I love me some Foo...

Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl to Ryan Murphy: 'Not Everyone Loves 'Glee''
by Jay A. Fernandez, Shirley Halperin 
9:05 PM 3/17/2011

When it comes to using his band's songs on 'Glee,' the Foos frontman sides with Kings of Leon and Slash in the licensing battle.

Don’t count on hearing the Foo Fighters hit “Times Like These” on Glee anytime soon. Frontman Dave Grohl says he and his bandmates are squarely in the corner of Kings of Leon and Slash. As in, they want no part of the Ryan Murphy-helmed show.

“It’s every band’s right, you shouldn’t have to do f---ing Glee,” Grohl told THR following the premiere of Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, the new Foo Fighters documentary which just made its South By Southwest debut. “And then the guy who created Glee is so offended that we’re not, like, begging to be on his f---ing show… f--- that guy for thinking anybody and everybody should want to do Glee.”

 

You might be wondering, has Grohl ever actually watched the show? As it turns out, yes, he gave Glee a whirl. “I watched 10 minutes. It’s not my thing,” Grohl grizzled. But he doesn’t have as much of a problem with the series as he does with its creator. 

 

Recounting anti-Glee comments made by Slash earlier this year and subsequent retorts by Murphy, reported by THR, Grohl explained to drummer Taylor Hawkins: “The Glee guy, what a f---ing jerk. Slash was the first one. He wanted to do Guns ‘n’ Roses and Slash is like, ‘I hate f---ing musicals. It’s worse than Grease.’ Then [Murphy's] like, ‘Well, of course he’d say that, he’s a washed up ol’ rock star, that’s what they f---ing do.’ And then Kings of Leon say, ‘No, we don’t want to be on your show.’ And then he’s like, ‘Snotty little assholes…’ And it’s just like, Dude, maybe not everyone loves Glee. Me included.”

 

Said Hawkins: “Yeah, f--- that shit.”

 

Redemptive Poetry on a Night of Violence

by Bart Campolo 
Red Letter Christians 

It is Sunday night, and I am suddenly awake at the crack of too-close gunfire. I creep to the window without turning on the light, more curious than afraid until I remember I don’t know if my daughter Miranda and her friends are home from their movie. Looking out, I see three men spread out in the backyard we share with Ric and Karen, one moving slowly past the patio furniture where we had Sabina’s 7th birthday party that afternoon, the other two crouched by the trampoline my son Roman and his football buddies slept out on last week. Strangers in our space, clearly visible in the moonlight, probably carrying guns.

~ ~ ~

Those lousy ghetto bastards — my exact words at 2 a.m. — brought their ignorant violence into our yard on purpose. They weren’t running away from anything. They had a plan. They brought an audience. I don’t know their names, of course, but I know them just the same, because once they get that careless, they are all the same. Before I can stop myself, I hope aloud that they drive themselves off a bridge before they make any more babies. Across the room, Marty wonders aloud what happened to the kind and hopeful man who brought her to this place four years ago, in the name of Love. Finally, we turn on the light and call Miranda. Until she gets home, there is no use trying to sleep.

~ ~ ~

And suddenly, just as suddenly as those gunshots awakened me, I too don’t want to end up simply having visited this world, or even this neighborhood. I don’t want to end up angry or bitter. No, I want to believe in my heart that each life, and each name, and each body is indeed something precious, both to God and to me. I want to remarry amazement.

[Full Article]

Jesus Contends with Religion

by Donald Miller

Jesus pulls no punches in calling the Jews on their own self deception. They are a people steeped in religious tradition. They go to temple. They observe the sacred holidays. They perform rituals. It would be very difficult to then transfer a sense of security based in sacrifice and action to a security based in faith, even if the man making the request was performing miracles.


As Christians, we are, of course, not Jews, we do not slaughter animals or perform rituals. Our faith, supposedly, is in Christ. And yet we have developed our own sense of security outside of Christ that we call church or christianity or Bible study or discipleship. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this, but it’s hardly the source of our security. Our security is in Christ and Christ alone.

~ ~ ~

The great crisis of the church goer is that his action does not save him. He must base his faith on someone outside his control. He cannot make Christ redeem him, or manipulate Christ into redeeming him. He cannot trick Christ or impress Christ into giving him what he wants. He can only trust Christ. And this is a frightening reality.

~ ~ ~

So let me ask you this. If you stopped going to church for years, and never picked up your Bible again, would you still believe your eternal security rested in the good and gracious heart of Christ, despite your lack of ritual? If not, then part of your security is based in religion, and it’s a false security.

[Full Article] 

How Japan's religions confront tragedy

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

Proud of their secular society, most Japanese aren't religious in the way Americans are: They tend not to identify with a single tradition nor study religious texts.

~ ~ ~

“Japanese are not religious in the way that people in North America are religious,” says John Nelson, chair of theology and religious studies at the University of San Francisco. “They’ll move back and forth between two or more religious traditions, seeing them as tools that are appropriate for certain situations.”

~ ~ ~

Indeed, where Christianity, Judaism or Islam are often preoccupied with causes of disaster - the questions of why God would allow an earthquake, for example - Eastern traditions like Buddhism and Shinto focus on behavior in reaction to tragedy.

“It’s very important in Japanese life to react in a positive way, to be persistent and to clean up in the face of adversity, and their religions would emphasize that,” says University College Cork’s Bocking. “They’ll say we have to develop a powerful, even joyful attitude in the face of adversity.”

~ ~ ~

Many young Japanese have left Buddhism, accusing priests of profiting from grief because of their paid roles in burials. Critics say the priests spend money from funerals on temples without playing a broader role in society.

“The earthquake is an opportunity for Buddhist priests to step up and show they are still relevant,” says Nelson. “Young people just aren’t buying it anymore.”

[Full Article]

Carey Fuller Chronicles Her Experiences As A Homeless Parent In 'Writings From The Driver's Side'

The Huffington Post   
Gabrielle Canon


In 2004, as her two children slept in the 1981 Minnie Winnebago they would now have to call home, Carey Fuller sat down to write her first poem.

This March, over seven years later, she self-published her work in a collection called "Writings from the Driver's Side," revealing the experiences she endured and continues to experience as a homeless mother.

~ ~ ~

In 2010, Fuller decided to speak out about her situation. Though she remained anonymous, she wrote a letter to Change.org author, Josie Raymond, called "What It is Like to be a Homeless Mother." For the first time she was able to voice the frustrations she felt toward a system that was not there for her when she needed it. She was able to break down stereotypes of the homeless and paint the picture of a reality that many homeless families face each day. "People don't know the truth about homelessness. Most homeless people lost their job, then their home. They have kids."

~ ~ ~

"It starts at home," she advises, "so take care of your relatives. Take care of your communities. Support your community first, donate to the food bank or to the homeless shelter ... If a collective gets together they can make change. That is what this is all about."

Follow Fuller's blog about her struggles with homelessness at Invisibull.wordpress.com. Carey Fuller's "Writings From the Driver's Side" is available for kindle on Amazon.com.

[Full Article]