Don’t go to church to give

Jonathan Parnell writes over at Desiring God about our tendency to elevate our ability to contribute over our need for God.

• Banish the slightest idea in your head that you are going to a corporate worship service because you have something to offer God. He isn’t served like that, as though he needed anything, since he’s the one who gives everything to everybody.

Read more.

Illegal downloading is ‘moral squalor’

I didn’t think I’d ever quote Philip Pullman, but here we are. A serious conversation needs to be had about digital thievery. Especially among us who believe. Pullman presents a — perhaps old-school — perspective on copyright and theft.

• The technical brilliance is so dazzling that people can’t see the moral squalor of what they’re doing. It is outrageous that anyone can steal an artist’s else’s work and get away with it. It is theft, as surely as reaching into someone’s pocket and taking their wallet is theft. 

Read more.

Eight creativity lessons from a Pixar animator

Leo Baubata at ZenHabits and his kids got to talk with a Pixar Animator. He distilled it down to eight lessons. They’re good.

• When Pixar created Brave, deleted scenes that didn’t make the final cut would have made the movie 5 times as long. A ton of little visual jokes didn’t make the movie. That means that hours and hours of creative, brilliant work were thrown out, and only the best of the best of all of this creative process actually was used. That’s a lot of amazing stuff, to get very little.

A great read. Read more.

How Atari box art turned 8 bit games into virtual wonderlands

Video games weren’t always immersive, beautiful experiences. They used to require… you know, imagination. The Verge recounts how Atari used box art to help players overcome the visualization challenge.

• The cover for Adventure on the Atari looks nothing like the title it’s promoting. The game itself is essentially made of a series of rectangles, with a few blocky enemies prowling around, while the main adventurer is simply a square. You’re forced to imagine the fantasy world you’re meant to be exploring. But imagining it is a whole lot easier thanks to the vibrant artwork of Susan Jaekel.

That’s what art does for people. Read more.

For Laughs: Sheet thread counts are pretty much meaningless. 

I always suspected, and now I know…

• If 400 of something is good, then 1,000 of that thing is better, isn’t it? Unless that thing is “bees.” No, of course, more is not necessarily better. It might be more expensive, but isn’t better. That’s what Consumer Reports learned recently when they tested sets of sheets for strength, softness, fit on a mattress, shrinkage, and other qualities.

Read more. I’ve got to go return a 1,000 thread count sheet set.

Around the Warren:

Christ and Creativity

James Witmer started our week with a review and recommendation of Michael Card’s book Scribbling in the Sand.

• As a person bullied by the near-constant shoving and nagging of creative urges, I can’t help being interested in “creativity.” Knowing all the Christ-centered art Michael Card has produced, I wanted to hear anything he had to say about connecting the two. He started by opening my eyes to see Jesus as a creative person.

Read more.

Conversations of Hope: The Beautiful Tears

Julie Silander continues our interaction with the work of Makoto Fujimura.

• Join us as we read and discuss the following essay by artist Makoto Fujimura. If you missed last week’s introduction, you can read it here. Consider this a four week virtual book club – only you don’t have to buy a book and you bring your own coffee. You may want to print off the essay in order to hi-light and make notes. Thanks for journeying with us – we’re glad that you’re here.

Read more, and please take part in the comments!

The Holy Longing of Happily Ever After

Josh Bishop writes about the tension between real life and happily-ever-after.

• Stories about Real Life are stories about alarm clocks and rush-hour downpours and staining the back deck; stories, in the words of another author, about “exports and imports and governments and drains.” Worse, these are stories of sorrow and loss. There are also moments of beauty and wonder and love, to be sure, but every story about Real Life eventually ends in death—guaranteed. Real Life kills off its characters with less restraint than even George R.R. Martin.

Read more.

Something to Try with Your Kids:

Erin at RoyalBaloo.com has a free printable Johnny Appleseed learning pack. His birthday is next week, so it’s a great time to introduce your kids to the real story behind John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman. Check it out!

And Something Fun to Watch

This has kind of been everywhere on the internet, but in case you missed it, someone strapped a GoPro camera to an eagle. This video is the result. Totally awesome.

Thanks for reading! We’re on your side.