THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB: Heh, I turned to this for comfort reading. It’s a very strange book–one of the earliest Lord Peter mysteries. (I can’t remember if it came before Whose Body? or not.) Confirmed my basic suspicions about Dorothy Sayers. The book starts out strong and raw. It starts like a book about shell-shock, about the aftermath of World War I on England–soldiers returning to a home that hadn’t seen the war and couldn’t comprehend it. The... Read more

And the blogwatch beating up the wrong guy– Balkinization: “[Justice Posner] insists that it is ‘common sense’ that we should surrender rights given the situation we now face. But he neglects the crucial question of incentives, a strange omission for a scholar who has spent much of his distinguished career reminding us of their importance.” Hit & Run: Is Life in Prison Excessive for Smoking Pot? End the War on Drugs. Mexploitation: Technology and horror. I tried to comment on... Read more

When I’d said that she could use my basement as temporary lodgings, I’d expected that she would rest, exercise, eat a bit from what I could snitch from Mrs. Thompson’s kitchen. But not Irma. She was up at the first light of dawn, which came through a crack in the dirty window, and out to “find herself.” Well, she looked in some very strange places, is all this cocker spaniel can say.–George Selden, Irma and Jerry Read more

CHORUS: Blessed, they are the truly blessed, who all their lives have never tasted devastation.—Antigone (here, a different translation) Read more

You’re just a blogwatch to me, and you can’t deliver… Dappled Things: “There is a school of thought among some laypeople that Sacraments are valuable in themselves quite apart from any life of faith in Christ. One gets calls from non-practicing parents who want a 2-year-old baby baptized because he cries too much, and maybe it’s because he never got baptized. I’ve heard well-intentioned laypeople suggest that other, totally non-practicing Catholics should receive Holy Communion because that will give them... Read more

Life is like this. Blogwatch is that. Amy Welborn on Ambrose and how bad it is now. Authors talk about conspiracy theories and God. Includes James Morrow and Tim Powers. I haven’t read yet. Via Hit & Run. Ellen Willis RIP. Read more

Supporters of pornography, on the other hand, do advocate such a dichotomy of body and soul. When one views the body as something of no consequence to the person, one has little regard for how the body is portrayed. The presumption is that the body is something apart from the person and so of no lasting consequence. –the very, very good letter from Arlington Bp Paul Loverde on pornography, here (via Dappled Things, I think) Also, canon law explained with... Read more

WHY DO WE ALWAYS COME HERE? I GUESS WE’LL NEVER KNOW…: Search requests bringing people to this homely blog. sublime rock music Edmund Burkenietzsche rand kafka dostoevsky insanei am the specific ordinary itemhalf-naked afrocentric fairies […I am the first result.]why do girls think I’m a jerktomato et angry firmashakespeare porsche’s plea for mercy [The quality of Mercedes is not strained…]Girl gets naked during a Strip game of UNO [No link for obvious reasons, but–strip UNO… so tawdry and sadly-hilarious.]lindsey is... Read more

CELEBRATE THE REPEAL OF PROHIBITION WITH MODERN DRUNKARD MAGAZINE! And see below for a story from the war on drugs, she said, pointedly. Read more

I said I don’t live in ChicagoI don’t know no Al CaponeThere’s a Windy CityIn my blogwatch, alone… (With thanks to Relapsed Catholic for reminding me to spin that one again.) Angevin2: Songs about syphilis. And: “Am I totally a hopeless dork for thinking of Rene Girard whenever those Burger King ads come on that say ‘The King’s pain is your gain’?” Wow. Family Scholars: Two links today on sperm and egg donation, new “family constellations,” and the best interests... Read more