Make Mash, not Porn. [the end of a very short era]

This is most of my latest and last post on my second blog: The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] just FYI for readers of Irresistibly Fish…

I have decided to retire ‘The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] blog after 14 good weeks.

With the pace of life at the moment the pressure to produce 5 specifically themed blog posts as well as what I passionately want to write has at times felt a little overwhelming and I hate producing sub par stuff. So I am wanting to put more time, energy and focus into my main blog, Irresistibly Fish and so encourage you if you are a subscriber of the Mash to head across there and subscribe to that.

In the meantime, if you are looking for something to read today, in terms of looking back over the 14 weeks of ‘The Weekly Mash [and Peace!]’ the top blog that stands out for each day would be:

By far and away Cloud man for Monday – I am glad so many of you enjoyed this with me… gets me every time…

For Tuesdays it was surprisingly celebrity marriage advice [there you go again on the relationships!] with Ben Affleck and Will Smith.

No surprises that for Wednesday it was wife with nail in her head which sounds horrible but is just such a powerful thought-provoking piece that you have to watch and share if you have not seen it yet. Incredible and so hard to explain in a way that would make anyone want to watch it. But do it!

Thursday the top-rated post was the one I did titled John Piper and the three little pigs, but the one I want to put here is yesterday’s post ‘Time to let the church die’ as it hasn’t had the time to be read as much but no doubt will – an excellent article and an excellent video clip giving some strong prophetic voice to the church and the gospel message.

And lastly, Friday being my day, well interestingly enough ‘Blessed are the Geeks’ was the most viewed post for that day and it was all about the labels we put on people and so a really good read.

And then I also posted the three most popular posts on Irresistibly Fish that I would want you to read for people on The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] who may not have seen them:

For those of you who are single [but also those of you who are married – it is excellent for you to hear this stuff!] these stories by some good friends of mine on their journey as single people [desiring not to be] has been such powerful reading and very popular – read and share away cos this is encouraging stuff.

I also did a Taboo Topic [rarely spoken about topics, in church and elsewhere] on Parenting young children when it’s not particularly been easy and this post by my friend Candi for some reason just blew up – people resonated with it, it got a gazillion shares and she has been invited to write and speak in places because of it which has been so exciting for me to watch. Read this one and also the one by Steve Wiens which got a lot of airplay and share it if you haven’t because you have friends with young children who desperately need to read these.

Thirdly, largely due to a comment and link I posted on this excellent blog post, ‘How I know my wife married the wrong person’ by Tyler Mackenzie, which became a four part [and growing] series, there was the series I ran a while back called How to save a marriage [before you need to] in which I invited something like 18 of my friends who are in strong marriages to share one or two things that for them are the foundation for a strong marriage.

Seems like relationships are what a lot of my readers are interested in but one non-relationship one [well not people with people] that I would like to recommend is the series called ‘Aslan Jesus’ that I have just started which is looking at aspects of Jesus that show that He is good, but definitely not tame. I am very excited about writing [and seeing written – have some guest posts coming in] this series.

Thanks for being part of this experimental journey. And please come on over to Irresistibly Fish if you are not already there. There will continue to be humour and news-related posts, relationship advice and stories as well as spiritual hunger pieces and every day will in a sense be my day. As for this blog it is not going to be vaporised and so you can continue to catch up on old posts by using the day tabs at the top of the page which are archives for the whole journey.

And as a going away present, if you feel up to sharing this post, then it will give access to a lot of great blog posts to your friends and fellow ‘Farmville II’ players on Facebook.

Best of the Mash

So my other blog, The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] has been running for close to 3 months now and it’s interesting to note what the most popular posts have been so far – as each day has a different theme i thought it would be good to look at the top performer for each day in terms of visits, reads and shares and so here they are:

Monday = Fun Day – Humour: It amuses me completely that Cloud man is the most popular post i have had on the new blog out of all of them because this is one of those strange random things that for some reason never fails to put a smile on my face, no matter how often i look at it: I give you Cloud Ambition Man

Tuesday = News Day – Local/International news stories that grab my attention. It was quite interesting that it was the two marriage articles dealing with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and also Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner that got the most interest in this category although maybe that just says something about our draw towards celebrity. I am hoping more people will engage with Tuesdays and share their interesting/bizarre/life-giving stories so that is can be a sharing of reads worth checking out but here is that post in the meantime.

Wednesday = Wed Day – Relationships and not just dating or marriage but friendship and all other types as well – there were two that were pretty close at the top here so i will include them both, namely the one on leaving the door open when a friendship has gone bad/difficult and then this more children/parent focused one, although it can apply to all relationships in terms of being present and available.

Thursdays = Thirsty – Spiritual matters and this has been quite a popular day and i’ve looked at a variety of quite diverse topics, but it was this post that got created and influenced by Twitter as i was writing it on the John Piper saga [and the importance of understanding messages in context] that unfolded in the wake of the recent tornado.

Friday = My day and really just the opportunity to write about whatever i choose to which again lends itself to quite a variety of posts which have received different interest depending on the topic but it was this post called ‘Blessed are the Geeks’ on the effects of labelling people that really got people’s attention and feedback.

Favourable mention must got to yesterday’s video clip with the woman with the nail in her head [on listening in relationships and not just giving the answers, even when they seem obvious; the human dummy ventriloquist and boy with tape on his face; this post on loving people especially when you don’t feel like it; and  Jesus’ response to a young man who was about to reject His message.

If you missed any of those, this is a good way to catch up on some of the very best… hope there is something you will enjoy.

Saturday Round Up: The week that was: Episode 7: of harmless chess pieces, cicadas, forgiveness poison and the importance of Together

Another week, another ‘The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] – see what’s been happening this week on the other side of my blog garage…

Monday saw some Buttersafe cartoonage depicting the ridiculousness of chess pieces and the trap of the workplace

Tuesday saw us take a look at the boy who couldn’t be buried, the incoming plague and the no celebration relay team orders

Wednesday saw some more cartoons with a simple yet powerful contrasting of Together vs. Not Together

Thursday was an indepth scratch of the tip of the iceberg of the cruciality of forgiveness to assist healthy living

Friday was a revolutionary paradigm shift read in terms of how we spend out time and how productive we are – worth putting some time aside to read!

[for next Saturday’s round-up containing elements of Jack Bauer and The Bluths, keeping the friendship door open and the petrol pump kareoke couple, click here]

[also catch up on last week’s Saturday Round Up: of being Matrixed, bone marrow matches, heartfelt apologies and a boy with tape on his face.]

Saturday Round Up: The week that was: Episode 6: of being Matrixed, bone marrow matches, heartfelt apologies and a boy with tape on his face.

so my new ‘The Weekly Mash [and Peace!]‘ blog is still in its early days but it’s been encouraging to see new people subscribing almost daily – as it is still quite new though not a lot of people are visiting each of these posts and there have been some amazing things there, so if you are someone who reads stuff on Irresistibly Fish [my main blog] all the time, then i encourage you to at the very least pick one of the five days here below that sounds the most interesting and check it out cos there was some good stuff in the week that was:

Monday had two clips of people i find quite funny – Nina Conti and her audience participation ventriloquism act and The Boy with Tape on His Face

Tuesday continued my quest to find positive upbuilding news and this story of a college athlete willing to give up his career to save a life, caught my attention big time.

A look at how a heart-felt apology needs to go way beyond just saying the word, ‘Sorry’.

Thursday took a look at how Jesus felt about a man who more than likely was not going to buy into His message. And our response.

Friday is a post I hope everyone will take a look at – the question of what positive difference are you making to the world, really?

[For Last Saturday’s Round-up of posts which included a box full of balls and a stranger, the importance of not glorifying ‘Busy’ and the chance to Ship Your pants, click here]

Saturday Round Up: The week that was: Episode 5: of Pant-Shipping and universal faith, signs of understanding and boxes full of plastic balls and strangers.

so my new ‘The Weekly Mash [and Peace!]’ blog is still in its early days but it’s been encouraging to see new people subscribing almost daily – as it is still quite new though not a lot of people are visiting each of these posts and there have been some amazing things there, so if you are someone who reads stuff on Irresistibly Fish [my main blog] all the time, then i encourage you to at the very least pick one of the five days here below that sounds the most interesting and check it out cos there was some good stuff in the week that was:

Monday saw a very interesting advertising campaign from K-Mart with the tagline of “You’ll Ship Your Pants” 

On Tuesday, in the aftermath of the bombing that took place towards the end of the Boston marathon it was a look at context and condolences from across the world.

Wednesday saw a very interesting social experiment take place that involved strangers sitting in boxes of plastic balls answering interesting questions.

Thursday was a look at the fact that everyone [even the atheists, scientists among us] embraces faith in one way or another via an excellent excerpt from a book called “The Awakening of Hope” by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Friday saw a very important reflection on the need to slow down and step away from the busyness regularly, or at least sometimes.

…and you can ignore this link cos it’s really just connecting you to a site that shows you how to knit a sweater for a ferret. no, seriously, i warn you…

[for last Saturday’s Round Up of Geeks, lady mirrors and wild animal eating habits, click here]

Saturday Round Up: The week that was: Episode 4: of Geeks & Wild Animals Eating Habits, a woman made of iron & a lot of mirrors

so recently i started another blog called ‘The Weekly Mash [and Peace!]’ which has a different theme for every day and i have decided that i am going to post the Saturday Round Up on my Irresistibly Fish blog so that subscribers can have access to the week that we have just vibed through… so if you missed any of these, pick the ones that look interesting, and enjoy… [the FRIDAY one feels like one of the most significant things i have written for a while so would love for you to at least check that one out if you haven’t and share it with your peoples]…

Monday saw us being enlightened as to the amusing eating habits of a variety of wild animals, performed by a rather silly man.

Tuesday took a look at the death of Margaret Thatcher and some of the unfortunate happenings related to that.

Wednesday asked the question of how your relationship with yourself is doing at the moment.

Thursday was some more self-reflection, but this time linked to the state of your heart, and God’s.

Friday took a rather cutting look at the labels we put on other people and what that might say to them, and to us. [MUST READ!]

[for Last Saturday’s Round Up featuring celebrity marriage tips, angry umbrellas and Cloud Man, click here]