In the comments, I need you to list pairs of “opposing” attributes or tendencies you could use to categorise people at a church – any church. For example, liberal vs conservative, traditional vs charismatic, worldly vs insular, etc. There is a reason for this, as I will explain soon…

I was going to whinge about church this week being a load of emotive handwringing anti-intellectual nonsense that was verging on teaching that there was an elect, but it turns out I can’t be bothered. Am I mellowing, or just so cynical now that nothing surprises me any more?

So, I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon arranging a song for someone from church. I actually got asked to do this just after Christmas, and I’ve had a rough backing track done for a month or two, but only got to record the vocal track – and thus get some idea about the direction of the finished song – two weeks ago and only got time to finish off the arrangement and slap it all together yesterday. I think it’s all gone quite well, given the decidedly amateur nature of the whole thing (the “vocal booth” was the office at church with an SM58, a pair of headphones and my laptop-cum-studio setup). I spent most of the time splicing together a single vocal track out of the seven or so takes we recorded – painstaking and slow work, but necessary because of the seat-of-the-pants nature of the recording.

I’m quite happy with the final track – it’s a bit Radio 2, but that’s the nature of the song I was given to work with. Unfortunately, I can’t put up a download of the song yet as it’s being done for a charity CD to raise money for Zambia – but if/when I can, I’ll let y’all hear it.

Mega Church!

Imagine if you could create the church you wanted, any way you wanted!
Put together a worship service exactly the way YOU want: hymns, no hymns, drums, no drums. Are you from Wisconsin, start Polka Mass! Start a building campaign, ask for donations.
With network play enabled, you can steal members from other churches and earn points just like you saved them yourself. The possibilities are endless!

Classic. Read the discussion at the bottom, too.

So, the US military want to implant chips into pupating butterflies so they can use them for remote-control surveillance. Okay. This is the same research agency that’s also proposed things like self-healing minefields, mechanical battlefield elephants and direct brain interfaces to battlefield equipment. Oh, and they invented the internet.

(incidentally, DARPA have loads of really interesting projects. It’s a shame that they’re basically all about making new and interesting ways to kill people, because otherwise it sounds like quite a fun place to work)

Everyone’s favourite teddybear-cum-Archbishop, Rowan Williams, has gone on record saying he doesn’t think creationism should be taught in schools – discussed, yes, but not taught as a theory that stands alongside Darwinism. Full story here and here.

Not only that, but it also seems he’s been upsetting the Daily Mail by pointing out that the church isn’t actually the nation’s moral guardian. The Catholics are gonna have to fight hard to win more points on the sensible-o-meter now.

I went back to Another Place a while back and took some more photos, this time in colour and on slides. Despite what it looks like, they’re not Lomo pics; they were all shot with my EOS 30V; the vignetting is as a result of the very strong light on the day and, presumably, the filter I had on the lens.

Anyway, the new set is here – there’s an irritating amount of dust on some of the pictures, and the scans haven’t come out as sharp as I’d have liked, but you can’t have everything. Also, contains gratuitous metal nudity. You have been warned.

XFM Manchester launched the other day. In theory, this is a good thing: a proper indie/alternative music station for Manchester, what with Manchester’s rich musical heritage and that, is a something that should really have existed for a very long time.

Unfortunately, the first time I tuned in, they were playing “I bet that you look good on the dance floor” by the Arctic ChartmanipulatingMediaLuvvieMonkeys. So I turned it off again.

The second time I tuned in, they were still playing “I bet that you look good on the dance floor” by the ArticSelloutTastic GodWhyWon’tTheyStopPlayingItMonkeys. Not looking good, so far.

But I figured I’d give them another chance: besides, I can’t get BBC Six Music in the car and I’d left my iTrip at home. This time, they were playing The Arcade Fire, and followed it up with The Smiths. So maybe it’s not all bad; I’ll reserve judgement for now and see how it goes. But any more Arctic Cockmonkeys and I’ll turn up at their offices with a shotgun and a copy of Blueberry Boat.

Tessa Jowell returned to the spotlight today for breaching a law she herself introduced.