WITH MY BODY I THEE WORSHIP, WITH MY MIND I THEE BLASPHEME: Real Live Preacher has a provocative column deriving from his colossal frustration with counseling cohabiting couples who want a Christian wedding. [EDITED TO CORRECT: No, apparently the RLP is not the author. It’s some other preacher type guy. SORRY. Anyway….] I’m not sure what I think of the column as a whole. Much of the phrasing seems to downplay the importance of black-ink, license-y marriage, which I think... Read more

I’M SO LAME because I forgot to tell you to help Ted Barlow find a job!!!! Especially, apparently, if you know something about the fact-checking world. I, obviously, do not. Read more

OK, THIS IS TOO FUNNY…. Via Making Light. Read more

OPINION-MONGERS TALK ABOUT HOW BLOGGING IS CHANGING JOURNALISM. A lot of commentary that I consider right-on. If you want more of professional bubbitzers bubbitzing about bubbitzing, here’s me on blogging. Read more

PICTURE BOOKS: After the kids’ books post, I started thinking about picture books as well. I remember picture books much less vividly, since I generally didn’t reread them in later life, but there are some that stand out–Tomie de Paola’s Prince of the Dolomites, what I think might have been Patricia Tracy Lowe’s version of Alexander Dumas’s Tale of Czar Saltan, William Pene du Bois’s Lion (truly a magical book, perfectly combining the ethereal and the sensual–it’s the story of... Read more

FOUND MAGAZINE. That’s what it is: stuff people found. Like notes reading, “With a smile like that you must not be from around here.” Or, from a high school hallway, “You really are ‘gifted.’ I wish I could ‘talk French’ like you. I just thought it was funny coming from Mme. Sorry for laughing.” There are photos. I could spend hours at a site like this…. Via Sed Contra, who is back. Read more

ALSO, YOUR BIO PROFESSOR WILL HAVE A CREEPY OBSESSION WITH THE BONOBO A.K.A. SEXMONKEYS. BE FOREWARNED. From Ginger Stampley comes the question, What advice would you give if you could go back in time and talk with your former self? I’ve wondered this quite a bit, given the weird turns my life has taken. I’ll take two moments–one at the end of ninth grade, one at the beginning of my freshman year of college…. Dear Ninth Grade Self, You’ll get... Read more

OLD CRIMES: The proceedings of the Old Bailey from 1714 to 1759 are online. Link via BuzzMachine. Read more

QUICKLY (will probably post more substantive stuff tomorrow…): AfricaPundit on Charles Taylor/Liberia/total idiocy from the Associated Press. What possesses these people? Zainab, an Iraqi woman blogger. Via BuzzMachine; I basically agree with his take, i.e. great to have another blogger on the scene but why the cliched, “running dog of the imperialists”-style high-school-anarchist rant? So, be forewarned, Zainab’s first post won’t tell you anything. But that’s life. Hoder calls for brave reporters to unmask Iranian governmental corruption. Please read. Read more

WOW. Barbara Nicolosi of ActOne: Christians Writing for Hollywood reviews “The Passion,” a.k.a. the Mel Gibson movie about the life and death of Christ. She’s awestruck. Read more