Someone put me onto this dramatic footage of a lion trapped by a large clan of hyenas, which comes with an unexpected conclusion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5V6gdu5ih8
Friday Flotsam: Mostly Thoughts About America
1. Once again sick for much of this week. My cold went down, but a painful sinus headache remained, finally obliging me to go into urgent care to get an antibiotic prescription. So far it seems to be helping, so hopefully it’ll be gone before much longer. 2. Every Fourth of July finds me more … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Mostly Thoughts About America
Kaiju Appreciations: Hedorah (Update)
Another Kaiju Appreciation is up, this time an updated version of my video for Hedorah the Smog Monster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T305CEptpks Godzilla vs. Hedorah, AKA Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster is a very strange film. It marks the transition of Godzilla into straight-up hero mode and its environmentalist message is as nuanced as an anvil. There's a … Continue reading Kaiju Appreciations: Hedorah (Update)
Thought of the Day: Subsidiarity and Democracy
A representative government, however it starts, naturally expands. This is because the elected official's position is dependent on the majority of people voting for him. Therefore, he (or more often his party) is incentivized to offer them anything he can. If they have problems, he'll offer to solve them and try to make them as … Continue reading Thought of the Day: Subsidiarity and Democracy
Livestreaming About Disney
Last night I had the pleasure of going on the Sunday Superversive live stream with Ben Wheeler, Anthony Marchetta, and Caroline Furlong to talk Disney movies past (mostly past) and present, while also touching a bit upon my book, The Wisdom of Walt Disney. Two hours is really too short a time for such a … Continue reading Livestreaming About Disney
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time…
Poetry – “Aspecta Medusa”
Andromeda, by Perseus sav'd and wed,Hanker'd each day to see the Gorgon's head:Till o'er a fount he held it, bade her lean,And mirror'd in the wave was safely seenThat death she liv'd by. Let not thine eyes knowAny forbidden thing itself, althoughIt once should save as well as kill: but beIts shadow upon life … Continue reading Poetry – “Aspecta Medusa”
Sunday Thoughts
J.R.R. Tolkien, in (I think) On Fairy Stories made the point that children are not a special class of people (akin to women, men, Englishmen, Americans, etc.), but just people at a particular stage of development. Which is to say, it's misleading to say "children like this" or "children do that" just as it's misleading … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts
Low-Effort Blogging: Thomas Sowell on African Geography
In all the various and sundry talking points that touch upon Africa to a greater or lesser degree, it often seems to me that the place itself tends to be neglected. Africa is just 'the poor place', or the place where atrocities are happening, or the place where slaves came from. The victim continent, if … Continue reading Low-Effort Blogging: Thomas Sowell on African Geography
The End of the Beginning
So...this happened today. On the Feast of the Sacred Heart. And the Feast of St. John the Baptist (who, you may recall, testified to Christ from his mother's womb), since we have a rare situation where the two fall on the same day. Interesting that. Anyway, current events aren't really my forte, but this is … Continue reading The End of the Beginning
Serpent's Den 