Thursday, July 22, 2010
Answer
Alex Trebeck.
Labels: anniversaries
Labels: tv
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Mad Men
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Disbelief
This is not a post about liturgical or cannonical disbelief. It is a post about disbelief - nay, open-mouthed astonishment - at this week's Vatican pronouncement. Disbelief because although the Pope is rumored to be dismayed and angry about pedophile priests, the statement was vague and weak about what the institution of the Church will do about and/or to them. There apparently will be no automatical dismissal or removal, no banishment from the fold. Which seems odd to me, having grown up in an intensely Roman Catholic household (my parents were converts in their late thirties). Banishment from the RC fold over the years has resulted from transgressions both puzzling and, to some, not transgressionally important. Some examples: getting married outdoors; getting married in a not-RC-sanctioned/blessed church; a woman not covering her head, elbows and knees in church; marrying someone who's been married before; eating meat on Friday; a priest fondling the private parts of a little girl; not putting money in the collection tray; not going to a Catholic college; a priest having an affair with a married woman. . . . Since ordaining women has punishment attached (defrocking), and pedophilia does not, the logical conclusion is that the Vatican thinks women are sui generis more sinful (or sin-inducing) and more dangerous. Great.
To add to the confusion and moral morass, the new Vatican document which supposedly focuses on pedophilia tosses in a few presumably well-chosen thoughts about women being ordained as priests. Always an interesting subject, but why join ordination of women and pedophilia? It can't be that in their heart of hearts they want women to "resume" their "place" in the kitchens and bedrooms of the world because pedophilia actually was worse back in those good old days. Yet this document calls both pedophilia and ordination of women “graviora delicta” (grave offenses). It seems to me that one can only stare at the words in disbelief. Ah, but wait, there's more: clerics who attempt to ordain women will be defrocked. Yes, defrocked. Be stripped of their careers and lives. It's almost as serious a punishment as what's afforded bishops who approve saying mass in Latin (but that's a subject for another day). Well, the next obvious question is what this document says will be the punishment meted out to pedophile priests. Unbelievably, the document does not say. It fails to suggest even a possible punishment. Bottom line: women priests would be dangerous beyond the moral, metaphysical and criminal pale; pedophiles, not quite so much. Got it?
To add to the confusion and moral morass, the new Vatican document which supposedly focuses on pedophilia tosses in a few presumably well-chosen thoughts about women being ordained as priests. Always an interesting subject, but why join ordination of women and pedophilia? It can't be that in their heart of hearts they want women to "resume" their "place" in the kitchens and bedrooms of the world because pedophilia actually was worse back in those good old days. Yet this document calls both pedophilia and ordination of women “graviora delicta” (grave offenses). It seems to me that one can only stare at the words in disbelief. Ah, but wait, there's more: clerics who attempt to ordain women will be defrocked. Yes, defrocked. Be stripped of their careers and lives. It's almost as serious a punishment as what's afforded bishops who approve saying mass in Latin (but that's a subject for another day). Well, the next obvious question is what this document says will be the punishment meted out to pedophile priests. Unbelievably, the document does not say. It fails to suggest even a possible punishment. Bottom line: women priests would be dangerous beyond the moral, metaphysical and criminal pale; pedophiles, not quite so much. Got it?
Comments
Note: I've added comment modification and word verification to my comments. Word verification by itself did not eliminate the Chinese-character spam. Nor did comment-modification-on-posts-after-2-days. Apologies for the inconvenience and annoyance.
P.S. I hate to admit it but I like - well, I used to like (who knows since I haven't let myself eat it in years) - Spam (the fatty, salty, ugly-pink food product), especially lightly sautéed with roasted vegetables - for contrast, I suppose. How dare these people trash Spam's good name.
P.S. I hate to admit it but I like - well, I used to like (who knows since I haven't let myself eat it in years) - Spam (the fatty, salty, ugly-pink food product), especially lightly sautéed with roasted vegetables - for contrast, I suppose. How dare these people trash Spam's good name.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Whatever else may be true about him, Alec Baldwin is terrific as host (announcer) for The New York Philharmonic This Week, the Orchestra’s weekly (every week) nationally broadcast radio series. His voice intones just the right combination of gravitas (a/k/a gravelyness), humor and intelligence. Plus, whether it's written for him or extemporaneous, what he says has been downright interesting - not merely "here's Beethoven's Fifth piano concerto" or words to that effect. Anyway, whoever thought of him for this deserves praise and thanks.
NY Philharmonic
Whatever else may be true about him, Alec Baldwin is terrific as host (announcer) for The New York Philharmonic This Week, the Orchestra’s weekly (every week) nationally broadcast radio series. His voice intones just the right combination of gravitas (a/k/a gravelyness), humor and intelligence. Plus, whether it's written for him or extemporaneous, what he says has been downright interesting - not merely "here's Beethoven's Fifth piano concerto" or words to that effect. Anyway, whoever thought of him for this deserves praise and thanks.Labels: celebrities, music, speech
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
I've been learning and then becoming obsessed with knitting socks (a) from the toe up and (b) two at a time. It's an amazing amount of fun to do as you watch the things become real, actual socks right in front of your eyes -er- needles. Here are three examples from my recent blitz - all in Cascade's Fixation which is a slightly elastic, cotton, washable joy to work with. If you click on a photo, you can see it nice and big and in more detail. Please especially check out the nifty patterns and heels! Aren't they delightful?! What do you think? Want a pair?
Knitting socks
I've been learning and then becoming obsessed with knitting socks (a) from the toe up and (b) two at a time. It's an amazing amount of fun to do as you watch the things become real, actual socks right in front of your eyes -er- needles. Here are three examples from my recent blitz - all in Cascade's Fixation which is a slightly elastic, cotton, washable joy to work with. If you click on a photo, you can see it nice and big and in more detail. Please especially check out the nifty patterns and heels! Aren't they delightful?! What do you think? Want a pair?Labels: knitting
Monday, July 12, 2010
Seablogger
One of my earliest and best blogging friends died Friday in the early afternoon. He once told me I was his blog daughter, a remark that made me ridiculously happy at the time. And which probably partly explains how sad I feel now. In fact it astonishes me that I and the others who regularly read and commented at Fresh Bilge feel so bereft. Most of us never met Alan and become acquainted with him "only" virtually. But this wild new world is different from one where you only care about people you meet in person, and that's part of his legacy. He was insanely interested in many things - climate, weather, politics domestic and foreign, poetry, science fiction, films, sailing, photography, geography, language, and (particularly as his illness progressed) matters of the spirit. All this drew in readers who are, happily, widely read and interesting, too, if not as acerbic and pointed as he often could be. For evidence of the energy, intelligence, wit and passion that his blog contained, reflected and generated, just glance at the hundreds of comments at the last four or five posts.
I eventually will (maybe) write something adequate to memorialize Alan but in its stead and in the meantime here are some lines from Richard II (h/t, as they say, to one of Alan's commenters). This is apt partly just because it is. It is also fitting because of Alan's love of words and his remark that Shakespeare makes fools of all other poets. As a poet himself, he would have claimed he said so with more authority than most of us (and I very much look forward to the publication of his own poetry and book of psalms, for which Richard Wilbur will write the preface). As a final note, for now, let me say that I hope there truly is a place called heaven and someone/ thing called god, if only because Alan would so be enjoying himself as he explored and discovered and expounded.
Update - As he sails off into the sunset (heh, as he would say), a band of "rare readers" have set up a successor blog, "Sullivan's Travelers." The name reflects Alan's literary proclivities (Jonathan Swift's Gulliver) along with his wit, sense of humor and political passion (Preston Sturges' Sully). The url is rarereaders.seablogger.com which adds another association. I must say that the family / friend / reader / follower phenomenon seems unusual and lovely and, dare I say, a tad eternal.
I eventually will (maybe) write something adequate to memorialize Alan but in its stead and in the meantime here are some lines from Richard II (h/t, as they say, to one of Alan's commenters). This is apt partly just because it is. It is also fitting because of Alan's love of words and his remark that Shakespeare makes fools of all other poets. As a poet himself, he would have claimed he said so with more authority than most of us (and I very much look forward to the publication of his own poetry and book of psalms, for which Richard Wilbur will write the preface). As a final note, for now, let me say that I hope there truly is a place called heaven and someone/ thing called god, if only because Alan would so be enjoying himself as he explored and discovered and expounded.
Update - As he sails off into the sunset (heh, as he would say), a band of "rare readers" have set up a successor blog, "Sullivan's Travelers." The name reflects Alan's literary proclivities (Jonathan Swift's Gulliver) along with his wit, sense of humor and political passion (Preston Sturges' Sully). The url is rarereaders.seablogger.com which adds another association. I must say that the family / friend / reader / follower phenomenon seems unusual and lovely and, dare I say, a tad eternal."For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison’d by their wives: some sleeping kill’d;
All murder’d: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear’d and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humour’d thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence: throw away respect,
Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,
How can you say to me, I am a king?"
Labels: passings
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Asian spam??
What's the deal with all the Asian spam recently? I've deleted it "forever" as Blogger puts it but another one pops up in its place soon thereafter. Now I've changed my commenting restriction to "registered" users which I thought was necessary to comment on Blogger blogs anyway but perhaps there is less restrictiveness to all this than it seemed. We shall see. And by the way, someday I hope someone explains satisfactorily why spammers even exist. Another subject for another day....
Update - Still getting some. Now I've added that word verification will be required to comment on posts that are 2 or more days old. I'm hoping that will help. And I still do not know what people get out of this?
Update - Still getting some. Now I've added that word verification will be required to comment on posts that are 2 or more days old. I'm hoping that will help. And I still do not know what people get out of this?
Labels: blogging
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Violence against girls
It is astonishing and literally unbelievable that this editorial needed to be written. How is it possible that female genital mutilation was banned in the U.S. in 1996 - a mere 14 years ago?? And why did it require banning? Who need laws saying that people shouldn't jump off the roofs of tall buildings? Or laws saying not to serve the kids dinner in the middle of Interstate 80? (Wasn't that exactly why George Carlin's "present" for the kids was so funny?!) And did the American Academy of Pediatrics really consider for one nanosecond that nicking female genitalia would be useful in some way? Forgive me because it sounds ridiculous to point this out, but if male genitalia were the subject, there would be no discussion of this and would never have been. And don't try to sell cultural or political or medical or social or any-adjective-al rationale or logic about this.
Labels: writing
Monday, July 5, 2010
Spock
R.I.P. Spock, my son's lovely, sweet, calm, attentive, soft, all-black, utterly charming cat. He brought joy to members of his immediate and extended family for a very long time (22 years!).
I loved the clickety-clack of his nails when he walked on hardwood floors. And how dutifully he played with toys bought for him. And how he basked in the family room window's sun with his front leg extended like a resting ballerina, watching birds and insects, apparently content to observe. And how he always came to greet me minutes after I arrived, even in recent months. And always let me scratch between his ears. And I loved his bright green eyes.
It was wonderful to know him.
I loved the clickety-clack of his nails when he walked on hardwood floors. And how dutifully he played with toys bought for him. And how he basked in the family room window's sun with his front leg extended like a resting ballerina, watching birds and insects, apparently content to observe. And how he always came to greet me minutes after I arrived, even in recent months. And always let me scratch between his ears. And I loved his bright green eyes.
It was wonderful to know him.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
July 4