Top 8 - Week 48 of 2024

Can you believe we used to rank our Top 8 Friends on MySpace? Instead of ranking friends, I'm sharing the Top 8 things I read, watched, or otherwise enjoyed and appreciated this week. Think of it as my media gratitude list shared with you.

1 This peek into the past

Between 2009 and 2012, iPhones had a built-in "Send to YouTube" button in the Photos app. Many of these uploads kept their default IMG_XXXX filenames, creating a time capsule of raw, unedited moments from random lives. 

I made a bot that crawled YouTube and found 5 million of these videos! Watch them below, ordered randomly.

A Peek into the Past Through the Lens of the Early iPhone’s Camera

Riley Walz has created a marvelous couch potato project that peeks into a different era of the iPhone and YouTube. The idea behind Walz’s project, which I stumbled upon thanks to a story written by Umar Shakir at The Verge, is simple. The project is called ‘IMG_0001,’ because, as Walz explains: Between 2009 and 2012,

MacStoriesLinked By John Voorhees

2 Guided Meditations

Chelsea is an online-friend of mine and she creates these excellent guided meditations on topics like shame, cynicism, "God's not mad at you," and much more. They are also available on Insight Timer too if that's your jam.

guided meditations - Chelsea Kim Long

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Chelsea Kim Long

3 A Progressive Bible Study by Kate Boyd

Have you been hurt by the misuse of certain Bible verses? Struggling to move beyond simplistic interpretations? Seeking a way to rebuild your faith that aligns with your evolving beliefs?

Find healing from the wounds inflicted by weaponized Scripture, confidently understand these verses in their full context, and rebuild your faith on a foundation of nuanced biblical understanding and personal authenticity.

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4 This Comfort Watch

Emily and I have been steering away from our usual sequential watchlist and have returned to easy-going comfort watches like Emma and the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice (restored in 4K on BritBox!). There's something soothing about watching the drama and romance that you know what's going to happen, but you still enjoy the journey of getting there.

Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV series) - Wikipedia

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5 This Quirky Sketch About Asking Someone to Take a Photo For You

6 Plenty Good Room

I've getting ready to teach a class on the social, economic, and political implications of the Gospel in January. Andrew Wilkes's Plenty Good Room was a great a primer on the Black social gospel and Black socialism.

Black Christian socialism is many things, but it is at least this: an inclusive, reparative, economic democracy with enduring inspiration drawn from Jesus’s words—“the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor . . . release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.

Plenty Good Room: Co-creating an Economy of Enough for All

Plenty Good Room lays out in clear terms the hope of democratic socialism for a country ravaged by intensifying capitalism. Black Christian socialism mounts a challenge to endless greed and profiteering, and this book will unleash your political and…

Broadleaf BooksAndrew Wilkes (Author)

7 The Wicked Movie Soundtrack

I thought it would be impossible to beat the original cast recording. But good lord, these new instrumentations and the movie cast. Geez Louise. So many goosebumps.

8 Colbert Talking about What Got Him Obsessed with The Lord of the Rings