Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Paige says:

We don’t watch ANY television or movies. Only our cats watch Cat Games on YouTube. IMV, network television, particularly the news, are The Source of much of the angst, fear and division in both society and personal lives. Movies too. They lead to a distorted perspective of life and a continual sense of dissatisfaction.
We particularly avoid the political sewer–both sides–as IMV it’s entirely poisonous. Our hope is in the Lord and His Sovereign Government & Savior.

For music, my husband listens to European techno while working (IT programmer), and old time radio shows while working in his shop or driving. I listen to calming piano while working (as a massage therapist), techno while exercising and praise music in the car while driving.

We are doing a Read The Bible In One Year together, nightly in addition to my every day reading of Psalms, Proverbs and Gospels…. staying ‘grounded’ in the Word, my deepest love and anchor in life. The Only Hope.

My husband reads books on programming and antique radio schematics. A Nerd.

We go outdoors daily to ‘read’ the ‘other Bible” for inspiration to worship God.
I listen to podcast sermons of my beloved young preacher ‘sons’ in the Lord. I love their zeal and dedication to their ministry and the Lord. I’m their spiritual mom, and continually remind them to not let the church usurp home life. I’m a poster child for what can happen if they don’t. So proud of them. So proud of them.

Dan from Georgia says:

I know I probably will have to surrender my Good Evangelical Christian card with a few of those recommendations, but I gave up trying to please some people long ago.

Josh The Baptist says:

Music – Lake Street Dive is good (Duane is right 🙂 ) Marc Broussard and Mike Farris both put out absolute classics this year in the old school soul vibe. Lauren Daigle may have put out the best CCM album…ever. Florence and the Machine have a new one out that I’ve been liking so far too. John Mark McMillan put out an interesting record, but its a little hit and miss. I’m sure there’s some great stuff I’m forgetting.

Movies – Spiderman into the Spiderverse was better than I imagined. I wasn’t bored for one second watching that movie, which is rare.

TV – Ehh, nothing really.

Books – Mostly read stuff for seminary, and most people don’t want to read that stuff. Been reading lots of CS Lewis stuff again. Have skimmed back through Experiencing God recently, and have re-read Ragamuffin Gospel 2 or 3 times this year.

Rick says:

Book: Love Big, Be Well, Letters To A Small Town Church by Winn Collier.

The conversational nature of authentic Christian community is expressed beautifully.

Xenia says:

Music: Celtic ballads & jigs, Old Church Slavonic hymns.

Martin Luther's Disciple says:

TV = Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy & old comedies. Currently going through The Odd Couple. Waiting for the next season of Bosch on Amazon Prime.

Books = rereading my Perry Mason books – I have 60. I also read westerns and baseball biographies.

Movies = only saw one this year – A Star is Born. I now love Lady Gaga.

Music = I like Queen, the Bee Gees, and Showtunes.

Jean says:

I began the New Year for the sixth straight year, reading through the Bible using the Canonical plan. It’s about 4 chapters per day; I highly recommend it for every Christian. In order to set yourself up for success in completing the plan, I recommend getting a translation that matches your reading level and a font size that matches your eyesight. If you are technological, YouVersion offers plans for free that come with a daily reminder. Remember, blessed is the man who delights in the Word of God.

I am reading for the third time through Martin Luther’s Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. This time, I’m reading it as a devotional. Haroldo Camacho’s 2018 translation is superb. He brings Luther’s seminary lectures right into your living room in contemporary English.

I read last year and plan to re-read this year, Luther’s The Bondage of the Will, translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston. I highly recommend this book for any anyone having questions about the nature of grace, the free will, and/or the sovereignty of God. In this book, Luther takes on no less than Desiderius Erasmus, a humanist and arguably the greatest scholar and rhetorician of that period in Europe. Unfortunately for Erasmus, in Luther, he more than met his match.

I am currently looking for the best translation and format of Luther’s lectures on Genesis. The last years of Luther’s life were spent lecturing through Genesis. The themes in Genesis are of great interest, and I look forward to reading Luther’s exposition of this book.

Dan from Georgia says:

Michael,

I really like this blog post because it is putting more humanity on all of us…getting to know each other and realizing that we are all human and have some simple (or not so simple) likes, dislikes, passions, novelties, etc…and it makes each of us look less like blank, empty, faceless people who occasionally shout at each other across the interwebs on this blog!

The New Victor says:

Spiderverse was really good, a fitting tribute to Stan Lee. I took my kids to see it. I liked the Spiderman Noir voiced by Nic Cage. I didnt think I’d like it. They didn’t want to see Mary Poppins, though I wanted to. They hasnt seen the original, thus not having context.

I really liked Bumblebee. It’s what the other transformers movies should have been. The coming of age story wasn’t eclipsed by the robots, it felt like an 80s movie (great soundtrack!), and they didn’t sex up the actress (though the character was 18) unlike the Bay movies.

As for books… I plow through military sci-fi thrillers as my guilty pleasure rather than watching tv. Nothing to recommend to this crowd.

We celebrated Posadas this week, 3 Kings in Mexican culture. My son got one of the figurines when he cut the Posadas pastry. I picked him up from school later in the week. I noticed he had the figurine and I asked him about it. He told me, “I like to carry it because it reminds me that Jesus is always with me.” So thumbs up to my son, turning 9 in two weeks.

Matthew says:

I’m reading “The Sermon on the Mount”, Martin Lloyd Jones sermons on the topic, and I’m enjoying it very much.

“Silence: A User’s Guide Vol.1 — Process” by Maggie Ross. Interesting and complex, a slow read. I find it fascinating how “mindfulness” and silence are being written about, it’s as if a counter-revolution of media is taking place.

For music, I’ve become entrance by Miles Davis “Electric Years” of the 1960’s, exciting stuff!

Josh The Baptist says:

I have listened to a lot of podcasts this year. Forgot about those. Crimetown is really good.

Josh The Baptist says:

Will definitely check it out!

McGarrett says:

Books: Killing Kennedy, as the “innocence of hope”, or whatever you want to call it, died, IMO, on Nov 22, 1963.

Music: My wife and I love everything from Beethoven (slows down my Adult ADD, and allows me to think with some clarity), Instrumental Praise Music, Jack Johnson, Eagles, Cecilio and Kapono.

Movies: Anything Clint Eastwood, as we will not dole out bling bling for most of the trash which Hollywood produces. Mole is good, but nothing like a round of “Dirty Harry” movies.

TV: Hawaii Five O, Deal or No Deal: Was concerned that the sequel to the original Five 0 would flop, but on year 9, and a terrific show, and of course, the background beauty cannot be beat.

Dan from Georgia says:

Thanks OTF! I’ve been really enjoying seeing people’s responses here!

Jim says:

I was immersed in LCHF/Keto videos for the last 4 months. Finally removed the distraction of the bro science dudes and focused on scientists doing clinical trials and Drs treating patients. Hit my goal just around the time I figured it out.

My wife and I binge watch netflix and amazon series like Ozark. We like the long form story lines, which so different than network TV, where the cops solve a case in 45 minutes.

I really messed up and read Mark Cuban’s book last Saturday. I stayed up late that night writing three business plans. On Sunday I remembered that I’m 60, run a successful business, and started a second 2 years ago, and owe my CPA $3200 by the end of the month. I vowed to never read another business book.

My wife got me a guitar for my birthday last month, so I’m relearning with a focus on the blues. I was a scream and growl player and now only want to learn to make it cry. I’m not sure I have the heart for the blues because I’m too happy.

Call me crazy, but my wife and I are enjoying the NFL much more than last season. I blame Andy Reid and his new alien kid.

Jerod says:

Books: I’ve never read Aldous Huxley.
I might.
In the meantime I have to read Northouse’s Leadership, Dewey’s
The school and society/The child and the curriculum.

Music: Hour and fifteen commute to work and home.
Google Play serves my classical in the morning before I hit the Cambodians up for a coffee and doughnut.
Then I listen to Graveyard, Ghost BC, Tool, Agalloch et al going home before I hit the mountain pass (have to chill out before I hit those curves). Switch to Yacht Rock -Huey Lewis and such. Back to classical down the hill.

TV: Binging Godless, but I think Jeff Daniels is a bit hammy as the villian. They have the obligatory identity politicking going on as well.

The whole series is odd, sometimes god awful disgusting, but there is an episode of Black Mirror called Nosedive that is perhaps some of the best television in the last decade.

Movies: Infinity Wars was surprisingly deep for a comic flick.
Watchman is both a great movie and a great graphic novel.

You and I should probably avoid all the above…

especially yacht rock.

Em says:

There are more good books out there than one can read in a lifetime… My academic cousin, not a Christian, looked at my bookshelves and said, ” If anyone read all these, they’d have the equivalent of a masters degree in liberal arts. ” i didn’t bother to tell her that i had read them all. Forgotten most of what i read now anyway…. ?
That said, Michael mentioned Tucker Carlson, so i will recommend his latest, “A Ship of. Fools.”. I think his warning is factual and timely….

Em says:

Jim’ s wife got him a guitar and he’s practicing blues guitar? Could my daughter come live with you? She’s doing exactly the same thing… ? her way of decompressing….

Captain Kevin says:

Movies: Mary Poppins Returns, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Spiderverse, Ralph Breaks the Internet (It wasn’t my choice to watch Ralph, and I was prepared to hate it. It is brilliant!!! If it’s out on DVD before the end of this year, I’m gonna have my students analyze it.)

Music: Classical, especially piano; Updated or solo instrumental covers of
classic pop/rock, some country, some worship (there’s a lot of great worship songs out there if you have the stomach to sift through the loads of crap that accompany them). Listen to old Neil Diamond songs when feeling nostalgic. Love when my girls are home from college as they’re constantly singing Broadway showtunes around the house. Been hooked on BJ Thomas lately and excited that he’s doing a concert in Phoenix in March.

Jim says:

Em, no. 🙂

Capt K, the beauty is what attracts me. I’ve played forever, but put it down for the last decade. I can copy riffs, as anyone can learn to do. I’m really at a point where I just want to improv sing with my hands.

Babylon's Dread says:

How did I miss this thread? Late better than never perhaps …

Movies : Breathe – True story of Robin Cavendish quadriplegic movie made by his son Jonathan who also produced Elizabeth:The Golden Age — Also, the wonderful film Green Book, which has come under fire but I found quite inspiring and powerfully ironic in how it depicted an era that I lived both historically and geographically.

Books: Well – 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson who I am calling the accidental apostle. Peterson is giving a lot of hope to men in an era of anti-manhood.

Truth Aflame – Larry Hart because I am a theology and systematic theology reader/teacher his book is accessible to all and a very decent survey.

I read P T Forsyth like it is a religion – because he is my lifelong theological voice of relevance in that he wrote to and about his times provocatively and cogently. And also because he is nearly incoherent to the casual reader. His entire library is here https://jasongoroncy.com/2017/03/07/some-p-t-forsyth-resources/ and you absolutely SHOULD try to read him.

I am engaging the Russians this year Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Solzhenitsyn – ask me later about that. I need their critic of marxist ideology and Christendom’s failure (as an antidote to the whining culture)

TV: Sports, Enfotainment news in doses, and almost NO shows because I cannot stand the social engineering that has taken over. However I have discovered the joy of YouTube and free education. Go online and engage voices that challenge and inform.

Josh The Baptist says:

Finished the RFK Tapes podcast. Very interesting!

Sirhan did it, but he was a weird little dude for sure.