To the blogwatch down at Mory’s

(Wherever that may be),

Let us drink a toast to all we love the best.

We will sleep through all the lectures,

And cheat on the exams,

And we’ll pass, and be forgotten with the rest…

All About George: This looks interesting. Via Matt Welch.

Ben Domenech: Explanations of his Top 10 Favorite Movies list. I’ll probably do something similar soon; for the moment, my carping commentary on his list will have to suffice. He’s right about “The Godfather” (and he should check out Paul Rahe’s essay, which I think is called “Don Corleone and Multiculturalism”?? and which is a philosophical romp). Also right about “Citizen Kane,” though I never really liked the movie. Yes, “Empire” is the best of the “Star Wars” films, but, uh, that’s like being the tallest Smurf. I hated almost everything about “Braveheart,” from the fact that the hero promises to be eternally faithful to his dead wife but then shtups the Queen just ’cause to the silly, nasty screaming-queen caricature of the prince. Fight scenes were cool though, and death scene (“Freeeeedddoooommm!!!!!”) genuinely moving. “Chinatown”… hmm… I have mixed feelings about this movie. Its evil characters are cartoons (I bet the Huston character kicks kittens), and its heart is Marxist (everything is always motivated by economics). I either haven’t seen or don’t remember (“Ferris Bueller”) the other movies, but it was fun to read Ben’s explanations. More on this presently.

Unqualified Offerings: Lots of jottings on Spiderman (movie, character, and comic) that kept me interested even though I have virtually no knowledge of any spidey-stuff. Accurate take on the uses and disadvantages of “continuity” in comics. (Los Bros. Hernandez partially avoid continuity problems by giving us frequent “flashback” stories, but they’ve mostly chosen the development-of-character route over the (more fan-satisfying but less open to artistic greatness) “maintain the archetype” route. (Uh, if that made no sense, go read UO.)

Crop of Christian blogs I hadn’t seen before–all of these look fun, though in different ways: Barlow Farms, Howler’s Update (dude who wanders the world evangelizing), A Kingdom Space (group blog of “emerging churches”), and Lollardy (who also has good taste in music). Browsing via Martin Roth‘s very useful list of Christian blogs.

And today’s must-read: “DEATH TO THE WORLD: PUNKS TURNED MONKS.” Frederica Mathewes-Green rocks. Later (like tomorrow), I’ll post my own memories of the DC punk scene.

…Hearts full of youth,

Hearts full of truth,

Six parts gin to one part vermouth.