she was both ordained and employed by a Christian organization. For 30 years. Fan-freaking-tastic.

Yet, all good things must come to an end: from CNN

For nearly 30 years, Redding has been an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church. Her priesthood ended Wednesday when she was defrocked.

Over 3 years after her "conversion". 3 Years.

James Wellman, who chairs the department of comparative religion at the University of Washington, said that while it is not unusual for people to "mix and match" beliefs, it is almost unheard of for a minister to claim two religions. "When you take ordination as a Christian minister, you take an explicit vow of loyalty to Jesus. It's hard for me to understand how a Christian minister could have dual loyalties," Wellman said.

So obvious a contradiction, even a secularist can see it.

The Diocese of Rhode Island, where Redding was ordained, told her to leave either her new Muslim faith or the ministry. A diocese statement said Bishop Geralyn Wolf found Redding to be "a woman of utmost integrity. However, the Bishop believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim.

3 Years. 2 years after an article was published about her. *Sigh* Well, better late then never. Via Ace (AAAE).

The End of an ERa

Yesterday the final new episode of long running TV show ER was broadcast. Though the Lost One can't rightly say he was a fan (He's seen only a handful of episodes in the last half decade plus), the end did stir up a startling amount of emotions. So, cause the Lost One is feeling maudlin, he's going to subject you to this post. Sorry.

The First thing to know is that while he hasn't watched for a while, in the beginning, he did. Those of you old enough to remember it's beginning will recall the East coast/West Coast style rivalry that was being set up twixt, ER and Chicago Hope (Wha? The Lost One knows, right? So here's a link to explain). It was an easy choice really, whiny over educated sawbones, or fast-paced hero viewing created by the author of Jurassic Park? Yeah, it was that easy.

Still, it's not the memory of the shows he watched, but instead the Lost One remembers random things like calling his friend Elizabeth "Angel" Wolf, "Lizzie" during high school (Just Like Dr. Romano [Y'know, before the Lost One figured out he was a douche]), the article on the new hit medical drama he read while waiting for the bus to take him to the mall, or the time he found the ugly truth about racism in America, when he discovered there were actually people agitating against an interracial couple on ER (The shock? It was Actor Eriq La Salle an American of African descent who was opposed). Each memory takes an added flavor from the show to memories for which the show only provides a backdrop. Yet, they make the memory that much more intense.

And so, while he outgrew the show years ago, The Lost One bids a fond farewell to it, since it was with him in his childhood. Funny, the show ended it's run by recreating a scene from it's premiere, implying that while the show was ending, the drama at the hospital never would. A good metaphor for childhood, we all leave it, but it continues without us.

For those of you who have asked...

There are no vampires in Massachusetts:

"Lynne Mooney Teta sent a notice out Thursday to faculty, students, and
parents denying the presence of bloodsuckers. She declined, however, to
offer details about the rumors."

Of course the idea of vampires in Massachusetts is ridiculous. And what would vampires being doing at Boston Latin School...Huh.

Well, how could there possibly be bloodsuckers from a school that has such prestigious alumni as Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, Sumner Redstone, and...Wait, Louis Farrakhan!?!!?

Crap, does anyone know what the last minute fair for a flight to Boston is? The Lost One suddenly senses there might be some EVH business in New England.

Via Ace, as always, as ever.

All the Planet's Problems Have Been Solved!

It must be official, otherwise why would the UN being wasting their time (and money) holding a retrospective of Battlestar Galactica? Don't miss take the Lost One, he was a huge fan of the show, it's fun. It's thought provoking. But, above all it's a television show.

From TV Guide:

"Standing in a United Nations chamber before a table covered in placards for
each of the 12 Battlestar Galactica colonies, Edward James Olmos delivered a
stirring speech that led a crowd of reporters and students to join in a chant of
'So say we all,' one of the key phrases from the show.
It could have been a stirring moment in the series finale — but the moment was real. "

The Lost One is (given his well known enmity towards the most useless entity ever created, the UN) less then shocked to see them waste time, money, and prestige on a chance to rub elbows with a few famous people (Official UN "Goodwill" ambassadors Geri "Sexy Spice" Halliwell, or Angelina "Adopt'em all, let God sort'em out" Jolie anyone?). Still, there is nothing useful that they could be doing at this point? Nothing?

The Lost One doesn't know which is sadder, that people accept this from the UN, or that it well may be the truth.

Entertainment vs. Art?

In his daily constitutional around the web, the Lost One discovered that the *Boundless* crew is all in a tizzy over *Watchmen* (No doubt, those of you who read *Boundless* regularly are shocked, simply shocked that someone on staff would voice a strong opinion [The Lost One often jokes that it is in the staff contract at *Boundless* that white smoke must be deployed when a new person is hired]), namely wondering aloud whether the movie is too full of adult content to be seen by Christians. This in turn led to a debate about what is art as opposed to entertainment leading to just a few of the relevant quotes below:

Anyone who visits the Vatican knows the difference between the Renaissance paintings of nudes inside, and the semi-pornographic billboards outside.

I think there is a difference between sculptures/paintings and real life...entertainment nudity...

Nakedness in an artistic context (the statue of the David, for example) is very different from another context.

All of this debate has led the Lost One to ask a very basic question: Is there, in actuality a legitimate distinction twixt art and Entertainment? To which the Lost One must answer emphatically, NO.

What's funny is that when one side defending *Watchmen* makes a statement about the nudity in the art world, people are quick to cry, "Foul". "They are different," The critic says, "Art is viewed by rich people in museums who use words like, 'Narrative Painting"', 'Maquette', and (the Lost One's favorite), 'Iconography'. It's far removed from something made for the menial purpose of mass consumption."

But of course the question is, is it? What most people fail to appreciate is the fact that art is always made to be viewed. It is not made for the artist to achieve catharsis, or to showcase their intellectual talent. No art is, at it's best, about the bringing of a new idea to the viewer. About communicating with them, about challenging them, about elevating them, but always about them. It's not focused on the artist's wants, needs, or personal beliefs about what the "right" crowd is. It is about communicating universal truth, universally. Indeed, a quick perusal of the art terms above will show that all of them are about selling the art, or communicating a story. Art is, and always has been about communicating.

The second thing missing is the simple fact that most of what we consider art, was created for mass consumption. Few would argue that Shakespeare isn't art. Yet Shakespeare wrote, not so students can discuss...say... the use of Amazon myth to subjugate women (or not), or the insights of a playwright into the follies of both youth and age, or the evil and corrupting nature of power, but instead wrote so the groundlings could laugh at poor Helena, who goes from one too few lovers, to one to many (Midsummer's Night Dream), to cry with Juliet when her parent's force her love to suicide, and herself as well (Romeo & Juliet), and to hiss at Richard III as he seduces a widow in front of the quickly cooling corpse of her own husband (Richard III). The fact that each of these plays excels at beautiful subtext, and thought provoking ideas, in no way diminish the fun for which they were ultimately created. It's the same in Painting, how many of the paintings we admire today were commissioned by nobles, purely for the pleasure of keeping up with the Jones, (Or De Gauls, or Reyes, or Mèdicis)? In architecture, Vitruvius' De Architectura is dedicated to the Emperor Augustus, is it so hard to believe this is because the designer was actively hoping to be massively popular? The Lost One thinks not.

Thus, there are things one could say against *Watchmen* (And the Lost One might just. Only...later), but the one thing you mustn't ever say is, "It's just entertainment." There is, ultimately, no such animal.