Where I’m Goin’ Looks An Awful Lot Like Where I’ve Been

Today’s a bit of an anniversary for me.

Two years ago to the day, I published my first “Through a Lens, Darkly” article, unleashing upon the world a two-year reign of terror and half-baked ideas on the cinematic arts. Looking back some seventy essays and entirely too many words later, I realized that I’ve had a tremendous amount of fun along the way.

I also realized that I’ve had a tremendous amount of fun rubbing shoulders with the Catholic Portal’s blogging troupe. They are thoughtful and fun-full — a combination all too often verboten. Oh, and they’ve given me the blogging bug once again.

So, thanks to the generosity of Elizabeth Scalia, the Catholic Portal’s (and mine own) infinitely patient editor, I’m expanding the scope of my half-baked ideas beyond film and television. Welcome to my new little corner of the InterWebs: Summa This, Summa That, where “Ancient Faith meets Modern Life.”

To be honest, it’s not really a new corner. I’m just taking over the space previously kept warm and clean by Elizabeth and some of her friends. Hopefully, I can avoid the proverbial consequences of pouring my green wine into “Summa This, Summa That’s” worthy wineskins. And I’ll do my best to keep things tidy.

While we’re being honest, here’s another: I can’t really tell you what to expect. I’m the blogging equivalent of a quodlibet: “a humorous composition containing snatches of popular, complimentary melodies and texts.” Only I’m not sure about the humorous bit. Or complementarity.

One thing I can promise: I love movies, and will continue to write about them (and their smaller-screened relatives) at every opportunity. I also promise that my Wyoming-fueled gratitude towards the Streaming Video phenomenon will be regularly on display, as will my infatuation with the backroom details of The Movie Business.

I love music — mostly classical, ‘tis true, but I consider myself “small-c-catholic” in my musical tastes. So a noisesome highball of musical genres will undoubtedly trickle down onto the blog’s pages. Stirring, not shaky, I hope. And heavy on the Bach.

I have six boys (at the moment), and my affection for them (and inordinate pride in their escapades) will surely spill out from time to time. Just pretend I’m a first-time parent and you’re smiling patiently at an endless stream of pictures.

I also love sleep, but as the previous sentence suggests, I love it mostly from afar. Which means that full-blown sleep-deprivation will doubtless be evident in my postings. Be gentle. (Also, I love this, which would make our daily breakfast preparations a fairer fight. The food and I have a 4-year losing streak going right now.)

Oh, yeah. I love hyperlinks. But you know that by now.

Above all, I love anything that manifests the Flannery O’Connor quote I highlighted in my first Lens article:

…if the writer believes that our life is and will remain essentially mysterious, if he looks upon us as beings existing in a created order to whose laws we freely respond, then what he sees on the surface will be of interest to him only as he can go through it into an experience of mystery itself. …Such a writer will be interested in what we don’t understand rather than in what we do. He will be interested in possibility rather than in probability.

That’s me; always more interested in what I don’t understand than in what I do. Which is perfect, because that second list is a whole lot shorter than the first. There should be no shortage of bloggable material.

More (semi-current) information about me can be found under the “About” tab above, and the top-right corner of the blog has Facebook and Twitter accounts for me, and RSS information for both “Summa This, Summa That” and the good folks at the Catholic Portal. (There is also something called “Google+,” which fascinates me. But which I do not understand.) Feel free to keep track of my shenanigans with as many (or as few) of these as you wish.

I’m sure we’ll get along splendidly.

Attribution(s):“St Peter’s Basilica” by James Bromberger (source) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.