It’s become tradition for me to end the year with a look back at some favorite posts from the preceding year, and the end of 2009 should be no exception. Not only does it allow me to highlight some good content that others may have missed, it lets me reflect on the year just passed to outline some of the pertinent topics of conversation and what may (or may not) have changed over the last twelve months.

I’m just crawling out from under a rock briefly with some random linkage.

1. If The Bible Was Magazines
2. A friend of mine wrote an essay about Gravel Pits and I quite enjoyed it. Except it’s not really about gravel pits, it’s about the downside of being afraid to take risks. Sort of.
3. I appreciated Bill Kinnon’s take on What we win them with, is what we win them to.
4. Bono does op-ed for the New York Times: Five Scenes, One Theme: A True if Unlikely Story
5. Can’t wait for this… a beautiful new multimedia Book of Hours from St. Benedict’s Table

I’ve been remiss with my random linkage the last few weeks, and may nearly be guilty of some form of blog neglect, of “failing to provide the necessities of blog-life” or something. But still. I’ve had a few things percolating and a few links collecting, including a couple of images, the first of which is as seen on BHT. The next one is via Mike Todd and takes a pretty decent stab at putting the whole thing in perspective.

But. We step over this way to the linkage, which includes some nice video selections and a variety of other… material, the seriousness of which may be said to vary somewhat. But there’s some gems in here. Enjoy.

The random acts of linkage is serving an additional purpose during my apparently unintentionally-extended-by-on-month blog sabbatical: it assures you I’m still there, somewhere, still reading online (even if a little less), and not entirely neglecting the blog. Just so you know. I’ve got a couple of quirky ones in the list this week… read on.

1. Yet another edition of the Bible, per the NPR review, R. Crumb’s Awesome, Affecting Take On ‘Genesis’. I have to say, I’m intrigued enough to want to read The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb

I’m not off my gourd or anything, but it’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and my regular linkage has slipped off its cracker from Saturday to Sunday. What are you going to do, fire me? I’ve still got two days left in my (long) weekend, so there. Still and all, here are some mildly-belated links. I think these might be more random and miscellaneous than usual… but check out #10.

1. The Google Earth alphabet found in Britain’s hedgerows, roads and buildings
2. Bill Kinnon posts Stetzer and Fitch Part III – Telling an Alternative Missional Story

So Friday afternoon my wife and I went to see Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I was the only guy in the theatre. Chick flick? Yes, you might draw that conclusion… but I enjoyed it, and I’m man enough to admit it. So there. Guys who can’t relate can sit through the movie thinking about how lovable Amy Adams is, so it’s win-win. Yes, you know what to expect from Streep, but I think Adams is likely on the brink of her Hollywood-hot-property years. If you don’t know the movie, it’s the brilliant Nora Ephron’s adaptation of Julie Powell’s book Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously based on her one-year blogging experiment to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering The Art of French Cooking and blog about it. The experience not only “saved her when she was drowning,” it also transformed her from a secretary and wannabe writer to a blogger to a writer with a book deal and a movie adaptation. And I imagine she can cook, too. Meryl Streep deserves a good mention for her portrayal of an icon that in reality stood 8″ taller than she does… and she plays Julia Child like a live-action caricature.

A random photo to go with the random linkage: this guy’s hard at work on something. Navigating, probably.

1. Cursive writing may be fading skill, but so what? So what??? I say pick up a proper fountain pen and figure out “so what.” Schools these days….
2. What is a responsible church to do in face of H1N1? — recommendations for the Anglican church in dealing with an H1N1 pandemic. And if nothing else, by reading this you can learn what “intinction” means.
3. The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown’s 20 worst sentences

AARRRRRrrrrrr, an’ a hearty Talk Like A Pirate Day to ye all, me hearties! Aye, you guessed it. Argh, it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day again, mateys!

And on that note, Kester Brewin makes A Plea for Christian Piracy. Or maybe that’s a different note. Either way, it be Saturday, and Avast! It’s Random Linkage day as well!

1. “The Church is an indoor affair. … Love lives outside.” — Pam Hogeweide, Five Memories, Five Days : Church Gone Wild (Jackie Pullinger and Hong Kong Street Sleepers)
2. Online Lectionary Resources (via Christine Sine)

Sorry I haven’t read more this week, and thus have fewer relevant links to share in this installment. I’ve been busy working on a new venture which isn’t really new, just something that’s been ongoing being branded as a division of my existing thing. I think every third emerging/missional blogger or pastor is paying the bills doing web development. Of the other two, one of them has a friend or brother or daughter or nephew’s mother-in-law’s dog walker who does, but if you’re that third one, I’m ready to talk business.

Back after a hiatus while mostly ignoring the Interwebs last week. We resume the randomness with a neat card trick you can learn to amaze your friends and impress your kids.

1. Fascinating archive Video of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan explaining how she learned to communicate.
2. How does the Internet see you? Ask Personas — much fun to watch it working.
3. Brad Boydston lists Top 10 reasons the church planting movement in North America is in trouble
4. You and the Liturgical Year — in which Scot McKnight recommends Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God: an Introduction and Devotional Guide

Random photo… or maybe you’re on candid camera. A short-ish list of links this week, but there’s some good stuff to read. I’m going to be a little off the grid for the next week, so these may have to do for a while. Last week and the next two weeks are kind of reserved for doin’ stuff with the family and trying to chill a bit just before the kids start back to school (and maybe recuperating a little once they do), not to mention the summer patio project that’s been falling way behind schedule with lousy weather… and now that fall is looming, I’d better get to work. In fact, I think that’s where I’m off to for the balance of the day.