1. First off, my latest piece is up on The Everyman, where I talk about how the world doesn't change (and slip in a little plug for Gentleman Instructed): Again and again, it was the same pattern, and rarely did I find a point that had been genuinely left behind since the 18th century (e.g. … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Everyman, Top Gun, Bofuri, and Sabaton
History
Thought of the Day: On Darwin’s Popularity
The standard narrative for On the Origin of Species is that it changed the way people saw the world and rocked the intellectual foundations of Christian civilization. The truth is, it didn't change anything. People didn't abandon their faith and shift their paradigms because they read Darwin; they ate up Darwin as a perfect narrative … Continue reading Thought of the Day: On Darwin’s Popularity
TCM Remembers – 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IxrVWs80Zw The big one for me, of course, is Akira Takarada; the last major player, either in front of or behind the camera, from the original Godzilla. He was a mainstay of the series ever since, and I'll always be sorry that his cameo in the 2014 film was cut. Other notables include, of course, … Continue reading TCM Remembers – 2022
Some Christmas Music
In the words of Ross Scott, "I've got some good Christmas music for you this year!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPdHkHslFIU
‘A Gentleman Instructed’ Now Available!
My freshly-edited edition of A Gentleman Instructed in the Conduct of a Virtuous and Happy Life, by William Darrell S.J., is now available on Amazon! And just in time for the Christmas shopping season. "For what can even fancy paint more charming and more glorious than grandees neither abject in adversity nor insolent in prosperity; … Continue reading ‘A Gentleman Instructed’ Now Available!
Friday Flotsam: Voting, Veterans, Video, and a Gospel Verse
1. I voted this past Tuesday. Might be the last time I do, since I reject the liberal paradigm that the practice represents and I find the whole thing to be frankly absurd anyway. Though I'll probably still vote in local elections, once I settle down somewhere, since I think those are the only ones … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Voting, Veterans, Video, and a Gospel Verse
Flash ‘Apollo 13’ Reaction
The other night I finally got around to seeing Apollo 13, and it was the most enthralling and satisfying film experience I've had in a very long time. Damn, I'd almost forgotten we used to make movies like this; gripping accounts of actually worthwhile true events, focusing on intelligent, mature, professional men working to solve … Continue reading Flash ‘Apollo 13’ Reaction
Friday Flotsam: Mostly On Halloween
1. "The spirit of wickedness in high places is now so powerful and so many-headed in its incarnations that there seems nothing more to do than personally to refuse to worship any of the hydra's heads."-J.R.R. Tolkien (from a letter written in late 1969) 2. Our problem with Halloween is that we miss half the … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Mostly On Halloween
Feast of St. Boethius
There are a surprising number of people whom even knowledgeable Catholics don't realize are Saints, and Boethius is one of the more prominent. While secular scholars loftily debate whether he was even Christian (which seems to me absurd given even a cursory reading of De Consolatione), the Church has recognized him as a Saint and … Continue reading Feast of St. Boethius
Friday Flotsam: Bl. Karl, Lasik, Tolkien, and Anime
1. First and foremost; today’s the feast of Bl. Karl of Austria, whose prayers we desperately need today as the wreckage of Christendom spirals ever more wildly out of control. Just learned of a quote of his that has immediately become one of my favorites: “We are bearers of culture even in the land of … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Bl. Karl, Lasik, Tolkien, and Anime
Serpent's Den 