OK, in my heart of hearts I am a Macintosh user. I get excited on days like today when Steve Jobs announces new screaming fast Macintosh laptops and iMacs (all running on Intel chips!). While I wondered about the move to Intel (see here), it looks as if Jobs pulled it off! Read CNET news for up-to-date reporting from Macworld here.

And then there’s my Dell Laptop. I like my laptop (Inspiron 8600), though sometimes I wonder if I got a lemon! I have had to replace the harddrive, motherboard, memory, DVD drive over its 2.5 years lifespan (I’m just glad I bought the extended warranty!). I am in the process of doing a complete re-install of Windows XP. I am hoping that this will get rid of the demons that have been plaguing my system for the last month or so. I don’t know if I picked up some malware or something, if I did I couldn’t find it with all of the spyware programs I ran! At any rate, part of me is really tempted to return to the Macintosh whole-heartedly and forget this cross platform stuff. (I am typing this on my dual processor Mac G4)

But, alas, my workplace is a Windows workplace and I do have a bunch of software that is Windows only which I find indispensable — not as indispensable as my Accordance Bible Software for the Macintosh! — but indispensable nonetheless!

Well, Windows XP has finished re-installing. Now to rebuild my configurations…

The 1936 film Green Pastures — a fascinating retelling of a number of stories from the Old Testament — has just been released today on DVD by Warner Home Video. This film was innovative for its day in that black actors fill every role — from God to Moses, Noah to Pharaoh. The film was adapted from Marc Connelly’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. It has been available on VHS for a while, but this is the first time on DVD.

• The Green Pastures (Director: Marc Connelly and William Keighley, 1936).
  Buy from Amazon.ca: VHS or DVD | Buy from Amazon.com: VHS or DVD

Modern viewers may be uncomfortable with some of the racial stereotypes in the film, though I am not sure it warranted a disclaimer such as Warner put at the beginning.

At any rate, it has to be understood and appreciated as a product of its time. Order yours today… I know I did!

For an exhaustive listing of films based on the Hebrew Bible, see my Old Testament on Film pages.

I have always wondered why my Atom site feed wasn’t working properly for people to easily subscribe to my blog easily. I finally decided to figure it out and I believe I have it all fixed. I also added a feedburner RSS 2.0 feed for my blog. Links to both feeds may be found in my left navigation column. Here they are as well:

• ATOM Site Feed

• RSS 2.0 Feed

I have also added auto-discovery to my settings so everyone can find my feed easily.

Let me know if you have any problems with either site feed (and thank you to those individuals who notified me about my feeds in the first place!)

If you like to pretend to be civilized and enjoy a good cup of tea with your scones, you may be interested in the exchange between some (biblio)bloggers about the best cup of tea. Joe Cathey likes the exotic, Jim West prefers the pre-packaged, while Jim Spinti likes the French. (And it appears they can’t agree — see Joe’s follow-up here and Jim’s here)

I personally don’t get into hot drinks much, whether tea or coffee, and I probably haven’t had a cup of tea since my grandmother passed away four years ago. But I did enjoy having a spot of tea with her — especially if it was in conjunction with some of her famous Welsh Cakes! I do know that my Grandma was very particular about tea — and she insisted that the only tea worth drinking was Red Rose Tea, a Canadian classic since 1860. Furthermoe, you should never drink tea with anything in it — it must be clear. And, of course, don’t forget to raise that pinkie!

So sorry, my American friends, my beloved Grandma (RIP) trumps you all!

Red Rose Tea — “Only available in Canada? Pity”

(While Red Rose is available in Britain and the U.S. now, the original Canadian variety is still considered the best!)

Jeremy over at Parableman has posted a very good survey of commentaries on the Book of Psalms. Based on his comments, he appears to be coming from a moderate evangelical viewpoint and doesn’t have much patience for speculation in regards to the Sitz im Leben of individual psalms or conjecture for the redaction and compilation of the book of Psalms.

There are a number of good commentaries on the Psalms that he does not include in his survey, including the following which I think are worth of mention:

• Davidson, Robert. The Vitality of Worship: A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Eerdmans, 1998. Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• Eaton, J. H. The Psalms: A Historical and Spiritual Commentary with an Introduction and New Translation. T & T Clark, 2003. Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms: Part 1: With an Introduction to Cultic Poetry. Forms of the Old Testament Literature. Eerdmans, 1988. Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
  Gerstenberger, Erhard. Psalms, Part 2, and Lamentations. Forms of the Old Testament Literature. Eerdmans, 2001. Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• McCann, J. Clinton. Psalms. New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 4: 1 & 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms. Abingdon, 1996. Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• Schaefer, Konrad. Psalms. Berit Olam. Liturgical Press, 2001. Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

For a complete listing of commentaries on the book of Psalms, see my Old Testament Commentary Survey.