We hold these truths to be self-evident

George Cruey takes an interesting look at the philosophy behind our Declaration of Independence and how a chance by Ben Franklin took the rational for our independence beyond the Christian/spiritual realm and made it something all men can understand.

If Jefferson’s “sacred” had been left in, the Arabs of Iraq and the Hindus of India could have looked at Democracy (at least in light of our Declaration of Independence) and said, “Ha, Christians! What do they know?” As a result of Franklin’s change, the idea became rational (and secular) instead of being based on revelation from God.

Read his thoughts for yourself. Do you think the change was necessary, worthwhile, important?

Indiana Jones 4 being filmed at Yale

Indiana Jones 4 is being filmed now at the New Haven, Conn. Yale campus. I can’t wait! The film should be coming out next summer.
For whatever reason I had the Indiana Jones theme stuck in my head and listening to the NPR story about the filming is getting me super excited hearing the music again…. did I mention I can’t wait?!
From NPR:

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford have chosen Yale as the backdrop to the latest Indy adventure, they’ve chosen the classic Gothic spires of Yale University’s Ivy League campus, which has also been featured in other Hollywood films starring Julia Roberts and Uma Thurman.
But the city may never see anything like this again: a vintage 1950s storefront with colorful ’57 Chevys and Studebakers parked outside. Signs for fallout shelters and ads for Vitalis decorate a block gone retro.

Re: On a search for the Music Machine

Further searching led me to a website for Agapeland Music as well.
I did botch those lyrics up on Patience, sung by Herbert the Snail.
The correct lyrics are, “Have patience, have patience. Don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember, remember, that God is patient too. And think about the times when others have to wait for you.”
You can order all the Agapeland recordings on CD now, but I’d love to find the original records as well.

On a search for the Music Machine


While working at Brian and Heather’s yesterday somehow we got a couple Music Machine songs stuck in our head.

I think it started with, “Have patience, have patience. Don’t be in such a hurry. Remember, remember you’ll only start to worry. If you get impatient know you need patience too and think about the times when others have to wait on you.”

I’m a little foggy on the lyrics there in the middle but we had fun remembering the great albums of our childhood like the Music Machine, Music Machine II, Bullfrogs and Butterflies, Sir Oliver’s Song, Psalty and Charity the Churchmouse.

I did some searching and was able to find some cool info on Wikipedia about them and now I’m wondering if maybe I or my parents have those records around the house somewhere. I really want to get my hands on them if possible.

I would imagine they were tossed out at some point and now I’m going to have to pay a lot more to get them off eBay. But my search has now begun.

I also found that Psalty has actually kept up with the times and has his own webpage as well as a Myspace page.

UPDATE: Audio from the Music Machine gearing up (taken from our online radio station – orangenoiseradio.com) ::
Music Machine Bumber

[audio:http://www.casadeblundell.com/jonathan/wp-content/uploads/bumper107.mp3]

If I were a cussin’ man

If I were a cussin’ man I’d say, “*&^*! That’s awesome!”

A couple Modest Mouse fans built up a huge kinkos bill and decided to make a music video using stop action photography and 4133 pictures of their favorite band.

“Myself and a couple have friends have entered the above into the Modest Mouse video competition. Using green screen footage provided by the band we cut a simple music video. We then degraded the images and printed out each frame sequentially. (all 4133 of them) We then nailed each “shot” of 50-100 posters to various structures and posts. Then using a digital SLR camera with a long exposure we frame by frame shot each poster. Oh, and theres a little video projection (again, frame by frame on the SLR) just to mix it up. There is no compositing, no shortcuts, just lots of blood, sweat and tears, and a huge Kinkos bill!”…. Max

PhotoJojo passed along the link as well as some tips on how to make your own stop action video.