The second request comes from msm16, who asks me to play Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger:
Compare it to the original here.
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Category: Blogmeta
4 Blogathon songathon: Eye of the Tiger
2 Blogathon songathon: The Ballad of Day Kitty
The first request comes courtesy of Karen, who (because apparently she thinks I have the capacity to be embarrassed) asks me to play Lou Barlow’s The Ballad of Day Kitty:
Compare it to the original here.
Thanks Karen!
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12 Bonus movie Friday: Let me Rest in Peace
Hey Cromrades, my #SSAweek Blogathon contribution day is rapidly approaching. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve pledged to learn, record, and post songs that you request, for a minimum donation of $10. Here’s a recap of the requests I’ve received thus far:
- lorenprice pledges $15, and requests “Helter Skelter” by the Beatles
- Cunning Pam pledges $25, and requests something by They Might Be Giants
- jolo5309 pledges $10(? – didn’t specify), and requests one of three Canadian jazz(ish) tunes, to be chosen by me
- John Horstman pledges $50, and requests “Thanks, Bastards” by Mischief Brew
- Julia pledges $10(? – didn’t specify), and requests an original pro-science song her a capella group performs
- Frogmistress pledges $10, and requests “3 Small Words” by Josie and the Pussycats
- MSM16 pledges $50, and requests “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
- Karen pledges $10, and requests “The Ballad of Day Kitty” by Lou Barlow
A total of 8 donors and $180! I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me. There’s still lots of time for you to pledge and submit your request. I’d love to get past the $500 mark. Remember if JT Eberhard and I combine for a total of more than $1000, we’ll face off in an epic song battle to the tune of “Under Pressure” by Queen. If we outraise him, I’ll make him sing the RikRok part to Shaggy’s timeless “It Wasn’t Me”. Trust me – you’ll enjoy my Shaggy impression.
To try and pry your wallets open just a little bit more, here’s a video I shot last night that exposes me as the Buffy fanboy I am: … Continue Reading
9 Thefte moste foule
There have been some great musical thieves in history. Elvis Presley stole blues and R&B music from greats like Chuck Berry and B.B. King. Led Zeppelin pretty much just stole indiscriminately from everyone. Kevin Federline was a thing for a while.
However, no musical theft has ever been so egregious as the one perpetrated against me by someone I thought was a friend and colleague. JT Eberhard has unapologetically stolen my idea to record and post songs as part of SSA’s Blogathon:
::UPDATE::Ian Cromwell is auctioning off songs. I think that’s brilliant! For $10 Ian will post himself playing a song of your choice. I’ll do the same (I sing a bit). For a $10 minimum donation to the SSA (because you can always donate more) I’ll record a song of your choice in the courtyard of the SSA office (the acoustics are great!). I prefer musicals. I’ll get to as many as I can and post them as a Blogathon entry on Monday.
This. Will. Not. Stand.
As a response, I hereby challenge JT to a ‘sing-off’. No idea-thief is going to out-fundraise me. So here’s the deal: if JT’s Blogathon and mine raise a combined $1000 (that’s only 100 pledges of $10 – I know there’s at least 50 of you out there with a tenner in your pockets), we will join forces and sing the epic Queen ballad Under Pressure, with JT holding down the Freddie Mercury part and yours truly doing David Bowie’s lines.
As an added bonus, if we outraise JT, I will make him be the RikRok to my Shaggy on It Wasn’t Me, and we will post that as well. My Shaggy impression is actually pretty decent (Boombastic used to be one of my go-to songs back when I hosted karaoke back in my undergrad days).
The gauntlet has been thrown down. Don’t disappoint me, Cromrades!
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6 Kiva project update: request for projects
Hey Cromrades, pay day was this week, so we’ve got a hole burning in our Paypal account. Help me spend our money by going to Kiva.org and picking out your favourite project. We have enough cash this round to fund FOUR projects (owing to loan repayments and a really stellar month of March), so let’s get cracking!
By the way, you can check out our donor page here.
For the month of October, we made $46.38, and loaned $50.
For the month of November, we made $65.81, and loaned $50.
For the month of December, we made $44.76, and loaned $50.
For the month of January, we made $58.59.
For the month of February, we made $57.33 and loaned $125.
For the month of March, we made $78.68.
Total amount loaned so far: $275
Total loan funds repaid: $41.49
Fund balance: $108.64
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44 Crommunist joins SSA Blogathon
Now I’m assuming everyone reads every post that every FTB author posts every day, so it is perhaps entirely extraneous for me to draw your attention to Jen McCreight’s announcement this morning:
Blogathon is a blogging marathon for charity where I make a new post every 30 minutes for 24 hours, with no pre-writing or autoposting allowed. Just like someone can pledge money to support someone running in a marathon, people can pledge to support a caffeinated, deliriously sleep deprived, and (hopefully) entertaining blogger. Like the last three years, I’m raising money for the Secular Student Alliance. But this year there’s a twist:
I’m not alone.
This year Blogathon will include 18 other bloggers who have pledged to devote their time going just as crazy as I am. From June 9th to June 16th, at least one blogger will spend their day furiously typing away. Instead of me running this blogging marathon on my own, it’s a relay race! We’ll be passing the e-baton, or something. I don’t run, so these analogies are hard. The current schedule is here, including bloggers like Greta Christina, Dale McGowan, JT Eberhard, Ian Cromwell, Natalie Reed, Ed Brayton, and more! I’ll be blogging from 6am PST June 16th to 6am June 17th.
Those are some big names there. Greta Christina? Wow – a person as busy and talented as Greta giving her time to this thing? JT Eberhard – well I guess that’s a bit of a given since he works for the SSA but still, he’s a good ‘get’. And then this Ian Cromwell guy… where have I heard that name before?
Wait, shit. I’m Ian Cromwell.
2 The pros of cons
We’ve been discussing a lot of the negative aspects of attending atheist conventions recently. I think it’s good that we are critical and constantly trying to do better. It’s easy, however, to lose the positive aspects in the shuffle. Here’s a piece from Calgary’s David Ince:
I kept remembering as I spoke with these people that my dictionary told me that atheism is simply a ‘lack of belief.’ That seemed so incongruous with what I was seeing here. ‘Lack’ was just not a word that fit anyone I met. This was a group overflowing as much in spirit as they were in spirits. There were many differences expressed on topics relating to things like gender, diversity and vegetarianism in informal discussions. It did get rather heated at many tables in the bar. But, there was no doubt in my mind that this was a family, and in spite of how recently I had come acquainted with this movement, this was my family.
(snip)
For the Christians that keep knocking us we have to give them something back. Yes, we too have to start knocking on doors. Not on the ones that Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons exercise their knuckles on, but on the ones that are embedded in walls that cordon off the brain. Those that keep minds forever locked off from reality. Those for which it seems faith alone is the key. We may get ignored for a while, people may refuse to take a break from their their busy daily schedules to hear the ‘Word’ that we bring. They may consider our interruption to their ‘thinking as usual’ to be a nuisance and warn us to get off their property. But if we can go through the neighbourhoods with the type of people I met in Kamloops, the persistent pounding will one day become impossible to ignore. Those sitting comfortably in their houses of faith, will then feel obliged to peep through that small crack in their curtain and will realise to their surprise that there is indeed light on the outside.
Group gatherings can have a profoundly positive effect on people if they’re done right. They can inspire us to do better, to push harder, and to reach out and try something new. They can make us feel more connected to our community. They can make us look at ourselves in a new light. They have value, and that’s why it’s so important to make sure they’re open and inviting to all people – because we need more passionate people, more community, more involvement.
It was great to meet David in Kamloops, and I hope I get another chance to run into him soon.
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0 Coming out Atheist: Greta’s collecting stories
Greta Christina, writer extraordinaire and sometimes conscience of the atheist community, is collecting testimonials for a new book project she’s working on:
I’m writing a new book — a how-to guide about coming out atheist. And I need your stories, and your advice.
IMPORTANT: Please read this entire post before commenting! I’m looking for somewhat specific kinds of stories, with somewhat specific kinds of information. So please don’t just scroll to the comments and pour out your heart. Please read this entire post before pouring out your heart. It’s not that long, I promise.
I’m writing a how-to guide about coming out atheist. I obviously want this guide to reflect a wide range of atheist experiences. So I’m gathering stories. And I’m looking for somewhat specific kinds of information. You don’t have to answer every one of these questions, btw — if you do, it’ll help, but partial answers will also be very useful.
So if you are openly atheist, please consider e-mailing Greta and telling her your story.
26 I’m back!
Ladies and gentlemen (and any other label you may prefer), I am home after a long trip that took me to Kamloops for Imagine No Religion 2, Toronto for work, and Montreal for vacation (and more work). I stupidly left my laptop in my apartment, so I have been unable to blog. This has been (by far) the longest I have been away from the site since I started it over 2 years ago, and I can’t imagine such an absence happening again.
Anyway, I’ve got lots to talk about: the conference, the protests in Montreal, the things I saw and did while on the road, and apparently there’s some talk about hooking up at conferences and flirting, so I might weigh in to that mess as well. I won’t be back to normal (and neither will the blog) until the weekend, so I hope you will bear with me as I try to get back into my groove.
Glad to be back!
11 Here’s what’s happening now
A brief recap:
I was at Imagine No Religion 2 in Kalmoops, BC. I had a great time meeting a lot of fun new people, and enjoyed myself a great deal. I am currently on vacation until the 29th, when I will be flying back to Vancouver from a conference in Montreal.
However, like an idiot I left my laptop at home. As a result, I will not be blogging at all over the next week. My apologies to regular readers and to new ones, but while my phone can do many things, it is lousy as a device for writing. I will have very limited internet access in Montreal, even with my phone, so I will be almost completely off the grid for a while.
When I come back, I will be summarizing my experiences at INR2, posting pictures, and generally writing my ass off to get back up to speed. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter, or read the other fabulous authors here on FTB, many of whom were at INR2 as well. My repeated apologies for the extended downtime.
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Crommunist 