Podcast of the Week: Man Caves, The Study, and Identity

On their latest episode, Taylor Marshall and Jared Zimmerer challenge the prevalent notion of the man cave as the retreat for the modern neanderthal and argue for the necessity of the study in the live of the paternal philosopher-king. Beyond just stressing the importance of its incorporation in a man's abode, the duo propose several tips for how to go about acquiring and implementing the essential articles for this locale, even if one happens to be a bachelor with a roommate.

Listen to "Man Caves, The Study, and Identity"

Visit Maccabee Society

Be the Maccabee,

Kelvin

P.S. - The Song Exploder episode with CHVRCHES that was recorded while I was at SXSW is finally up.

Podcast of the Week: The Heart Versus The Head & Other Random Musings

Only one son of thunder, Daniel Cornell, is present this week as the other, Kevin Kramer, is exercising paternal duties for his newborn child. Though flying solo, Dan covers a lot of ground in this 80-minute show as he touches on a variety of Catholic topics ranging from old to new: women deacons, the evangelization of Jews, participation in the Mass, the removal of verses from the Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi readings, ad orientem, attending the Latin Mass for the first time and the balance to be struck between the head and the heart.

Listen to "The Heart Versus The Head & Other Random Musings"

Visit Sons of Thunder Podcast

A hodge-podge of stuff,
Kelvin

Podcast of the Week: Finding God in the Devil of Hell's Kitchen

The Greeks have done it again! Just like in their previous episode, where the Steven and Christian of PCCH successfully steered me away from ever desiring to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, my media viewing was influenced when they promised spoilers and I went ahead and finished the second season of Daredevil. Their discussion was a good one, touching on the strength of the storywriting in both seasons, the lessons we can pull from Matt Murdok's struggle with identity and purpose and the present state of the superhero genre and movies and TV as a whole. They then shift gears to talk about the hero in art as an archetype for the Savior, would one be a superhero or supervillain if given the power and what superpowers are the most desirable.

Oh, and there's definitely spoilers ;)

Listen to "Finding God in the Devil of Hell's Kitchen"

Visit Pop Culture Coffee Hour

I'm all ears,
Kelvin

Podcast of the Week: Love/Pride

FINALLY!!! After 15 months of waiting, Fr. John Nepil has rounded out the trilogy of discussions on the theological virtues and their corresponding vices. Adapting the topic from the series of essays by the late and great Josef Pieper, it should be no surprise that it is pride and not hate which is the opposite of love. Pride it is also that the CSYSK duo in Rome spend the majority of their time tackling in this important episode.

Listen to "Love/Pride"

Listen to "Hope/Despair"

Listen to "Faith/Doubt"

Visit Catholic Stuff You Should Know

{Duolingo trumpet sound},
Kelvin

Podcast of the Week: The 5 Big Questions Everyone Asks in Life

On last week's WOF Show, Bishop Robert Barron tackles quite literally the biggest questions about life and our place in it. He gives a very concise one-sentence answer to each at the end that I think represents well the height, breath and depth one can expect in listening to this discussion:

• Does God exist?
• Yes, because the world does not explain itself.
• Who am I?
• I am a hybrid of both body and soul.
• What is the meaning of life?
• The meaning of life is to return to God, from whom we came.
• What is right and wrong?
• What is right is what is in line with the teleology of my humanity.
• What happens after death?
• We are raised to a higher pitch of transfigured existence that Paul would call the "spiritual body".

All this before masterfully handling a listener question on where the omnipotence and providence of God ends and our free will begins, citing Luis de Molina and St. Thomas Aquinas in his response.

Listen to "The 5 Big Questions Everyone Asks in Life"

Visit Word on Fire Show

We've given you the easiest questions today,
Kelvin

Podcast of the Week: Reservation Missionary

One podcast that stood out from all the downloads last week came from Catching Foxes where the duo of Luke and Gomer conversed with Kenn Cramer about his work with a unique class of poor America. This was a very enlightening discussion as it brought to mind the continued existence of Native American reservations and the particular challenges the inhabitants of these face in terms of poverty, discrimination, identity, purpose and religion.

Listen to "Reservation Missionary Kenn Cramer"

Visit Catching Foxes

You can wear a cassock and be a nice guy,

Kelvin

Podcast of the Week: Head Fake

Last week's bro-talk between the seminarians and priest of Three Dogs North was chock full of culture and meaning. From sizing up the inspiring cinematic masterpiece of Rocky against the insufficiently identifiable plot of God's Not Dead, to relating the great works of...

• Graham Greene - "The End of the Affair" and "The Heart of the Matter"
• Erik Larson - "Devil in the White City"
• Anthony Doerr - "All the Light We Cannot See" (also discussed in Fountains of Carrots), 
• Georges Bernarnos - "The Diary of a Country Priest"
• René Girard - mimetic desire
• Evelyn Waugh - "Brideshead Revisited"
• and Matthew Quick - "The Silver Linings Playbook" (and film starring Jennifer Lawrence)

...it's difficult not to sing this podcast's praises.

Listen to "Head Fake"

Visit Three Dogs North

You can make a long road trip at nighttime just by seeing what the headlights show you,

Kelvin

P.S. - I finally got to hear my long-awaited shout-out request on this week's episode of CSYSK!

Podcast of the Week: Real Talk about Conversion

Fountains of Carrots has been on a good run lately with regular updates and awesome guests, and this past week the pair of Catholic moms have a friendly conversation with Ginny Sheller and her journey to the faith. The show also delves into frank discussion on what living on twelve acres is like, how to tell your parents you're pregnant with your eighth child and the incongruousness of the setup in a cry room. I know, this all sounds like homeschooling parent central, but I enjoyed the flow of the conversation and it was interesting to catch a glimpse into parenting styles that are not too common in everyday life.

Listen to "Real Talk about Conversion with Ginny Sheller"

Visit Fountains of Carrots

If you think I'm going to help you glue-stick this, you've got another thing coming,
Kelvin

Song of the Week: Like Moths to Flame

On this solemn day, when statues are covered and tabernacles are bare, my mind turns to a song from 2005's Vheissu, the fourth album by experimental / post-hardcore band Thrice. Frontman and songwriter Dustin Kensrue is no stranger to weaving Christian themes into his music (during the band's hiatus he even served as worship leader for Mars Hill Church) and this song recounting St. Peter's betrayal of his Master is a testament to that. Coupled with some of the most intense scenes from The Passion of the Christ, the fan-made video below offers a meditative springboard into contemplating the mystery of the Via Dolorosa.

"Like Moths to Flame" by Thrice

Top of the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (Latin for "cock-crow")

The fire's gravity compels,
Kelvin

Podcast of the Week: Peeping Thomist

The hosts of the podcasts I've subscribed to have the nasty habit of referencing or suggesting other podcasts they enjoy and it leads me to accumulate more subscriptions than is reasonable for an average 8-to-5er. As such, I've gotten to the habit of listening to these shows at 2x speed (also a weird and not altogether advisable practice) in order to get through my weekly downloads.

All of this is to say that I encounter a lot of podcasts with good content worth highlighting for those unaware that such information exists. So I'd like to tack on another weekly segment, "Podcasts of the Week", that would help this blog become more than just an avenue for entertainment.

The first episode I'd like to promote comes from Catching Foxes and is titled "Interview with Peeping Thomist Brian Jones". This was one that I had to listen to twice at 1x speed because of all of the heady and philosophical content: St. Thomas Aquinas and Thomism, the Regensburg Lecture, positive psychology and medieval views on Islam. It felt like a fun graduate lecture replete with movie references to the Hail, Caeser!, The Royal Tenenbaums, Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters II.

Link to "Interview with Peeping Thomist Brian Jones".

Link to Catching Foxes.

Houston's best-kept Catholic secret,

Kelvin

P.S. - I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the recent Art of Manliness episode, "C.S. Lewis, J.R.R Tolkien, and the Inklings Mastermind Group", since it was the first spark of inspiration for starting this new segment.

7QT: New Year Discoveries

I've heard so much good music in just the past day that I couldn't boil it down to one song for the week. So I'm upgrading to a "7 Quick Takes" this week to showcase the awesome bands and albums that I've come across since the start of the year. A good chuck of this list are 2016 releases, but a few are simply albums from the past year that have flown under my radar.

1. Audrey Assad - Inheritance [12 February 2016]

It is with great joy that I announce today's (Friday's) official release of the fruit of Audrey Assad's hymns project, Inheritance! Since I helped support her through PledgeMusic way back when, I was able to get an advance download of the songs two weeks ago. Because she is covering various hymns for different types of worship the album is not as thematic as her other independent releases, but that does not take any bit away from the beauty of the songs and the reverence with which they were approached.

"Even Unto Death" by Audrey Assad

Song of the Week: Un Si Y Un No

Ironically enough, I caught a nasty cold following the blessing of the throats for the Feast of St. Blaise. During the long hours of recovery I was able to listen to a CD loaned to me by a good friend of mine, 2011's Tu Es Christus which is a compilation of speeches by Pope St. John Paul II coupled with the backdrop of sacred chant and world music. It seemed a perfect and timely prayer companion at a point where I would have rather sulked in my own debility.

"Un Si Y Un No" by Pope St. John Paul II

Es muy sencilla,
Kelvin

Casting Pods

When I was younger, I thought that podcasts were just glorified radio shows that only old people listened to. Now that I'm older, I think that they are one of the greatest media avenues ever created! Though I don't claim to know the first thing about podcast broadcasting, it is suffice to say for the layman still living under a rock that a podcast is an audio / video channel where the channel's host can upload episodic content to the podcast client server (which I presume is maintained by Apple) which is downloaded by the subscribers as often as the channel is updated. Basically, it's like TV for your earbuds.

The genres of podcasts seem as varied and versitile as what you could find on your phone's app store: news, sports, music, food, history, religion, comedy, education, etc. And I've yet to find any podcast whose content isn't free! So whatever you're into, it's likely that there's a podcast about it and that it's being regularly updated.

Below I've listed the podcasts I'm currently subscribed to and the reasons why I keep listening. I know there's dozens more I should also check out (some of which I'll list at the end), but I've kinda got my hands full with the content I already get from these 20 podcasts. If you have any suggestions, though, don't hesitate to leave a message on the (very lonely) comment bar :)

1. Lanky Guys (Runtime: 45 mins) (Updated: once a week)

This list is structured in the order that I have my podcast app (Podcast Republic) check for new updates and it's no surprise that I have it check for Lanky Guys first. Every week, Scott Powell and Fr. Peter Mussett call in from Bolder, Colorado, to break open the Scriptures and try and find the themes and topics that tie together each of the Sunday Mass readings from the Catholic Lectionary. I can always trust on the duo to be well researched, but far from sounding like a graduate lecture they do a good job of interspersing light banter and offering concrete take-aways that are pertinent to the Christian of today.

2. Word on Fire Sermons (Runtime: 15 minutes) (Updated: once a week)

On Word on Fire Sermons, Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, California, shares his homily on the upcoming Sunday's Mass readings which is regularly dense with theological, philosophical, sociological and historical discussion.

3. St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology (Runtime: 3 minutes) (Updated: once a week)

Every week Dr. Scott Hahn from Steubenville, Ohio, offers in his podcast a short reflection on the Sunday Mass readings and draws out the implications of not only where do the readings fit in Salvation History but also how we are called to participate in the same.

On The Bible

This isn't a usual post nor is it an indication of a return to usual posts, but I just felt that this would be something good to share. Many of you may be familiar with the weekly series The Bible currently being showcased on the History Channel (or History, whatever they want to call themselves nowadays...). Something surprising that was brought to my attention was that since its premiere on March 3rd it has been the number one show in all TV.

As much as I'd love for Christian artists to just go out and express themselves, there's an expectation that the art also be true, good and beautiful (see here). I attended a Catholic conference earlier this year where they showed a preview of the series, recounting Abraham taking his son Issac to be sacrificed, and there's something about The Bible that hasn't sat well with me from the beginning (see what I did there?...). In an attept to "fill in the gaps" (so to speak) of these stories in Scripture, the producers implement over-hyped drama causing inaccurate character developments that lead to theological fallacies throughout the series (don't get me started on their portrayal of the Exodus...).

Granted, I understand the audience they're reaching is vast (not only encompassing believers and non-believers, but even the various denominations of believers), but that's no reason to compliment TV-14 action with barely-age-of-reason-level catechesis. Now, I'm not trying to condemn the series or persuade viewers to stop following it, but I've seen enough of it to suggest that the level of compromise present be watched with a grain of salt.

Before ranting any further, I just wanted to share a discourse on the series provided by Father Mike Schmitz at the above mentioned converence. Having only seen the snippet of Abraham and Issac, he comes to a similar conclusion about the producers' aims.

Abraham and Issac in The Bible - Commentary

from "#GOODGOD #BADMEDIA" by Father Mike Schmitz

Be sure to check out The Bible for yourselves, which will be showing Part 3 of its 5-Part series tonight at 8pm EST on History. And if you liked the commentary above and are interested in 5GB of similar talks and/or related resources, then check out what FOCUS has to offer!

Pax,
Kelvin

P.S. - I'm asking for forgiveness instead of permission as I'm posting this without Fr. Schmitz's knowing =/ ...

Excuses, excuses...

It's that time again... the time when I say I'm too busy to keep this blog updated. Not that it's too much of a surprise if you've been following me (or nagging me), but now it's official. I won't go into detail on the reasons why I'm busy because excuses are excuses.

And as always, this is not an end all be all. I'll post some posts when I get the chance, but it will most likely not be on a monthly basis. In any case, I have a back catalog of interesting entries that should keep any newcomer entertained for a while.

But I won't leave you all totally hanging. I did promise to make at least one post in the month of September and so I'll leave you with the stylings of an artist who just won't stop being awesome: Audrey Assad (you can check out a little blurb about her at the end of this).

"Carry You" by Audrey Assad

And just for kicks, here's a Pokémeme...

I choose to believe,
Kelvin

Covers Set #4: Quarterly Report

A while back when I was biking home from class I got to thinking about a cover, and then another, and then another... and so decided to do another countdown. Hope you enjoy!

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(#20) "Overkill (Men at Work Cover)" by Colin Hay

Ok, this one isn't so much a cover since Scottish singer-songwriter Colin Hay was the former vocalist of the pop-rock band Men at Work. The band formed in Austrailia in 1979 and is best known for their homage to the homeland "Down Under." In 1986, the band broke up and Colin Hay pursued a successful solo carrer. He's been known to re-record songs he composed himself (like "Overkill") and some of these recordings find their way into popular programming (like Scrubs).

Listen to the cover (studio) here.
Listen to the original here.

Amigos

Yup... it's been over four months since my last post. I've been itching to get back, but along with all the responsibilities of a senior engineering student and intern I just haven't been listening to music as often (I've gotten too busy even for that!).

I have a huge post in the works and I'm only four paragraphs away from finishing, but that also means I'm about four hours away from finishing (it's the bane of my OCD...). And I was going to work on it some more tonight, but then I was distracted by a YouTube video of a friend's cover. Then I got to appreciating all my musical friends and how much I admire their presence and influence in my life.

So in their honor (and without their consent), I'm showcasing their talent to my Internet friends (I call you friends because who else would be this patient with me). All the featured songs are covers, which is of no surprise (if you don't know me by now...).

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"Jayvee's So Last Summer (Taking Back Sunday Cover)" by Taking Back Jayvee

I remember when I first met each of the performers for the first time. I first heard of Sherwin Rio as the guitarist of the Jacksonville alternative band Dancell, and I was as excited as a Japanese schoolgirl when I got the chance to be the first to show him around UF! Humble to the extreme (which is a characteristic of all of these artists), I'm amazed at the depth of heart Sherwin portrays when he plays music, especially when he plays for others.

I also heard about Kathryne Lopez before I met her, but when I actually heard her for the first time I was blown away! She and her family were sitting behind me during Mass, but when she sang the Responsorials it sounded like she was in front of me. I scouted for the owner of these resonding pipes to no avail, only to meet her face-to-face afterwards. Kathryne has a way of enveloping the listener with the beauty of her voice, but the true beauty lies in her realization that this Grace is not her own.

A year ago, a good friend of ours, Jayvee, was leaving us to start his carrer in Texas. At a going-away get-together, the dynamic duo of Sheryne dedicated a cover-parody of Taking Back Sunday's "You're So Last Summer" to send him off right.

Listen to the original here.

"A Dios Le Pido (Juanes Cover)" by Dy-Verse

As I discussed a while back, Christian music is not as cookie-cutter as some people make it out to be. Therein lies a great diversity, and that's where Dy-Verse comes in. Upon arriving to UF, Nick Torres had no aspiration to be the talented Catholic hip-hopper that he is. But as a result of various golden thread circumstances, he was led onto a path of artistic expression to convey his lack of fulfillment in earthly pleasures and his restless pursuit towards a greater purpose.

A few months back, Nick entered an MTV contest to remix a Juanes song for a chance to meet the man himself. He submitted his revision of "A Dios Le Pido" ("I Ask God") and won! But putting aside all the temporary glamour (which is easy to do), it's finally great to have the song live up to its name and not have its meaning confided to a single stanza as before.

Listen to the original here.

(Update: Dy-Verse joined the rap supergroup FoundNation and their debut release Univeral is out! Get it here, here and here!)

"If It Means A Lot To You (A Day to Remember Cover)" by Amy Rigby

Facebook makes it really easy to be a creeper, even when I'm not trying (hmm, I'm not sure if that came out right...). This video popped up on my Newsfeed and I was surprised because I didn't know Amy Rigby played guitar. Granted, both of us have always been busy with our respective majors and were left with the occassional "Hi! How have things been?" as the extent of our communication. But I know her well enough say that she is friendly in that she embodies the definition of "friend" given by C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves.

I was really glad to come across this other side of Amy, but it's a little bittersweet. Although she nails this unplugged cover of "If It Means A Lot To You" by A Day to Remember, it's so good that it almost makes me want to take down any recorded attempts I have at singing and playing guitar.

Listen to the original here.

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Stay tuned for another update! I promise it won't take long.

Todos los días,

Kelvin

He loves us. Period.

A lot of things have happened in my life in the past few weeks that have put me in a "Christian" mood, so to speak. This includes my music listening behavior. About two months ago, I went to a friend's apartment for an hour of praise & worship. It was just him and his acoustic; half the songs he sang were those that we've heard dozens of times over (and never get old), and the other half were songs he knew we wouldn't know.

That was the first time I heard "How He Loves." It started out calm and peaceful. I couldn't sing along, so I just listened. About three minutes in, he hit the second verse and began to crecendo. I was feeling it until he belted the line, "And Heaven meets Earth with a sloppy wet kiss." I've never heard something so suggestive in a Christian song! I was taken aback, and frankly I shyed away from the song because of that one line, forgetting all the other good ones.

Another time, another friend sang it, and I was waiting for him to make things awkward, but he sang instead "unforeseen kiss." At first, I thought I imagined the "sloppy," but then I realized it could have been some form of self-censoring. I approached the "unforeseen" friend and he said that he never heard it sung as "sloppy" and that he agreed it was weird. Then the concern was forwarded to my "sloppy" friend and this is what he had to say about it...

So recently, some people have been commenting on the way I tend to sing "How He Love Us." For the second verse, sometimes I'll switch back and forth between "unforeseen kiss" and "sloppy wet kiss." Sloppy wet kiss comes from the original song written by John Mark McMillan for his friend who died in a tragic car accident. It's about his friend being able to finally meet his father in heaven. I especially like to use "sloppy wet kiss" because when my siblings and I were little (and now my sister who is still little) my Dad would go in for a "sloppy wet kiss." To me it shows pure unabashed love in a playful, loving, fatherly way. Just wanted to share!

"How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan

Of ministries and music

Happy 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time! Before I get into the music, I'd like to share a little bit about my life.

In the late-90's, I remember coming home and flipping on the tube to watch Nickelodeon after school. You know, stuff like Rugrats and The Angry Beavers. In my teenage years, my favorite channel became Cartoon Network, specifically because of the Toonami programming block. G Gundam, Dragon Ball Z, YuYu Hakusho... that was my thang.

I would always stick around for the commercials (I had nothing better to do), and the advertisements that would always catch my attention were the infomercials for music compliations. I don't know why that was... I mean, just the other day I watched Nickelodeon (now Nick) and Cartoon Network (now CN) and that made me remember that there were commercials for Chef Boyardee and Nerf back in my day, too. Anyways, these multi-CD collections (which could be yours for just $19.99, or two payments thereof) would be presented at least once a day and were mostly ballads (the one by Time Life always comes to mind). But every once in a while (usually on a Sunday), there'd be a commerical about a soft Christian music collection.