When monks illuminated manuscripts in the scriptoria of all of those Benedictine monasteries across Europe back in the day, they often drew odd, funny, and just plain weird little pictures in the margin. And it turns out that they really liked drawing pictures of knights fighting snails. I saw this write-up the other day, and was going to post on it in due time, but Tom McDonald beat me to it (and did a better job than I would have).... Read more
Ghost Story is the 13th novel in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, immediately following after Changes. I’m going to review it a little differently than usual. Usually when reviewing a book I give a little background, and then describe the setup; then I might make some general remarks; and then I say whether I liked it, and whether it’s worth reading. And I don’t do spoilers. The trouble with this book (and with the series in general) is that I can’t... Read more
For some reason the subject of Snoopy and the Red Baron came up in conversation the other day, and I thought I’d commemorate it by posting the Royal Guardsman’s song on the topic, a relic of my childhood. There are a number of versions of the song on Youtube; this one isn’t stellar, but it sounds the best, and it doesn’t have a bunch of WWII airplanes flying about like one of them did. Read more
If I were not a Lay Dominican, I’d probably be a Benedictine Oblate. Benedictines are all about stability: choosing to live in one monastery, with one set of people, and learning to live with each other. Benedictines don’t get to move on when there’s trouble; they have to stay. Me, I live with five other people whom I have spent years learning to live with, and we’re all living in the house I grew up. I get stability. And then... Read more
I saw a post on Facebook today from a friend whom I believe would describe herself as “spiritual but not religious”. It was a meme with a quote from a woman named Anita Moorjani, who I know absolutely nothing about. But this is what she said: I now understand that I don’t have to work at being spiritual. Being spiritual is who we are, at our core, whether we realize it or not. It is our true nature, so we... Read more
The Patrician was a pragmatist. He never tried to fix things that worked. Things that didn’t work, however, got broken. — Terry Pratchett, Soul Music Read more
We Christians interested in evangelization are in the business of explaining to people how they can gain salvation from sin. And this is a problem, because it seems that few people in our culture have a robust sense of sin, or a robust notion of what sin is. It’s like trying to sell Propainex 21, the miracle cure for galldanders. It might effect a cure in a matter of seconds, leaving the sufferer free of the heartbreak of galldanders forever,... Read more
Alan Steadman has compiled a kind of bird-watcher’s guide for photographers. I’d like to say that I’m the Recluse or the Non-Photographer Friend, but I suspect I’m just this guy, you know? Read more
Los Angeles-area group The Dogmatics are a straight-up no-nonsense rock-and-roll oldies cover-band. They claim to play only the best, most classic rock-and-roll hits; and their chief distinction is their skill at performing them with perfect fidelity to the best known recordings. Not content to impersonate just Elvis Presley or just the Beatles, they impersonate all the greats, one song at a time, live on-stage. At one of their shows you might hear them perform “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”... Read more
You never really learn something on first exposure. You have to see it twice…and the easiest way to learn it all the way down to the bone is to teach it to someone else. As the Anchoress points out, this applies to growing up just as much as it does to math and science: if you want to grow up, raise some children. It’s this more than anything else that makes it clear to me that clerical and religious celibacy... Read more
Cry 'Woof'
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