04.21.06
Posted in culture, blogvention, life at 3:29 pm by Brandon
This entry isn’t intended to have a theme, per se. Just some thoughts that’ve been rolling around as I’ve attended the Festival of Faith and Writing.
The first session I went to was a session on New Media. I was extremely disappointed in this session. Basically, a bunch of hip young morons and new media folks from Zondervan sat around and told us how to use blogs and websites to market our writing. I felt like I needed a shower to wash off the Zondervan schmooze fest that I sat through. It turns out that I’m really turned off by the idea of writing being so commercial, surprise, surprise. In the end, I think that I came to the belief that Zondervan is, corporately, the anti-christ. Or, at very least that the Zondervan logo might just be the mark of the beast.
Craig Gross, the triple-x church guy was there, too. It seems he’s got two new books out that talk about porn. He kept wagging his mouth about “his ministry.” Now, I’m fine with the triple-x church anti-porn message. I may be a bad Christian, but I’m no friend of porn.
What really turned me off, though, was the idea that Craig shared that when you have a website that generates content, and you want to be an author of print media, too, you need to hold some content back from your website. Sorry Craig, but what you’ve described can in no way be considered a ministry any longer. What you’re talking about is running a for-profit business–you’re now not trying to help people with a porn problem. Now the goal is to use people with a porn problem to generate income. The fact that this gets lauded as “holy” is fucked up.
The fact that Zondervan uses this tactic to make money from all sorts of people is doubly fucked up.
I have, alternatively, seen some other really cool authors. For example, humorists Tom Mullen and Phil Gulley, were a hoot to listen to. I bought two of Phil’s books, and one of Tom’s books. I’ll let you know how they are, but I’d strongly recommend you check them out. Phil has a series called the “Harmony Novels” which are about his experience as a Quaker pastor in midwest America. My wife is currently reading one of the books and chortling as I write this…it must be good.
The blogvention event happened last night. A few of us gathered and chatted at a local bar. I met Meg from Bridget Jones Goes To Seminary in real life. I knew I’d like Meg, and it turned out that I wasn’t wrong. My friend Kate from Evangelical Expatriate and her husband Nate (who, like my wife, is a self-proclaimed luddite) was there, too. Our good friends Kari and James were there, as were new friends Rob and Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma from Culture is not Optional. It was a pretty low-key setting for the blogvention festivities, but we had a nice time nonetheless. We chatted about life, etc.
Today in the mail I got a package with the book The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. I got an email a few days ago from a publicist for McLaren who asked if I’d be willing to do a book review on the blog, here. I thought, “Heck, if I can weasel a free book out of the situation, why not?” So I’ll be working on that.
I ran across two fascinating blogs recently. They speak for themselves. They are Sh-Out the chronicle of a pastor’s wife whose husband recently came out of the closet, and The Accidental Christian, a related chronicle of the pastor and husband of 20 years who revealed to his wife that he was, in fact, gay. Friends, honesty like you find on those blogs is rare in these here parts. Don’t take it for granted!
Finally, not to make a huge deal out of this, but I’m thinking of not blogging here anymore. I’m not looking for a crapload of comments that say either, “It’s about damn time you quit” or “No, don’t stop.” I’m just getting to the point where I’m a little tired of getting into fights about things, receiving unrequested criticism, etc. I doubt my ability to quit blogging cold turkey; I’ll probably be around. I just won’t be blogging here anymore. When will this happen? I don’t know. Probably sometime after I finish the McLaren review, and one other project to be named in the future. I’m sure more announcements about this will follow.
Thanks for listening!
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04.02.06
Posted in blogvention at 1:48 pm by Brandon
After about a year and a half of anticipation, the time for blogvention nears. Previously, I’ve asked a few people for some tentative thoughts on whether you think you’d like to come to blogvention. This post will serve as the official invitation.
The details of what exactly blogvention is are available at the above “blogvention” link.
I’d like to ask that if you’d like to take part in all or some of the blogvention 2006 festivities, you please email me at brandon[at]badchristian.com with the phrase “Blogvention RSVP” in the subject line. In your email it would be incredibly helpful if you’d include a few key sorts of details, namely:
- Your full name
- If you have a blog, include the title and URL of your blog
- Your home city and state
- A phone number at which you can be contacted
Your phone number will, of course, be kept strictly confidential. The other information will be used to enable the creation of some sort of blogvention nametag so that we can identify each other amongst the other Festival of Faith and Writing attendees.
Also, I am going to make myself available in (or near) the lobby of the Fine Arts Center at Calvin, which is where the Festival of Faith and Writing check-in will take place. I’m going to be there between 9am and 11:30am on the Thursday morning of the festival (April 20th). If you’re not available to check in with me at that time and get your nametag, let me know in your email, and we’ll work out some other time to meet.
It should be noted that the folks in charge of the Festival of Faith and Writing haven’t a clue that anything called blogvention even exists–at least not to my knowlege. So, if you ask them something about Blogvention, don’t be surprised if you get a slightly befuddled response. Instead if you have questions about blogvention, direct them to me or the blogvention planning committee (which is comprised by me).
But, really, there’s not much to ask questions about. Basically, blogvention is a bunch of people jointly attending the Festival of Faith and Writing, who’ll be vaguely identifiable by their name-tags, and who, after the festival winds down each evening will have the option of going out for drinks with their newly minted “blog-turned-real-life-friends.” It should be gobs of fun.
Once I have your email addresses and know who’s coming I’ll try to whip up a more official schedule of where the evening hang out spots will be. (Those of you farmiliar with Grand Rapids who’d care to improve on my previously posted tentative schedule by suggesting different or better places to go out, I’m happy to entertain constructive criticisms.)
I’m pretty excited to meet those of you I haven’t met before, and I’m also excited to see a few of you whose paths rarely cross mine!
Tags: Blogvention, Festival of Faith and Writing
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03.23.06
Posted in blogvention, life at 2:27 pm by Brandon
It seems as if there’s a noticeable pause around the blogosphere. Here’s what I mean:
- Micah and Kristen are busy with such inconsequential things as raising their firstborn.
- Zalm is off planting churches or some manner of craziness.
- Steve has been moving into a new house.
- Ninjanun is, of course, trying to quit the internet.
- Meg continues to ponder one “god damned bitch of an unsatisfactory situation.”
- Dorsey is busy
trying to win losing an ebay auction for a holy corn chip.
- Steve’s busy working on a dissertation.
And me, I’m doing my damndest not to flunk out of grad school. So far this semester, I’ve proven marginally successful.
I also haven’t forgotten that in about one month blogvention will be upon us. I’m hoping some of you will come. In a few days I’m going to try to get out an official invitation on the ole’ blog, something with a more official RSVP option. (I know some of you have given me a wishy washy sort of “yeah, I might be coming” but now I’m going to have to start getting a more official headcount of how many blogventioneers we’ll be having. Like I said, keep an eye out for my blogvention invitations which will be forthcoming.
Tags: Busyness, Blogvention
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01.03.06
Posted in blogvention at 11:52 pm by Brandon
Well folks, tis’ officially 2006. And, you know what that means. Yes, friends 2006 has a lot in store for many of us. For me, it will hold a whole boatload more graduate school, for others it will hold exciting new family situations, for others still I’m sure the road will be bumpy. But, whatever your 2006 has in store I’d like you all to consider including blogvention in your plans. I know that I haven’t had a whole bevy of new information about blogvention lately, but since the Festival of Faith and Writing (with which blogvention runs concurrently) came out with a tentative schedule, I thought I’d throw out a potential schedule myself.
So, I’m putting together a schedule. However, this schedule is to be considered exceptionally tentative. As stated before blogvention will take place April 20-22, 2006. Because I’m trying to not have any major conflicts between the festival of faith and writing and blogvention, there’s a bit of, well, emptiness in the schedule.
Here’s the plan:
From now till April 10th
Registration is open. If, sometime in the next few months, you would be so kind as to let me know if you’re coming to blogvention. Doing this will allow me to send you a blogvention identifyer. I just thought it’d be cool if there was something we could wear to recognize eachother, like a sticker or something, that’d be cool. I’ll need to figure out exactly what’s going on with this, but I’ve got a while to figure it out.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
9:00 pm to whenever we get kicked out - Libations: Cottage Bar - Downtown Grand Rapids
Friday, April 21, 2006
During the day sometime we’ll have some sort of meeting or something.
9:00 pm until the cops come - More drinking and perhaps a bit of hookah smoking somewhere…maybe my house.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
9:00 pm till last call - Merry making and so forth at a local taproom.
So, yeah, I don’t know exactly what’ll happen. You’re more than welcome to check out the blogvention forum and make suggestions about times, places, and other things you’d like to have happen, as well as ask questions about blogvention, or find out about finding a ride to Grand Rapids.
Hope to see you soon!
Tags: Blogvention, Festival of Faith and Writing
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11.08.05
Posted in blogvention at 5:57 pm by
Dearest Blogventioneers,
If you were curious, blogvention is a little gathering I’ve been planning for the last few months. Okay, it’s been like a year and a half. In order to get a little taste of what exactly I’m talking about when I use the word “blogvention” check out my blogvention category.
There should be lots of merriment; I also hope that the nectar of the Gods (beer) should flow quite freely.
Blogvention is set to coincide with another fantastic convention hosted by Calvin College called the Festival of Faith and Writing. It should be great, in addition to the blog-community, there’ll be a number of other cool folk in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
It has come to my attention that Registration for the Festival of Faith and Writing has just come online! So, if you’re planning to come to FFW / blogvention, now may be the time for you to start making those plans.
If you’re driving, you should check out the ride board forum that I’ve got up at: blogvention.badchristian.com. There you can find info about blogvention, ask questions, check on sharing a vehicle with other blogventioneers who may be coming from your neck of the proverbial woods. Also, there’s a section where prospective blogventioneers/FFMers can see about splitting hotel suites (read: sleep for cheap at a place that’s not a dive.)
If you have questions, check the blog category first, then the bulletin board, then email me! I’ve got a rough figure of folks who’d be coming, and I won’t ask for you to sign up again, at least not right now. When we get closer to the big hurrah, I’ll probably get an ‘official’ headcount.
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07.24.05
Posted in blogvention at 8:32 pm by
FYI…at the request of a fellow blogventioneer, Steve, from Public Intellectual, I’ve set up a bulletin board on which folks can share info about splitting rides, finding a place to sleep in Grand Rapids (which will cost less than getting a hotel room for the entirity of your stay), or just sharing some general ideas about what blogvention should be.
You can check that bulletin board at the aptly URLed:
blogvention.badchristian.com
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07.18.05
Posted in blogvention at 4:03 pm by
I’ll admit, I’ve been rather pleasantly surprised at the favorable response that blogvention has gotten. I’ve gotten a few emails from folks who’ve said that they’d like to be involved in planning our little shin-dig, so that’s been encouraging. As always, if you’re new here and you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about when I portmanteau the words blog and convention together, read these posts.
Running concurrently with the Festival of Faith and Writing–a festival wherein Calvin College in Grand Rapids will play host to various authors (i.e. Marilyn Robinson, Salman Rushdie, Donald Miller, Luci Shaw, and Lauren Winner among many others)–is when Blogvention will take place.
Blogvention should not be confused with the outwardly similar GodBlogCon 2005. I don’t really know exactly how GodBlogCon 2005 is going to shake out but I see it as different in a few key ways from Blogvention:
1. Blogvention is happening in 2006, not 2005.
2. I can’t picture any reality in which, as a key component of planned activities, Blogvention didn’t include significant quantities of adult beverage.
3. I can’t picture any reality in which you’d hear very many ‘curse words’ at GodBlogCon 2005 (though I could be wrong)…you’ll probably hear one or two (thousand) at blogvention.
So, yes, blogvention will be much more fun, hedonistic, and, well, ‘Bad Christian-esque.’
As I envision it, (and when it’s your idea you can do all the envisioning you damn well please) I see the event unfolding in the following manner. The Festival of Faith and Writing, which you’ll need to register for in advance, keeps conference-goers fairly busy. Thus, we’ll probably keep sessions to a minimum–at least for our inaugural blogvention.
However, I’d like to see a session on something like ‘Bridging the Gap: Making the Jump from Self-Publishing to Finding an Outlet for your Writing.’ Or, possibly something on ‘Podcasting: The Wave of the Future.’ I’d be more than happy to hear your suggestions for sessions–though, I’d like to only have one or two so that folks are free to attend the Festival of Faith and Writing (because it costs money.)
As I see it, the meat of blogvention will be a few gatherings where attenders are able to head on out together in Grand Rapids and enjoy several rounds of drink at a drinking establishment (read: local dive). And, probably, blogvention would involve the sharing of meals with one-another–either in a planned out ‘lunching-round-robin’ event where we strategically methodically meet one another–or the less planned ‘que sera sera’ variety.
Much more than simply the sharing of ideas, I propose that blogvention would be a meeting of this little online community we’ve got. Simply put: wouldn’t it be fun to meet? As I see it, more prevalent than a convention where one person presents ideas and others listen, I envision blogvention as an informal time of meeting and the sharing of ideas and life together.
All that capped off with evenings of drinking and other sorts of merriment (read: hookah).
Now, there are plenty o’ bridges to cross yet in the planning stages. Mostly, I’m waiting for a schedule of events so that I can plan around the Festival of Faith and Writing. That said, most meal-times for FFW 2004 were open, as were most evenings. I may have to call a few favors in from friends at Calvin to see if I can’t reserve a room or two, but all told, I think that in the planning department, we’re mostly all set…excepting these things:
1. If you have a good idea for a blogvention-session, or you’d like to present, email me at brandon[at]badchristian.com.
2. If you know Grand Rapids, and can think of some good places to have a group dinner (i.e. parks, etc.) or places to have a drink or several (i.e. bars that are conducive to chatting) I’d be more than happy to begin to chart out some of those options as well. Again, email me with those thoughts at brandon[at]badchristian.com.
3. If you are interested in blogvention and you have let me know (you’ve commented before or emailed me) then you’re all set, I’ve got you. If you haven’t let me know and you’d like to come leave a comment here or email me at brandon[at]badchristian.com.
4. If you live in Grand Rapids and would be willing to host a few of our out-of-town blogventioneers as this would greatly ease costs being incurred by travellers from far-away-places, it’d be great if you could let me know that as well, again, brandon[at]badchristian.com. (And, thanks, Meg, for being willing to open your doors…)
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04.28.05
Posted in blogvention at 2:21 pm by
Well, kids. It’s official. Less than a year until blogvention. I’ve been giving it a bit of thought for the past few days. Here are my thoughts in no particular order:
1. It’s official, blogvention is going to happen.
2. I’m not sure but I’m thinking it will happen concurrently with the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
3. The only reason I say I’m not sure is that I don’t know if the one day Sunday blogvention gala (after the festival of faith and writing concludes) can be a reality. Some people will need Sunday to be a travel day. Thusly, I’m thinking blogvention may be best experienced as an expanded event that takes place concurrently with the Festival of Faith and Writing. (Read: we’ll go out drinking after the festival events take place…and eat together sometimes…and hopefully us Grand Rapidians could be willing to cook a meal or donate some beer or something.)
4. Currently the costs of airfare into Grand Rapids look like this (though, they’ll probably change)–based on a sample trip flying in on Thursday and out on Sunday (and honestly these numbers seem a bit on the high side to me):
–LAX to GRR : 379 r/t
–OKC to GRR : 388 r/t
–MSP to GRR : 294 r/t
–SEA to GRR : 491 r/t
–QSF to GRR : 367 r/t
You get the idea. If you fly in, we’ll work something out so you get picked up. Of course, I’d expect driving to be the most popular option, and I can get you directions if you need them.
5. Long story short, basically you’d be coming to go to the Festival of Faith and Writing and you’d get to hang out with your blogfriends with the goal of turning ‘blogrelationships’ into full-fledged ‘drinking buddy’ relationships. We’d hang out share a few meals, talk about how much we like/abhor substitutionary atonement, chat about Church horror stories, you know–standard fare.
6. I’ve gotten a preliminary count previously, but now that we’re a little closer I’d like to take another preliminary count as to who’s in for our little shin-dig. If you’d be so kind, please comment here if you’d like to take part. (Of course, your response doesn’t obligate you to attend, it’s just so I can start to get a figure on about how many of y’all we should prepare for.)
7. If you needed futher incentive to come…it’s just been announced that Don Miller (the author, I believe, of Blue Like Jazz) will be speaking.
8. Party on.
ADDENDUM: If you don’t know what blogvention is, click the blogvention category on the right side bar and start reading the posts from the bottom.
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03.14.05
Posted in blogvention at 8:54 pm by
In case you thought I forgot about blogvention, I haven’t. In case you’re new here and you have no idea what blogvention is, click here for a description of blogvention. However, in truth, there’s not much description yet as to what EXACTLY blogvention will be. That’s because nobody knows, at least not yet.
I have a plan to remedy this situation–as well as quell the upsurge of some of the recent requests that us Grand Rapids bloggers need a get together day. Being that blogvention is a mere 1 year and 1 month (give or take a day or two) away, it may be time that some plans–i.e. what the hell we’ll be doing for our one day gala–begin to firm up a bit.
As many of you already know blogvention will be happening in conjunction of another related event that may be of interest to many, if not all, of you. That event is a slightly more publicized festival known as the Festival of Faith and Writing–the previous link offers more information as well as a growing list of authors that will be speaking at the festival.
At any rate, we need to have a beer…oops…I mean meeting together to firm up the plans of blogvention. I have no problem with there being a few different expressions of the planning team because of our locational inability to meet simultaneously in a geographically convenient location (that is unless we all take a road trip to a Hooters in Nebraska, but I’m guessing that that’s probably not going to happen.)
So, as a first step and as Chair of the first annual or bi-annual blogvention, I’d like to begin taking requests to be a part of the planning process for blogvention. I’d like for anyone interested in being involved with the planning committee for blogvention to email me at this special address: blogvention [at] badchristian [dot] com . Please put the words ‘planning committee’ in the subject line.
From there I’ll figure out when and where our blogvention planning committee meetings should be held. For those of you not local to Grand Rapids, Michigan, please feel free to become a member of the ‘planning committee;’ however, expect to be delegated responsibility as a sub-committee member and to attend ‘virtual blogvention planning committee meetings’ on the internet.
For now, my friends that is all, but stay tuned for exciting blogvention news, events, and updates!
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12.15.04
Posted in blogvention at 9:14 pm by
Due to the resounding–well, sort of–response to the suggestion of the blogvention, I’ve upped my seriousness percentage to around 85% serious. (Which also means I need to get my ass in gear on that basement.) As it stands here’s the agenda:
April 2005 - Dry run at blogvention (dammit would someone come up with a name for this event) All are welcome. We’ll still open the ‘Bad Christian’ household, though, I expect that this may be short notice for some. Should be fun though! Make sure to book your beds early.
Addendum: Because I don’t really know any of you, I’d like to reserve the right to withold housing to those with whom I’m not really farmiliar. I mean, I’m sure you’re all very nice people, but, for crying out loud, I’m pretty sure my home owners policy doesn’t cover axe murderers. If I know you, you’re welcome to spend the night. If you’re an axe murderer–you’re not. Clear?
April 2006 - Adam @ Symposium (only 40% unless he upps his percentage as well), Ryan–of theryanking fame (a blog that I continually read as: ‘ther yanking’ instead of ‘the ryan king’), Greg & hot hairdresser wife (if hot hairdresser wife will fund the trip to GR–I recommend an OKC carpool,) Kristen & Micah Mc C., Kate who I hope brings her Nate (whom I just found out Monday that I really like), James, and his partner Kari–who live within biking distance of the ‘Bad Christian’ household.
So far that’s the list. Let me do the math a minute…okay…that makes 10, so far. 4 of which will (I hope) be willing to sleep at home and visit blogvention in the daytime. (That’s Kari, James, Kate, and Nate if you were keeping track.) And that’s really only because they live within biking distance. However, if you’re too drunk to drive after the first night of blogvention 2006 is through, or we’re too drunk to dial for a cabby, or if the cabby is too drunk to drive you home…you’re welcome to stay the night.
Part of my rationale for bumping my seriousness factor up to 85% is that I chatted the whole event over with Jen. She threw up no serious roadblocks. I take that as a vote of confidence, so I’m proceeding in my planning. I haven’t yet booked me a port-a-sauna, that still needs wife-approval. Again, don’t hold your breath.
The official itinerary is still forthcoming. Admission is free. Anyone is welcome. Still working on the sauna. If you are allergic to cats, you probably want to book a room in another household. If you think cats are of the devil (Greg,) remind yourself that you don’t believe in the devil and suck it up.
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