Why do you let me see ruin;why must I look at misery?Destruction and violence are before me;there is strife, and clamorous discord.Then the LORD answered me and said:Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.For the vision still has its time,presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. … Read more
Last night, we witnessed something that has only happened one other time in the history of Major League Baseball: a post-season no-hitter. Roy “Doc” Halladay was as dominant as I have ever seen a pitcher be; he was throwing 5 or 6 “plus” pitches, and he was throwing them whenever and wherever he wanted. Only … Read more
During the last Presidential race, I remember watching with wonder as oceans of ink were spilled over the extraordinary oratory powers of (eventual) President Barack Obama. Somehow, despite the repeated insistence of media commentators, political analysts, and any number of acquaintances, I could never get around the “tennis match” aura that his heavily-Teleprompted speeches conveyed. Perhaps it was the result … Read more
It has (too) recently come to my attention that the Criterion Collection’s release of John Ford’s brilliant Stagecoach is now available through the Netflix Watch Instantly feature. As one of the most influential Westerns of all time — as well as a prominent entry on the list of “All-Time Greatest Film Entrances” — it’s one of … Read more
Over at National Review’s Corner blog, Fred Schwartz pointed out the most alarming example of “Federal Government/Copy Editor” collusion yet: Federal copy editors are demanding the city change its 250,900 street signs — such as these for Perry Avenue in The Bronx — from the all-caps style used for more than a century to ones that capitalize only … Read more
Courtesy of OpenCulture.Com, here is Aardman Animation’s latest offering, billed as “the smallest stop-motion animation ever,” featuring a 0.35-inch-tall main character “aptly named Dot,” and shot entirely using a Nokia N8 cell-phone: [video:http://vimeo.com/15055444 600×338] Bonus Aardman Animation news: a Raving Rabbids TV show is underway.
These sorts of scientific articles never cease to amuse me: Mother Earth could have parted the Red Sea, hatching the great escape described in the biblical book of Exodus, a new study finds. Wait just a minute there. You mean Mother Earth could have done this cool Red Sea stuff all on her own, without … Read more
The recently-completed Papal Visit (UK) has had a number of fascinating results already, including the (potential) defeat of the long-standing “Vatican Rottweiler” meme that Margaret mentioned this morning. Given my 5-day absence from the IntraWebs, I’m still sifting through all the commentary that has sprung up in the wake of the Pope’s visit. But given my … Read more
It sometimes seems as though every Food Network show or special is somehow connected to furthering our understanding and appreciation of comfort food — that culinary category of dishes designed to warm (and occasionally weaken) the heart by playing on various childhood memories, emotional heartstrings, and long-dormant taste-buds. Yet it’s easy to see why Food … Read more
The Anchoress is gallivanting around Rome at the moment, but she did not leave us blog-less in her absence. Over at First Things, Danielle Bean, Sally Thomas, and our very own Simcha have been busy writing and posting and creating havoc in Elizabeth’s stead. Over the weekend, Danielle had a series of posts that really caught my … Read more
Archbishop Chaput’s address to the first session of “The 15th symposium for the Canon Law Association of Slovakia” — wow, that’s quite a mouthful — was delivered over a week ago. Yet it has not been making quite as robust a showing on The Catholic IntraWebs as I would have expected after giving it the once-over. The … Read more
There are two reasons I particularly enjoy reading The Telegraph’s (UK) Damian Thompson. The first is his aggressive-yet-even-handed defense of Catholic matters in an environment that seems primarily hostile. And the second is his ability to come up with something to say when confronted by such things as this recently-released image of the altar planned … Read more
Reading David Bordwell’s blog is a rewarding and deeply demoralizing experience. For a mostly self-taught (and self-proclaimed) film aficionado such as I, the amount of cinematic knowledge he and his fellow blogger (Kristen Thompson) have at their fingertips is a bit mind-boggling — a treasure trove of information, once I have managed to check my easily-bruised … Read more
Despite this week’s high profile political front-runners, I’m going to have to hand the “Most Creative Use Of Bears In Recent Memory” award over to this story’s Canadians “farmers:” Police said Wednesday they were astonished to find at least 14 wild black bears guarding an illegal marijuana growing operation after a recent raid on the property in … Read more
The last several days have brought a number of troubling technological stories floating our way, from the unsurprising consequences of earbuds on youngsters and “constant displays ” on adults to Foxconn Technologies’ recent struggles with worker suicides to the rapidly-expanding number of tech-themed entries on the Beloit College Mindset List, technology and its inexorable progress seems to be … Read more
Over the past few months, my MLB Nighttime Viewing Program of Choice has slowly migrated from ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” (my favorite sports segment for many, many years) to the upstart MLB Network’s “MLB Tonight.” Part of this migratory process is directly attributable to the “live-look-ins” and significantly greater amounts of “live baseball” MLB Tonight includes … Read more
That’s the name of this fascinating little film from Will Hoffman and Daniel Mercadante, produced by their production company Everynone in conjunction with a Radiolab episode. It takes a while to figure out, and I had to watch it several times to “catch everything.” But it’s worth it. [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0HfwkArpvU 635×355] (Hat Tip: Jeffrey Overstreet)
Despite a Gilbreth-esque voice in the back of my head suggesting that this topic is “not of general interest,” I thought I’d share one of the more unusual ways the members of the Susanka household keep themselves amused on Friday evenings: a little game I like to call “Melodic Homage or Hijacking.” First, a quick … Read more
As a cranky old man trapped in a once-young-but-now-mostly-just-flabby man’s body, I’ve always been … well … cranky when it comes to participating in the games of BlogTag that burrow their way through cyberspace every now and again. Frankly, I’m still at a bit of a loss as to why anyone else cares about what … Read more
Steven Greydanus is at it again, coming up with millions of interesting cinematical posts that I wish I had thought of first (but never can.) This week, he’s been discussing The Best Family Films – sparked by a somewhat odd survey from the Radio Times (UK) — as well as the list’s flip-side: The greatest family film … Read more