My writeups
in chronological order
When I was ill a couple of years back, I had spent a little bit of time studying the Bible book Mark. This writeup was basically the summary I wrote when I had finished studying the book. I thought it would be good for e2 because the mark node didn’t have anything like it – the closest was the Matthew Henry commentary, which is a bit old and dry. So I formatted the text for e2.
Simon and Garfunkel
C!: Starke
I was making a tape for the car using all available Simon and Garfunkel tracks from the compilations belonging to myself and to my friend. Since neither compilation presented its tracks in chronological order, and because I wanted my tape to be a chronological history of the duo, I decided to find out the exact order of release. My writeup is a result of that exercise.
The Devil Is Dope
C!: drownzsurf
The then-current MOJO came with a free CD of songs about drugs called Feed Your Head. I decided to research the first track just as an exercise in researching for an e2 writeup. This was an interesting experience for me, because I had absolutely no prior knowledge of the song, the band, the genre or the context. It was kinda like writing blind – I know I had the facts right, but I wasn’t sure if I had captured the vibe of the song.
III Sides To Every Story
C!: drownzsurf, avalyn, Jet-Poop, gnarl, dannye
My mentor went away for a couple of weeks, and in her absence I decided to try an experiment I had been considering for a little while. I was interested to see how well received an unedited, stream-of-consciousness piece about my favourite album would be. The results were mixed. I therefore changed a little bit of the text, while reducing the hardlinks and increasing the pipelinks.
I came across a general knowledge book of my mother's aimed at primary school children, and the first page was about the Franks. Intrigued, I researched a bit further with what reference books were available to me.
The Coral
C!: ConfusionTheWaitress
This one concerns The Coral's eponymous debut album. I first heard of The Coral through reading Q, and first heard The Coral thanks to a free CD included with the December 2002 issue of the magazine. The CD, which was highlighting standout tracks from standout albums of 2002, featured The Coral's Simon Diamond. I listened to The Coral for a week, thanks to my local library, and decided to put together a writeup while I was under the spell.
I was lying on my bed one day, bored, and depressed because I had wasted my day when I was supposed to be doing assignment work. The Bible was lying nearby, and I idly flipped it open. The first thing I read was part of the story of Joash, and my interest was piqued. I read the different accounts and then, later that day, wrote the story in my own words, from memory. Later I inserted the characters' names, which I found hard to remember after a single reading.
Abraham
C!: TheBooBooKitty, per ou
I put this together in an effort to get my head around the characters involved in the context of Abraham's story. It helped.
Meatballs and Spaghetti
C!: Palpz
Browsing The complete guide to 1980s television, I found myself wondering why this cartoon from the blurry beginnings of my childhood wasn't even listed, let alone noded. Every now and then, the theme music rides around my mind, so I decided to put the curiosity to rest, and find out whether anyone else remembers Meatballs and Spaghetti. Hardly anyone does, apparently.
A Saturday where I had achieved everything I wanted to achieve early on, and had nothing in mind to do for the remainder of the day. The mood struck me to node an album, and Relics was playing. I composed this write-up while listening to the album on shuffle. It took three or four plays to get it right.
Judges
C!: Tiefling, Transitional Man, TheBooBooKitty, Simulacron3, per ou
This started out as a quick who's who for the book of Judges, compiled as I read, to provide myself with a frame of reference when reading through the book in the future. As often happens, however, I couldn't help noticing patterns and forming ideas as I ploughed through...
I decided to read the New Living Translation of Habakkuk one day, and after locating it in the Bible, discovered it was a fairly short book. So I decided it would be fun to type it up as I read it - doing that helps me get a feel for an unfamiliar book. When I'd finished, I typed out my thoughts on what I'd read, and after that, I did a little bit of relevant research. I shuffled the results together, and here you have the finished product: my review of Habakkuk.
I've always thought Pekah was an interesting name for a king of ancient Israel - and let's face it, there are some pretty unusual names in the Bible. Those personages in the last days of Israel - Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, Hoshea - they seem so obscure, so insignificant compared to the more well-known kings of Judah, such as (jumpin') Jehoshaphat, Josiah and Hezekiah. So I had to know more...
Philemon
C!: drownzsurf
There's more to Philemon than meets the eye. At its most basic level, it's concerned with the discipline of a runaway slave - not the sort of thing you'd expect to occupy pride of place in the Christian Bible. However, as with all books of the Bible, progressive study uncovers further connections and meanings for the diligent student.
Daniel 11
C!: XWiz, haze, N-Wing, kthejoker
Tired of the confusion I feel every time I read this chapter, I decided to sort out once and for all exactly what is going on.
Life, the Universe and Everything
C!: Andrew Aquecheek, avalyn, bane221
I couldn't believe it! No writeup for Life, the Universe and Everything! Even the disappointing So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish has its own writeup. Even the below-par Mostly Harmless has its own writeup. I had to redress this embarrassment...
Happiness is a Warm Gun
C!: Transitional Man, sid, Aeroplane, Glowing Fish
This is such a great song - full of menace and weirdness in equal parts, lyrically oblique and yet somehow direct. Enormous fun to try to keep up with, time-wise, and ear candy in terms of production. It has everything - and it's not even three minutes long. The White Album is full of these little gems.
~
My internet history:
- In the late 90s, I tentatively participated in mailing lists and newsgroups.
- I mostly lurked here at e2 between 2000 and 2005. Early on, e2 was on its way to being the repository of all knowledge, in a pleasingly-anarchic style a la the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. As Wikipedia began to go overground, though, the powers here thought Raising the Bar would be a good idea. So many wonderful writeups were nuked. So many. It breaks my heart to think of what was lost.
- After the bar was raised and the purge began, I drifted into the Christian blogosphere for a few years.
- Then I discovered MetaFilter. Ho!