An Advent Carol performed by Nelson Boschman Trio

Nelson Boschman piano, arrangement
Adam Thomas double bass
Kenton Wiens drums

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We had our third Culture Making Collective evening last night. Almost 30 of us gathered to hear Derek Weiss –– J.R.R. Tolkien enthusiast and Faramir's biggest fan –– give a wonderful talk on Why Tolkien Matters in an Age of Social Media . Our purpose again was to think and interact about creative ways in which his art inspires us to be "culture keepers" –– intentionally stewarding good forms of culture.

As is becoming our usual practice, we built a collaboratively-derived, multiple choice "DO" list -- a bunch of ideas to act on that which inspired us. All who attended (as well as anyone reading this) are invited to pick something from this list and DO it sometime in the next few weeks. After you've done it, we highly encourage you to either comment here or write a full blog post about your experience and send it to me: nelson (at) www.artisanvancouver.ca. Oh, for those who were present last evening, if I've missed any DOs or I've phrased them wrong, please either email me or amend it yourself in the comments section. Here's the list. DO something!

1.) Post something on social media that connects you with your past.

2.) Take a social media fast: quit Facebook, Twitter, etc. for a month –– or perhaps during the season of Lent , which begins March 9 and lasts for 40 days.

3.) Craft a hand-written letter to a friend or a politician.

4.) Pick one or two people to connect with in a way that is NOT Facebook. Like, call somebody.

5.) Instead of posting your pics on Facebook, host a slideshow party in your living room.

6.) For musicians or pseudo-musicians: instead of writing, playing, videotaping and posting your self-proclaimed silly songs on YouTube for an "imagined" audience, try playing them for real people, in real life, in real time.

7.) READ The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Everyone present last night had seen the films, but only about half had read the books. Read it by yourself, read it aloud to someone, or listen to an audiobook version. Whatever you do, read.

Help-Portrait was truly amazing. God provided the perfect weather, people served with enthusiasm, and many were blessed as a result. Thanks to all the Artisan folk who came out and helped make it happen. To read and see more images on UGM's blog, click here . Next year's date is already set: Dec 03, 2011. We'll definitely be involved again, so if you missed out this time, this video will hopefully help whet your appetite to participate next year! For more videos, click here .

Help-Portrait Vancouver 2010 (Thank You) from Steve Tan on Vimeo .

We had a great time at our first Culture Making Collective evening. Almost 20 of us gathered for an evening to have a fresh listen to the music of Sufjan Stevens and think about creative ways in which his art inspires us to be "culture keepers" -- intentionally stewarding good forms of culture. But we don't want this to be simply an intellectual exercise. So we came up with a kind of 'multiple choice' list -- a bunch of ideas to act on that which inspired us. All who attended (as well as anyone reading this) are invited to pick something from this list and DO it sometime in the next few weeks. After you've done it, we highly encourage you to WRITE a short blog post about your experience and send it to me: nelson (at) www.artisanvancouver.ca. Here's the list. Happy choosing!

1.) Listen to a Sufjan album in one sitting -- and NOT as background music. This is a way of counter-acting our short attention spans.

2.) Listen to an album by a different artist in one sitting. What is one album YOU would recommend doing this with? One person suggested listening to an album in a style you're not familiar with.

3.) Host an iPod party. Listen to music with people, to hear what they hear, how music resonates with them, intersects with their lives, reveals something theological (e.g. about God or humanity).

4.) Attend a live show by a local artist, to intentionally support local and independent musicians.

5.) If you're musical at all, write a new song and share it with at least one person.

6.) Make a piece of art based on one of Sufjan's songs -- either the lyrics, the emotion of the piece, or the atmosphere it creates in your imagination.

7.) Study your own place of origin (this is in response to his Fifty States project; learning how geography informs memory and meaning).

8.) Listen to an album in one sitting with lyrics on paper . With your laptop screen shut, so you're not tempted to be distracted by email or other stuff.

9.) Join Kenton's Bicycle Band; being planned for Critical Mass in April/May 2011. Anyone with a bike and a voice and/or instrument that can be played while riding a bike is welcome. They may try to rehearse in parking garages.

10.) For those that draw or sketch; utilize the idea of the 'one-inch window' to develop attention to detail.