My attention has been elsewhere

Sorry, people. Lately I have been focusing on my other blog:

Shoes Off at the Door, Please

Terrorizer is the best music magazine ever

Terrorizer is a magazine that covers extreme metal, stuff that is a bit harder than your AC/DC or Iron Maiden. I first read Terrorizer when I was 14. I was amazed at finding a magazine that was focused on death metal and black metal. I resented the way that mainstream heavy metal magazines like Kerrang! and Metal Hammer mocked death metal and black metal bands. Fourteen years later, I read Terrorizer every month.

In recent months, my respect for Terrorizer has grown even more. Two Christians had letters printed on their letter page and received sympathetic and respectful responses from the letters editor. Other heavy metal magazines have treated Christian correspondents with sarcasm and contempt.

This month, Terrorizer included a special feature on Christian exteme metal. They also included a Christian band on the covermount CD.

Spirited Away

I watched the Japanese anime film Spirited Away yesterday. It tells the story of a ten-year old girl who becomes trapped in a world of spirits and gods. I was fascinated by how the film captured many of the thematic elements of fairy tales from all different cultures.

Many nations have stories about young girls who are imprisoned by a supernatural oppressor and who are forced to perform impossible tasks, yet who receive supernatural assistance from a fairy guardian.

Holiday in Hastings

I spent the last week with my old folks in Hastings. I indulged my love of ecclesiastical art by visiting no less than six old churches:

St. Thomas the Matyr, Winchelsea
Charles the Matyr, Tunbridge Wells
St. Mary's, Rye
Chichester cathedral
Arundel (Roman Catholic) cathedral
St. Nicholas, Arundel

While I was away I also lead a Bible study at my parents' home fellowship on Genesis 6 and the days before the Flood.

Vive le roi Henri!

The royalist anthem of France. This song gets so stuck in my head.

Some good stuff on Pyromaniacs

I occasionally like to drop by Pyromaniacs. While I dislike the Calvinism and Lordship Salvation over there, they often write some really great posts, especially on the subject of Charismatic nonsense.

Recently we had a great post from Phil Johnson on the lack of modesty in evangelical circles these days and a book review by Dan Phillips on the subject of guidance. It contains a wholehearted endorsement of the position of Garry Friessen's Decision-making and the Will of God.

I actually saw one of my favorite paintings!

I stayed with my lovely sister in Poole this weekend. As I love Victorian art, she decided to take me to see the Russell Cotes Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth. It housed a fantastic collection of art, as well as many artifacts that its original owner had collected while travelling.

I was amazed to find that this place housed Auroa, by Evelyn De Morgan, one of my favorite paintings and one that I have commented about on this blog before.

After going to Bournemouth, we attended the Southampton Beer Festival. We had a good time, though I was not especially impressed by the four beers that I tried.

The weather was so wonderfully warm. It was an excellent weekend to visit the coast.

Completed and Submitted

I sent my PhD thesis to the university today.

The examination comes next...

I miss Worcester Cathedral so much

And I miss this lovely angel too.

Reading John Frame again

A while ago, I read Apologetics to the Glory of God, by John Frame. I think it was an excellent work, demonstrating the excellence of the presuppositional approach to apologetics. Despite my Arminianism, I am pretty keen on Presuppositionalism. I think Classic apologetics and Evidentialism are useful, but have their limitations.

I am now reading No Other God, John Frame's critique of Open Theism. This is a little less to my taste, as I do not share his Calvinism. I find his hostlity to the libertarian notion of free-will to be particularly misplaced. Nevertheless, like him I do not agree with Open Theism (though I still feel they make some good points). I find their rejection of exhaustive foreknowledge to be unteneable and I feel their aversion to classic theism to be as misguided as Frame's rejection of libertarian free-will.

Call an election, Mr. Brown

I believe the prime minister must dissolve parliament and call an election.

The current scandal over MPs expenses has lead to a crisis of confidence in parliament. It is simply unthinkeable that the government can continue to legislate while their reputation has been so badly tarnished.

An election now would give the public a chance to respond to the shocking revelations that have been made in the last month.

Diet Irn Bru

I was pleased to find that there is a sugar-free version of the weird Scottish soft drink, Irn Bru.

I don't care for the taste of many diet drinks, but I worry about the effects of sugary drinks. As it happens, the Diet Irn Brus is pretty good. It does not taste much different to the original.

Pear Cider

Until yesterday, I had never tried pear cider. I have never like apple cider (that's the British alcoholic drink). But I thought pear cider was much nicer. A far more refreshing taste.