WORDS, WORDS, WORDS: Arden Forest has a very awesome list of 10 favorite non-Psalms Bible passages, here. Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: BUTTER MAKES IT BETTER. I learned to cook brussels sprouts! It only took two tries. #1: Trimmed sprouts (=cut off the top and bottom, and discarded whichever leaves came away when I did that) and roasted them at 400 with french-fry sliced small yellow potatoes tossed in olive oil. Stirred after ten minutes and added a sweet onion chopped into quarters. The result: delicious roasted onion, okayish fries, and unhelpful sprouts–blackened and unpleasantly crispy on one side, not... Read more

That a passion for freedom–chiefly from the bondage of a heartbreaking past–plunges Lucy Nelson into a bondage more gruesome and ultimately insupportable is the pathetic and ugly irony on which the novel turns. I wonder if that might not also describe what befalls the protagonist of Portnoy’s Complaint.–Philip Roth, “Document Dated July 27, 1969,” in Reading Myself and Others. I don’t think this is the only or best possible reading of either novel (and I suspect Roth would agree), but... Read more

UH… AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING, AND STUFF: Pretty Bird Woman House, a shelter for Native American victims of domestic violence, was vandalized and burnt, and could really use some help. Via Minisinoo, who adds: “This is legit; there’s been plenty of talk about it on the native Listservs, and our NAS department is gathering funds. Both the above links tell you how you can donate. If you happen to be in college and it has a Native American Studies department and/or... Read more

Thank you very much for the Blogwatch Times,Thank you very much, thank you very very much…Dark October 618: More Bible verses!Hit & Run: A case of conscience? The Horror Blog: Great horror movie taglines. My favorite is from a postcard advertising 28 Days Later, and turns out to be well-timed: BE GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING, FOR SOON THERE WILL BE NOTHING. Via Sean Collins, who adds more here. Read more

The artists of the Middle Ages painted allegories, we say. What really happened was that they saw more clearly than we do, and painted what they saw–angels and devils, beasts, and half-human monsters like me.–Gene Wolfe, Pirate Freedom, via Claw of the Conciliator; reminds me of my post about genre as realism. Read more

IRONY AND AGONY, SIDE BY SIDE ON MY PIANO KEYS: Gravity & Waggery (aka Claw of the Conciliator–admit it, the man can pick blog titles!) brings a fun challenge: Pick ten passages from the Bible which are especially meaningful or striking to you. I did this more or less off the top of my head–ask me tomorrow, and the answers might be somewhat different–and included a bonus at the end, plus the post below this one, because the Bible doesn’t... Read more

For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.–Luke 14:11 Read more

IN THE AFTERMATH OF A KIDNAPPING. Via the Christian Persecution blog. Read more

“With these on your feets, every day is the fox hunt, with you as the quarry!” Read more