2012-12-28T08:12:58-05:00

— 1 — Tristyn Bloom of First Things was desperately asking people on twitter and facebook if they’d seen a funny sketch about music theory that was in French.  I confess, I didn’t understand her urgency until she finally turned it up and I got to see it: — 2 — No big review of Les Mis forthcoming, btw.  I really enjoyed it, and my complaints are pretty much those of all the reviewers (the cinematography is a bit distracting and Javert... Read more

2012-12-27T18:07:40-05:00

While googling to nail down some of Javert’s lyrics, I ended up on his IMDB quotes page, which draws on film adaptations of the book going back to 1935.  And, looking over these selections, it’s clear a number of productions have seen Javert as some kind of atheist, possibly of an existentialist stripe.  One movie has him saying, “There is no God. There is only the law. Good and evil do not exist outside the law.” But the Javert of... Read more

2012-12-27T21:46:41-05:00

Scott/Yvain has previously written a truly delightful Dungeons and Discourses game (inspired by these two Dresden Codak comics). Here’s an excerpt (which doesn’t even include any of the musical numbers or the ingenious solution to Nagel’s question: What is it like to be a bat?) In his roundabout way, he identifies himself as Heraclitus, the Fire Mage, one of the four great Elemental Mages of Platonia. Many years ago, he crossed into Origin on some errand, only to be ambushed... Read more

2012-12-29T14:34:12-05:00

I first saw Les Miserables when I was in middle school, I think, and I was on the edge of my seat from the opening number.  But the moment that transfixed me was Javert’s joyous “Stars.”  I was in love. There was nothing I wanted so much as to be like that man, ramrod-straight, inviolate, and wholly consecrated to duty.  In fact, when informed of my conversion, one friend, initially puzzled, said, “Well, I guess you’ve always been a bit of an absolutist.”... Read more

2012-12-26T21:55:40-05:00

Things I have attended at midnight this year: The Hunger Games, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit, and Mass (the first time I’ve ever attended Mass at Christmas, in fact).  But, today, one family tradition is unchanged by my conversion.  If it’s Christmas, it’s time for Chinese food and a movie.  And I hope I don’t have to tell any of you which movie it’s going to be. A few weeks ago, I was feeling a little crestfallen that I didn’t have... Read more

2012-12-24T10:48:41-05:00

First of all, I feel terrible that I left Hyperbole and a Half’s story of her attempt to stage a nativity play at the age of six (“The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas“) off of my Christmas traditions list.  Hie thee hence and read this wonderful story/comic.  Here’s how she handles her own Mary costume: Ok, now that you’re back, and have had a few deep breaths to stop laughing quite so hard… Yesterday, at Mass, the priest’s homily was... Read more

2012-12-23T18:53:37-05:00

I received a comped copy of this book for review, but have not taken any other compensation  nor was this post subject to any editorial review.  (Besides the eagle-eyed grammar police of the commentariat). I read Jesus of Nazareth:  From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration earlier this year, as part of the two-person book club I set up with the Dominican friar who sponsored me at my baptism.  Although Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives is part of the same project, the... Read more

2012-12-21T01:09:48-05:00

— 1 — Since the next Quick Takes will take place after Christmas, I thought it would be a nice time to share some holiday traditions from my family and some from elsewhere.  For example, this tradition was found by a friend of mine who was reading David Graeber’s Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology Residents of the squatter community of Christiana, Denmark have a Christmastide ritual where they dress in Santa suits, take toys from department stores and distribute them... Read more

2012-12-20T13:18:21-05:00

I have a collection of strange tags in my google reader clippings system (“drones,” “mary mallon,” and “surveillance state”), but, given the events of the past week, I thought it might be appropriate to dip into the “radical forgiveness” file.   Nobuo Fujita, 85, Is Dead; Only Foe to Bomb America (Nicholas Kristof, NYT) Mr. Fujita, whose incendiary bombs set off forest fires in Oregon’s coastal range, played the key role in a quixotic plan by Japanese military commanders to... Read more

2012-12-18T16:59:53-05:00

Sorry to have been incommunicado the last few day, team.  I was quite busy this weekend with a delightful little project that blog readers who don’t know me in real life will hear about Christmas Day, and my family’s annual holiday cookie party. This past Sunday was Gaudete Sunday (which I believe is the imperative form of Rejoice!), and I certainly did, both while spending time with family and friends and when, on the train ride back, I discovered a new chapter... Read more

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