UPDATE: Now there are zero slots left. Dang it. My timing stinks.

UPDATE: There are almost ZERO slots left. Register now, or lose your place forever.

Back-story: The Rabbit Room is a online public house, a website where some Christians (creative types, mostly) meet up and talk about the Story, Story, stories, movies, music, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s supposed to be an Inklings kind of thing (the meet-up for C.S. Lewis, Professor Tolkien and others –but they had a real pub).

The Proprietor of our on-line Rabbit Room is Andrew Peterson (author, singer-songwriter, pro-proprietor). At some point AP asked me to be a part of this thing by contributing a few posts a month. I assume this was to achieve readership among the highly sought after demographic of hillbillies.

Now: AP has long held a desire for the cyberpub to incarnate in brick and mortar. So, while there is no physical RR, there shall be, if God wills, an in-flesh get together of Rabbit Roomers this year.

The get together shall be a retreat/conference type of thing, but since a perfect name could not be agreed upon, Pete Peterson’s working title of “The Hutchmoot” was settled on.

Hutch = A home for rabbits.
Moot = A meet up (like the Entmoot in Tolkien’s LoTR).

So, all that to say this: Why don’t you come and join us? August 6-8. Nashville.

I am actually a bit late in posting this announcement (because I am stoopid) and the thing is getting rather full. So, head over to the Hutchmoot web HQ and see what all the fuss is about.

If you are a hillbilly and care what yours truly is doing there (besides trying to act casual around all the amazing artists) then I’ll be participating in two panel-things. One is on storytelling (because of my millions of books sold –oh, wait) with the a fore-mentioned AP, along with authors Jonathan Rogers, Travis Prinzi, Russ Ramsey, and Pete Peterson. I’ll probably just be fetching sodas and adjusting the air conditioner. The other is called “Strength in Weakness” and is with authors Pete Peterson and Travis Prinzi. I’ll be doing a reading in that one based on the work of Tolkien and the connection of his work with all the bathroom jokes in my writings.

Check out the website.
See the schedule.
Register.
Make travel plans with fellow Hutchmooters here.

I am really looking forward to it, and plan to post more later. Cheers!

David Bayles and Ted Orland, Art and Fear

HT: Ron Block

Ira Glass of This American Life has some fascinating thoughts on the building blocks of good storytelling. I found this very helpful, and inspiring. His remarks on failure are particularly useful (in parts 1 and 3), whatever kind of work you’re doing.

Here’s parts 2, 3 and 4.

HT: Brannon McAllister

“The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.

. . . Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade—not outside of it. The Apostles complained rightly when they said it was not meant they should leave the word of God and serve tables; their vocation was to preach the word. But the person whose vocation it is to prepare the meals beautifully might with equal justice protest: It is not meant for us to leave the service of our tables to preach the word.

The official Church wastes time and energy, and moreover, commits sacrilege, in demanding that secular workers should neglect their proper vocation in order to do Christian work—by which she means ecclesiastical work. The only Christian work is good work well done. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is Church embroidery or sewage-farming.”

Dorothy Sayers

-as quoted by Justin Taylor here, from her essay “Why Work?”

N.D. Wilson answers this and more in this interview…Listen now.

I found Wilson’s remarks to be very inspiring and very helpful for:

1. Parents looking for discernment about what kids read.

2. Creative people who love the Bible (authors, musicians, etc.).

3. People who want to understand if we should only receive “Christian” media (books, music, films, etc.) and need wisdom on that front.

4. Other weirdos.

It’s also very helpful on the subject of authority and magic.

Check it out. It is really worth a listen.

I mean, look at this guy.

Find N.D. Wilson here. Buy his books. High-five his raised right hand.

I place before you here a short discussion by childrens author N.D. Wilson and his father, (author, pastor) Doug Wilson, on a subject close to my heart. Is it appropriate for Christians to appreciate the use of magic in stories? Yes, if you want to read the Bible. But not so fast, what about the idea of authority? Some useful, worthwhile thoughts.

Ask Doug – Magic in Literature from Daniel Foucachon on Vimeo.

Here’s the video for those on Facebook if it doesn’t show up.

Art.

This is going to be the title track of AP’s forthcoming record. See his fascinating, postpartum thoughts here.

“I am not of the opinion that all the arts shall be crushed to earth and perish through the gospel as some bigoted persons pretend, but would willingly see all and especially music, servants of Him who gave and created them.”

Martin Luther

“The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation.”

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

HT: Ron Block

Andrew Mackay has some excellent thoughts (and chats up the cool film: Primer) answering the question: What should the quality of a movie that reflects/supports/advocates/illustrates a Christian world view be like?

“…You see this in Christian movies, too. If you look across the bulk of the movies made, they are shallow, filled with superficial “tragedy” that in every case resolves perfectly, helping the protagonist to more exciting faith.

This is why so many believers who are artists choose to do art outside of the community of faith — or on the outskirts of it. You can communicate harder things, deeper things, if you’re not constrained by an industry that doesn’t want depth, preferring an easy sell. So, you get a movie like Primer, made by a Believer, that explores hard questions about man’s nature and does it interestingly (time travel and the relationship dynamic between best friends). This movie would be a hard sale into the Christian art buying community (Christian bookstores, web stores, etc). But, ironically, it found an audience with thinking people in the general industry. And it was better done than any Christian movie I’ve ever seen.

So, one thing that Christian art must have is depth.”

Read the whole post.