There came a night when all saw that the various cover stories made little sense in the context of so long, difficult, and expensive a voyage. This was the night when the ship’s captain, disturbed that no liquor had been put on board, asked for a delivery to await him at Colon.–Robin W. Winks, Cloak and Gown Hee. There are a lot of these fun, wry little moments throughout the book so far. I’m really enjoying it. Read more

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Here are some of the Web searches that brought readers to this odd little blog. sin bunionhumanum fish coloring pagesPostmodern Adventists are a growing minoritywhy are people eyes shaped differentlypictures of frozen remainsmental thoughts and changes when becoming a werewolfaristophanes use of oreganoWho were the Gracchi And were they worth the hasslebacon strip blogLeaded glass pornocaesar buffy fanfictionspace ghost invalid cheeseboom powDefensive strategies in Hippopotamusfamous hypocriteshornets nest pinataolive garden knockiesBelieving people in mindunusual uses twist tieswhat play that... Read more

This delicate sense of irony was best expressed by Wesley Sturges, who was dean of the Yale Law School. Sturges understood Yale very well, perhaps because he had taken most of his degrees elsewhere, and he would greet new law students on their first day at the school with the observation, “I do not know why you have come to law school. If you want to make lots of money, you are in the wrong place. There is a law... Read more

THE DARK SIDE OF CHRISTMAS: See also, “Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child….” Read more

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD BOY STARTS CUB SCOUT PACK FOR HOMELESS BOYS. Via Amy Welborn. Read more

BREAK THE UNION!: Two good JaneGalt posts on the NYC transit strike: Et TWU?, and especially Tales from the TWU Comments Box. Read more

WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME: Am adding a few more “regulars” (Noooooooooorm!!) to the blogroll. Dreadnought: “Dread no one. Dread nothing. Conservative. Gay. Catholic.” This dude is awesome. Found via Cacciaguida. Manolo for the Men: Inimitable fashion advice. I can’t get enough of this wonderful Duff. Also, I think, a Cacciaguida discovery. First Things: The blog of the mag. You know, Fr Neuhaus, Jody Bottum, those guys. (Ahh, Rebecca Howe… such a better role for Kirstie Alley than Saavik! [/geek]) Read more

“THE APPRENTICE” FINALE (Trump version): So I’ve been into “The Apprentice” for awhile, especially as portrayed through Television Without Pity recaps (which often pick up on business-related issues that the show’s editors miss). There aren’t very many high-culture products that focus on leadership–much more in pop-cult genre products–this is also, as I’ve said, a huge part of why I like X-Men stories in general and Scott Summers/Cyclops stories in particular. But the finale for this season was… it was completely... Read more

Mirror in the blogwatchI just can’t stop it, Every Saturday you see me window shopping. Find no interest in the racks and shelves Just a thousand reflections of my own sweet self, self, self… Cacciaguida: Replies to my Goblet of Fire review. Many good points. I’ll note that SERD (we both know her, but she might not want blog publicity, hence the initials) reminded me that the Crouch family backstory sets up both the mother-love and the Ministry-duplicity storylines in... Read more

In the narrative itself, Bronte warned against misreading Heathcliff. Isabella, his wife, stands in for the bad reader–a brilliant, ironic political point in itself. The bad reader is the sentimental reader of romance novels when life, love, and art demand a confrontation with the politics of power. The bad reader romanticizes the sadist and reads the rapist, the abuser, the violent man, as a romantic hero: tortured himself, despite proof that he is the torturer. Heathcliff describes this bad reader... Read more