Human excellence is essentially individual. Ten thousand men of ordinary skill, by pulling their resources, could never have produced Aristotle's Ethics, Shakespeare's Hamlet, or Bougeureau's Abduction of Psyche. Even in the cases where crowds do great things, there tends to be a single genius guiding their efforts: the American Revolutionaries never would have succeeded without George Washington, and Standard … Continue reading An Observation
Musings
Second Meditation: On Beauty
Note: This is just a series of loose thoughts written out more or less as they come, presented in the hopes that someone will find something worthwhile within them. Our society despises beauty. This may sound surprising, given how much we hear about overvaluing of physical appearance, impossible beauty standards in media, and the rest … Continue reading Second Meditation: On Beauty
First Meditation: God the Creator
Note: This is just a series of loose thoughts written out more or less as they come, presented in the hopes that someone will find something worthwhile within them. Most of the truths of our faith have become truisms through repetition, so that we fail to appreciate their meaning. To say that God created … Continue reading First Meditation: God the Creator
‘Incredibles 2’ at the Federalist
Latest essay is up at 'The Federalist,' this one on 'Incedibles 2.' Aside: there seems to be a lot of, shall we say, competing opinions on this film. I'll say for my part I really liked it; it's not in the same league as the original, and it has some very notable problems (I've heard … Continue reading ‘Incredibles 2’ at the Federalist
Thought While Reading the Summa
At our judgment, we will not only see God, but we will see His idea of us: the exemplar after which He created us. In other words, we will see with perfect clarity not only what we were in life, but what we were meant to be. For many, that knowledge will be a major … Continue reading Thought While Reading the Summa
Occam’s Razor in Action
So, there's a study going around the different popular science sites of the internet to the effect that genetic testing indicates most animal species actually appeared about the same time as humanity: 100 - 200,000 years ago. Apparently, they can tell this by the lack of notable variations in mitochondrial DNA between different species. I'm … Continue reading Occam’s Razor in Action
The Not Mary Sue
I’m rewatching Kim Possible at the moment, after being away from it for several years, and I’m delighted to find it’s even better than I remember it. It’s not quite in the same league as Phineas and Ferb or My Little Pony, but it is a very solid, very entertaining show anchored by two particularly … Continue reading The Not Mary Sue
Lazy Writing and Lack of Consequence
Something I’ve noticed about a lot of contemporary films is that they seem to have an almost childish inability to consider real-world consequences. I’m not talking about complex things that the average person wouldn’t think of; I’m talking major factors about how people behave or how the world works. Let me illustrate with two particularly … Continue reading Lazy Writing and Lack of Consequence
The Difference Between Flat and Complex Characters
Now that the Ducktales revival is about half-a-season old, I can say that, while it is good, it’s not quite as good as I had hoped it would be. Part of the problem is that they go for the joke far too often, preventing the characters from developing much weight and consequently from engaging us … Continue reading The Difference Between Flat and Complex Characters
Giants were Upon the Earth in Those Days
There is a strange passage in Chapter Six of the Book of Genesis. In the Duay version it runs thus: And after that men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of … Continue reading Giants were Upon the Earth in Those Days
Serpent's Den 