The video for their song “We Used to Wait,” off their new CD The Suburbs, is a project that uses HTML5, the latest version of the coding standard that runs much of the web. Thanks to this, the video allows multiple images, videos, Google Street View, maps, and interactive segments that go along with the song.

Here’s how to do it: find the video at The Wilderness Downtown, then just enter your address from where you grew up. Then just let it load.

A few quick suggestions: you don’t necessarily need to be using Google Chrome, but there’s a good chance that the video will run better in Chrome than in other browsers. Firefox reportedly works, but you’ll need to allow pop-ups and use a recent version.

Also, about halfway through the video, you’ll be invited to write a note to yourself — the earlier you that once lived at whatever address you used when you started the video. It’s kind of mawkish, but at least draw or scribble something. It’s all part of the act.

Lastly, don’t be too surprised if a street view of your address is unavailable. If you live outside of the city (or the suburbs, for that matter) or North America, you’ll likely be relegated to an overall map view of the area. This still works, but I had to type in four different addresses to get one to fully work, and that one was a current address.

Of course, you could just start punching in famous addresses to see what happens. I found out that typing in “123 Sesame Street, New York, NY” is far less interesting than I’d hoped for. I also found out that poor Malia and Sasha Obama can’t get the video to fully work for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

One station that isn’t technically a numbers station is again causing a buzz with the radio geeks — no pun intended.

UVB-76, aka “The Buzzer,” is located outside the city of Povarovo, Russia, less than thirty miles from Moscow. You can see the station on Google Maps (although in current satellite imagery it’s covered by a cloud; Wikipedia has a nice picture, though),  and people even have a good idea of the type of antenna it’s using.  They just have no idea what the station’s purpose is.

The Buzzer has done almost nothing except emit the same buzzing sound twenty-five times per minute for almost twenty-eight years. Until recently, there’s been little change in this except for a few rare occasions in which someone will transmit a short voice message.  Sometimes the pitch changes, but the buzzing has barely changed in over a decade. Here’s a sample:

That’s about it. Nothing too exciting to listen to for lengths at a time, although it certainly provides fascinating fodder for speculation. Current theories involve heavily coded messages to spies, messages to local defense coordinators, Doppler research into the ionosphere, or even a “kill switch” to prevent missiles from accidentally going off.

Hopefully that last one is wrong, because things have gotten strange in the past few days.

The station, which is located at 4625 kHz on the shortwave band, has had a little more excitement recently. For a brief period in early June, the station went off the air for a few days. Then it started adding occasional Morse Code. Then in the past few days people have heard more voices and noises. The guys at Slashdot claim the message sent out was “‘UVB-76, UVB-76 — 93 882 naimina 74 14 35 74 — 9 3 8 8 2 nikolai, anna, ivan, michail, ivan, nikolai, anna, 7, 4, 1, 4, 3, 5, 7, 4′” — and then went back to buzzing. Good luck trying to figure that one out. Additionally, there’s now a ton of odd sounds to go along with the original buzzing, some of which sound like they came off an early Kraftwerk album; here’s an example of the audio.

If you feel like checking it out and don’t have the right type of radio, there are a few places to listen online. A blog dedicated to UVB-76 has set up some audio feeds, and there’s a Justin.tv feed with audio.

This is one of the oddest signals out there, and probably one of the most mysterious right now. There have been other notably strange ones in the past, including one that played the opening of the folk tune “Lincolnshire Poacher” over and over and even one unknown station that repeatedly played a quote from Yosemite Sam along with some buzzing sounds.

The shortwave bands are filled with unidentified signals, and this is one of the reasons people are still getting into the hobby.

In case you haven’t heard of the book, the UK’s ChristianToday has a very brief synopsis for you:

The Shack tells the story of Mackenzie Philips and how he recovers his faith in God after the abduction and murder of his youngest daughter. The book was controversial in its portrayal of God as an African American woman, Jesus Christ as a Middle Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit in the form of an Asian woman.

Of course, it sold an incredible amount of books for being something of an independent release. Anything that has sold more than 12 million units is going to wind up in discussions about a movie project, and The Shack has been no different.

ChristianToday reveals that apparently author William Paul Young is in the middle of writing a screenplay:

He told World Net Daily that he started work on a screenplay but admitted he was in “no rush” to get The Shack to the theaters. He also denied that any production company had been taken on for the project.

In other words, don’t go looking to buy your tickets any time soon.

As the article says, the book was extremely controversial, and numerous accusations about the book and its story can be found in every corner of the internet.

I personally enjoyed the book, and I give it guarded recommendations. Young’s imagination is filled with ideas that are usually not discussed (the image of the Trinity sitting together for a meal is one that stays with me the most). The idea of the Lord delighting in his people (Psalm 149) is exemplified in His love of music, and his patience with a belligerent Mac is beautiful.

There are a few bumps along the way, but in my opinion the overall story is great. I do wish Young’s antipathy toward the church wasn’t so ingrained into his story, though, because I think it presents a less clear vision of God than he could have otherwise had. Also, Young’s lack of writing experience shows in the run-on sentences and disconnected thoughts that jumble up the pages. The fact that it still makes a good story is a testament to the message of forgiveness and God’s mercy that Young conveys.

And yet I don’t really want to see a movie of The Shack.

The book is quite heavy on dialogue, and whole chapters go on while people sit around a table and talk. That makes for a good book, but I can’t imagine that being something audiences would want to see on screen. This isn’t a book that lends itself to film as easily as others, and at times I fear it would come off like a Hallmark Special rather than something you’d expect to see in theaters.

Even more so, we don’t need a lot of The Shack merchandise. When this book came out, I was worried that it was going to go the route of plenty of other big name Christian books and franchises: The Shack movie, The Shack for kids, The Shack worship album, The Shack Study Bible, The Shack Video Game, The Shack collectible figurines…

No, thanks.

Either way, this is years off, so we’ll have to see how this goes. If you’re looking for a good review of the book, please check out the late Internet Monk‘s take on the book (and the backlash). He also recommends another book that takes a critical look at The Shack, called Finding God in the Shack. These are good places to start, because if you try to read all of the opinions online about the book you’ll miss the opening day for the movie completely — and possibly the DVD release as well.

Not too long ago, Catholic clergyman Luke Strand could be seen driving around Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in his black Volkswagen Beetle. In addition to sporting a rosary that hangs from the rearview mirror and a vanity plate that says “godlvya,” the car was emblazoned with the words “God Squad” in a close approximation of Best Buy’s “Geek Squad” logo.

Apparently, that didn’t sit too well with Best Buy, which hit the priest with a cease-and-desist order. Fox News reports that Reverend Luke Strand complied immediately and that his church will look for another way to utilize the car to creatively “bring God to the streets.”

I understand Best Buy’s position, especially regarding the protection of their brands. That said, though, I’m pretty sure the “God Squad” would be a legally-protected parody had Strand chosen to fight the cease-and-desist order (which, for reasons of witness, I’m pleased he did not do).

Either way, this brings up an issue that is something of a soapbox issue for me, and that is the proclivity of Christians to be derivative.

For example, just walk into any Christian bookstore and check out the t-shirts section. Try to find one that isn’t in some way a play on a popular (or even not-popular-anymore) brand, logo, or catchphrase.

My main beef with this sort of thing is that Christians serve the most creative being in existence and are made in His image. There are plenty of Christians with spectacularly creative gifts and ideas. Let’s set the bar higher. We’re to be imitators of Christ (1 Cor 11:1), not imitators of some other company’s marketing pieces.

So let’s summarize. Best Buy, settle down. Reverend Strand, you made the right call playing nice with the corporate suits; also, do something even cooler with your car this time.

Everyone else, stop doing stuff like this (and this…and this…and this…).

In a recent post on Christianity Today, musician Jason Gray talks about his new hero, Mister Rogers:

[A] YouTube clip shows Rogers’s guiding philosophy for his show as he talks about what a powerful medium television is, and wondered “why wouldn’t we use this medium to broadcast grace?” It was then that the scales fell from my eyes and I felt as if I saw this dear man correctly for the first time. Far from the bland, weak, pushover I had earlier dismissed, I now saw an intentional and innovative champion of the gospel whose brilliance was outmatched only by his capacity for kindness.

Mister Rogers is one of the few people of whom it can be said he was very much the same on screen as he was off. He was a disarming person, someone whose strength was his compassion and honesty. Jason gives a perfect example of his empathy by quoting an Esquire story about a visit Rogers paid to a boy with a severe physical disability:

At first the boy was made very nervous by the thought that Mister Rogers was visiting him. He was so nervous, in fact, that he … got mad and began hating and biting himself, and his mother had to take him to another room to talk to him. Mister Rogers didn’t leave though. He wanted something from the boy, and Mister Rogers never leaves when he wants something from somebody. He just waited patiently, and when the boy came back, Mister Rogers talked to him, and then he made his request. He said, ‘I would like you to do something for me. Would you do something for me?’ On his computer the boy answered yes, of course, he would do anything for Mister Rogers, so then Mister Rogers said: ‘I would like you to pray for me. Will you pray for me?’ And now the boy didn’t know how to respond. He was thunderstruck … Because nobody had ever asked him for something like that, ever. The boy had always been prayed for. The boy had always been the object of prayer, and now he was being asked to pray for Mister Rogers, and although at first he didn’t know if he could do it, he said he would … and ever since then he keeps Mister Rogers in his prayers and doesn’t talk about wanting to die anymore, because he figures Mister Rogers is close to God, and if Mister Rogers likes him, that must mean that God likes him too.

I recommend reading the whole article. Rogers was a Presbyterian minister, and he saw doing his show as a form of ministry to children. As some of the quotes here suggest, God was on the mind of Mister Rogers quite often, and it was his faith that motivated both the show and his philosophy regarding how to teach children.

In some parts of Christianity, there’s something of a movement to “reclaim” manhood, and some have held up Mister Rogers as the antithesis. In my opinion, this is an extremely unwise and shortsighted view of masculinity. When you read about him, you find that he was a determined perfectionist who was very assertive about his show and his beliefs. His strength and integrity were apparent in all that he did, even if he didn’t look or act like Chuck Norris. Both men are manly, and as Mister Rogers might have said, “your body is fancy, and so is mine.”

Oh, and Chuck Norris facts? Cliched. Try Mister Rogers facts instead. He made thieves return his car, helped legalize VCR recording, and had an indirect hand at taming Koko the Gorilla. Really.

Then again, some of the Mister Rogers facts veer into legend but still make good folklore. For example — Mister Rogers’s friendship with a certain member of the X-Men named Storm allowed him to ensure that every day was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

As is the case with most movies that make audiences endure a long wait between the end of filming and the movie’s actual release date, there’s usually only a slow trickle of trailers trickle every few months, but little else in the way of news or previews to satisfy the excitement and curiosity of fans.

That said, the latest bit of news from the Narnia camp is far better than the usual.

Walden Media and 20th Century Fox are teaming up with Samaritan’s Purse to send gifts across the world.

Operation Narnia is a partnership with the Samaritan’s Purse program, Operation Christmas Child, to bring the joy of Christmas to kids all over the world! This is the perfect opportunity for your family and friends to spread cheer and hope to needy boys and girls in over 130 countries. With your help, our goal is to deliver more than 8 million shoe boxes, filled with items that will be meaningful to a child – toys, stuffed animals, school supplies, hard candy, and hygiene items.

Georgie Henley (aka Lucy) has a video up at the Operation Narnia website to explain more:

Operation Christmas Child has been around for a quite a few years and has sent nearly 70 million shoeboxes filled with toys and other helpful items to kids around the world. It’s a neat way to tie in the “always winter, never Christmas” mindset of the first Narnia story, and a smart way to both promote the movie and OCC.

If you feel like helping out, OperationNarnia.org has more information.

A worship pastor from the UK has committed to tweeting the entire Bible over the course of the next three years. Chris Juby just started a week ago and is scheduled to finish on November 8, 2013. You can follow him at @BibleSummary. In addition to his Twitter feed, he’s keeping a website archive that also offers other information about the project.

Instead of tweeting the entire Bible word for word (which, let’s face it, wouldn’t work that well with the 140-character limit and would result in an obnoxious number of tweets flooding your Twitter stream each day), he’s summarizing each chapter of the Bible — one chapter per tweet, one tweet per day. That’s quite a bit more manageable, both for him and for his followers.

In an interview with the UK’s Telegraph, Chris explains the inspiration for this project.

It is my normal habit to read a chapter of the Bible each morning and I always read through from Genesis to Revelation.

As I was coming to the end last time, I thought I needed a way of focussing my mind a little bit more on what I was reading. I thought a summary would be a good way of doing this. I already use Twitter, so I thought I’d share my summaries.

So far, it seems to be working out pretty well. His most recent tweet reads as follows:

Gen7: Noah and his family went into the ark with two of each creature. It rained for forty days and forty nights and the earth was covered.

This should be a fun project to watch. Given his summary of Genesis 5 (“Gen5: Adam’s line was: Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah. Noah’s sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth.”), the books of the law, such as Leviticus and Numbers, should be particularly interesting to see.

Of course, this isn’t meant to take the place of actual scripture reading; it’s simply an additional resource. As Chris said in the Telegraph, “I hope in doing the summary, it will inspire people to read the Bible for themselves. My summaries are no substitute for the real thing.”

While this is a new spin, Bible-related tweets are nothing new. This article at Mashable offers a variety of other religiously-themed Twitter accounts, Christian and otherwise.

What do you think? Will you be following @BibleSummary?

Transformers 2

Beyond the incomprehensible story and weak lead, you had Megan Fox whose sole point in the movie was to keep the boys’ attention while the robots and explosions aren’t on the screen. She seems to have no reason to exist other than to be Sam’s girlfriend: she has no female friends, spends her free time chatting online with Sam, and follows the other characters around while not adding much. As for the other women in the film, Sam’s mother is a high-strung airhead who accidentally gets stoned on brownies, and every other female with any notable screentime attempts to throw herself at Sam at some point in the movie. Before the first hour of the movie has passed, it begins to feel like a PG-13 rated fan fiction written by a 14-year-old.

In spite of all of this, at least there were living women in Transformers 2. Another big box office hit from the same year was Up, and the only named woman in that movie died before the story even started. Granted, it’s a far superior movie, and in light of everything else the movie had going for it few people complained about the absence of females — but it was still a notable absence.

Christianity Today’s Her.menutics blog did, in fact, take note, and they’ve got a short test for you to take:

Take a moment to think of the last movie you saw. Did it have:

(1) Two women with names

(2) who had a conversation

(3) about something other than a man?

If so, it passes the three-point Bechdel Test, named for cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who featured the concept in her cartoon strip in the 1980s (she says a friend came up with the idea).

As they say, this isn’t necessarily a litmus test for a good movie, a movie with strong female characters, or even a movie with realistic relationships between people (if that were the case, Lord of the Rings would flop while Spice World would pass with flying colors). This test can, though, help demonstrate that there’s still an imbalance in how people are portrayed.

Part of this, says CT author Hannah Faith Notess, is because so many movies that do have women in the lead are walled off from friends and often mothers:

The relentlessly merchandised Disney Princess franchise allows little girls to dress themselves and imagine themselves as pretty princesses. And that may be all to the good. But what kind of story are young girls being invited to imagine? Even though the Disney princesses in the 1990s had been somewhat updated as confident, independent heroines, willing to defy parental wishes, their storylines still kept them so walled-off from other women, they might as well have been trapped in a tower by an evil witch.

Looking at the Top 10 movies of 2009, only one movie, The Blind Side, had a woman in the lead who keeps up with the test. While the latest outing from Harry Potter might count (although the lives of most of the characters revolve around Harry, including those of strong females like Hermione, Ginny, and Luna), Twilight is all about Bella moping around for Edward — and beyond that, there’s very little that even attempts to give a decent portrayal of half of the population, let alone pass the test.

I’m always a little curious to see how people are portrayed in film. It’s obvious that the “Damsel in Distress” trope isn’t technically dead, even if it’s been years since we last saw a literal woman-locked-in-a-tower scenario on film (although Disney is changing that later this year). Nonetheless, the two extremes seem to be eating up the film: she’s the love interest with little life away from our hero (think Jennifer Aniston in Office Space), or she’s got a ton of other female friends who act as enablers (many, many Sex in the City-inspired films).

Of course, men know how the stereotypes go, too. If it’s a Lifetime movie, the guy’s a killer/rapist/abuser. If it’s a family movie, he’s usually a man disconnected from his family who gains a newfound respect for them and life in general. If it’s a commercial or a sitcom, he’s bound to be a complete idiot. But if it’s what I call a “male chick flick,” the guy will be a total loser who just wants to have a good time and find a hot woman who will fall for him in spite of his glaring issues. Think of something from Judd Apatow or Garden State, where Natalie Portman’s character is so over-the-top they named a cliche out of it.

Which brings us back to wanting real women in movies. I hear now and then that men are afraid of strong women in fiction. I don’t buy it. Strong women do great when given a good setting and aren’t simply made to be pinups: Joss Whedon and Hayao Miyazaki have both proven this. I don’t want to gang up on them, but I think Pixar could do a fine job with a female protagonist if given the right setting, and I think it’d be fun to see them try.

What do you think? What movies pass the test? Which movies barely don’t but have believable characters in them anyway?

I pay attention to it probably more than does the average person. When watching a movie, it’s not unusual for me to be able to identify the composer of the film’s score based simply on how it sounds. Let’s face it…composers like Danny Elfman and John Williams have some pretty signature styles.

With so many films being slapped together today in the hopes of making a few bucks, it’s no surprise that many of them regard the score almost as an afterthought. It’s far too common to walk out of a modern movie with no recollection whatsoever of the theme music.

That’s why I take notice when a movie does have a unique soundtrack or standout theme.

Ever since the early trailers for Inception started playing in theaters, one common thread throughout each of them was the main audio cue — the blaring, brassy, dramatic chord that was repeated multiple times in each trailer.

Most trailers are cut using music from other movies, or even using royalty-free production music; it’s rare to see a trailer that includes music that will actually also be in the film itself. (Sidenote: here’s an awesome resource for identifying the music used in pretty much every movie trailer ever.) Upon seeing Inception, then, I marveled at the fact that the instantly-recognizable music from the trailers was also the main theme from the film.

Even better, it turns out that, as in the movie, there’s a deeper layer of meaning here.

I’m a little late to the party with this video, so you may have already seen it, but it’s too good of a tidbit to resist making it a part of our ongoing series on geek music. (Naturally, this will make the most sense if you’ve seen the movie; also, if you  haven’t, some of the links below should be considered possibly spoileriffic.)

Pretty cool, eh?

Cinematical goes into greater detail about this, and for even more fun, check out this New York Times interview with composer Hans Zimmer himself to get his take on how this came about.

NASA’s website tells us more:

The show begins at sundown when Venus, Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon pop out of the western twilight in tight conjunction. All four heavenly objects will fit within a circle about 10 degrees in diameter, beaming together through the dusky colors of sunset. No telescope is required to enjoy this naked-eye event

There’s also a small constellation map to help you find where to look. It all starts after dark, and after 10pm the planets fade in time for the meteors to begin. Depending on where you are, you might see two per minute, or only a couple all night. Wednesday night and all weekend is still good viewing time, in case you can’t get out on Thursday.

Earth & Sky has a few suggestions for those trying to find the meteor shower in the next few nights. As expected, get as far away from light as possible (which may mean leaving the city), bring binoculars, be patient, and if at all possible look up awhile before dawn when the meteors will be the most frequent.

The shower is caused by the Swift-Tuttle comet, which is scheduled to have a near-miss with the earth in 3044. Be prepared.

(Photo via The Baltimore Sun.)