The two worst sins of bad taste in fiction are pornography and sentimentality.–letters of Flannery O’Connor Read more

It’s close to blogwatch,And something evil’s lurking in the dark… Amy Welborn: Reader asks: “I’m putting together my own card and ‘care package,’ and I am wondering if there are any suggestions for a Catholic book that might be good for a man in his situation, a lapsed Catholic who has maybe two or three months to live (barring a miracle–my friend did just go to Lourdes and prayed for him there!).” First Things: Abortion and the difference between development... Read more

HAPPY HALLOWEEN. So over the weekend I saw a really sweet, well-meaning advertisement for a Catholic church’s “Holy Ween,” where kids would dress as saints. And just… I… no. There is nothing wrong with dressing as a daggone witch, or a leopard or a ballerina. More importantly: I wondered what would happen if some kid became sick from an especially realistic St. Lucy with her eyes on a platter; a friend added, “Yeah. Just dress as St. Sebastian.” Hee, hee.... Read more

SO, I’M UNDER THE WEATHER. I am, in fact, investigating the weather from the perspective of the snake. So I have stuff to say, but be forewarned, its coherence will be brought to you by a grant from the John D. and Catharine T. Sudafed Foundation. In the carousel of my head, right now all the horses are camels. Because of the spitting. …Yeah. Read more

EDITED to change “seeking” to “socking,” because apparently Maclin Horton can read and I can’t! I don’t want to be any angel but my relations with them have improved over a period of time. They weren’t always even speakable. I went to the Sisters to school for the first 6 years or so… at their hands I developed something the Freudians have not named–anti-angel aggression, call it. From 8 to 12 years it was my habit to seclude myself in... Read more

“You have learnt something. That always feels at first as if you have lost something.”–George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara See–even Shaw gets stuff right now and again! Via About Last Night. Read more

THE MEMORY PROJECT: “I founded the Memory Project in October, 2004, following the advice of a man in Guatemala. Having grown up in an orphanage, this young man did not have any pictures from his earliest years or any parents to share memories of his youth. Consequently, he felt that much of his childhood had been forgotten, and he shared this feeling with a group of university students working at the orphanage. As one of the students, I was very... Read more

I CAN’T HELP IT. I did like “Dangerous Liaisons,” but it didn’t leave me as helpless to the power of its AWESOME as “Cruel Intentions.” John Malkovich is a better actor than anyone in “CI” (though Ryan Philippe was fun–yeah, I said it), and the half-updated half-outdated dialogue didn’t really work, and I’m two hundred percent over closing scenes where bitchy women get humiliated–and even so, all I can say is that this movie was ace. …I can’t tell if... Read more

I will never have the experience of the convert, or of the one who fails to be converted, or even in all probability of the formidable sinner; but your effort not to be seduced by the Church moves me greatly.–letters of Flannery O’Connor Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURE: COME WIS ME TO ZE CASBAH. WE SHALL MAKE BOOTIFUL OMELETTES TOGEZZER. So okay, my first attempt at omeletteness kind of broke into parts. But I think that was because I was trying to transfer it into a too-small dish. Anyway, I used a recipe from The Foster’s Market Cookbook and it worked really well. Your simplified version here: 1. Beat some eggs (they say three large, I used four smallish) with salt and pepper. I’m not totally... Read more