P & J

I give up

2007-07-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

So I'm moving over to wordpress instead of letting the whole blog thing die; which I was going to do. Why I am not too sure. It might not work out, but at least I'll give it one more go. I don't know what I am planning on writing about just yet, but I got some ideas. as for right now, my first post is about Harry Potter.

So see you all here,

I'm the new Mr. Seeley

2007-05-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

I finished my apologetics class by having my students read the Apology. What it has to do with Catholic dogma I am not so sure. While I was giving my students a speech about Socrates, and waxing poetic on the fact that God did not create "the best of all possible worlds" I got inspired and asked them this question.

"How many of you are more confused now then you where at the start of the school year?"

They all said I succeeded in my task of obfuscation.

I was so proud.

TWO MORE WEEKS

2007-05-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

... until the end of the world as we know it. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Volume 1 . I just pre-ordered my copy five seconds ago.

Oh God! NO!!!

2007-05-13T12:02:00.002-07:00

Disney is making a ... a ... a ... oh FUCK I'll let them exlapin.

Kiki's Delivery Service - A live action English language adaptation of Eiko Kadani's book series, which was previously brought to the screen in Hayao Miyazaki's popular late-'80s anime film of the same name. Jeff Stockwell (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) is writing a screenplay.

Link (scroll down)

2007-05-13T12:02:00.001-07:00

Any one else having the probelm that when you log in, the website thinks you read Japanese? If I actually still bloged, and wasn't just letting my blog die, I might get mad.

RE: Latin

2007-05-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

I don't consider my-self a Latin scholar, nor a great lover of the language, but one of my pet peeves in people who use Latin words but don't inflect them correctly. Granted this is often a small point, like people using stadiums and not stadia. But what never ceases to annoy me is how people abuse the word alumnus. They say alumni for a one person, alumnus for a female graduate, alum for one graduate, and (I consider this the worst of the bunch) alums for many graduates. (As you might guess this time of year (mid May) always upsets me.)

I understand, though do not excuse, people making these mistakes; either in conversation or in print by newspaper writers, who have never been nor ever will be good writers. But today I say a bumper sticker that said "CU Alumni". Now this is too much! The University of Colorado is one of the best state colleges in the country, and it has a wonderful Classics Department. Surley at least our universities could be counted on to defend language from the Philistines. But that would be too much to ask from the "Home of the Buffs".

Bookshelf Fun

2007-04-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Do you ever look at the books you own and how you've arranged them, and think to youself, what the hell? What would the neighbors think if they saw that?

Well I just had a moment like that. In between my copies of Ratzinger's Introduction to Christianity, and the Encyclicals of Leo XIII are three volumes of Negima.

Movies that weren't as bad as everyone says.

2007-04-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Since it's Good Friday, I though I would do a post about the lower things in life. I picked 5(actually 6) movies that, although not classics, are not as bad as you might think.

1: Broken Flowers

Boring? Yes. Doesn't go anywhere? Of course. But Bad? Not really. It was a quiet and laid back movie, that just slouches to an ending. Not much there, there. But it is a movie that doesn't pretend there is.

2: What Dreams May Come

Ok, anyone with half a brain can see this is a flawed movie. Sure it is Hollywood and Robin Williams trying to be intellectual and embarrassing themselves in the process. But it is also not painful to watch. Think about it as Dante for the Self-help, Yuppie, Baby Boomers.

3: Oldboy

Everyone points out that the only reason it won the Jury Prize at Cannes was become Tarantino was the foreman of the jury. That is true, but it ignores the fact that Oldboy is a great movie. First the negatives, Americans feel uncomfortable with movies where incest is a major plot device, violent in a ways that only Tarantino can can enjoy. After you see this movie, you want to just yell at the first person yo see "THAT WAS SOME EFFED UP SHIT!!!!!!!!!!" But it was good, I swear, go see it.

4: GO/Marie Antoinette

I combined these two because they both fall into the category of the indie director's sub-par follow-up movie.

Go is only slightly like Doug Liman's first movie, Swingers. If fact is owes more to Pulp Fiction than swingers. Yes it is one of the Pulp Fiction knockoffs we all had to sit through from 1995-1999, but it is also the best. I think the big reason this movie never went anywhere, i s because it was advertised as a cute high school comedy with Katie Holms, (a la Ten Things I hate About You) instead of the weird indie movie that it was.

Ok, this movie was not misleadingly advertised. The trailers where very clear that it was about Marie Antoinette, but it had Kirsten Dunst, and 80's punk music. In that respect the movie lived up to (low) expectations. Indeed the worst thing about this movie was its casting. Not just Ms. Dunst, but the whole cast was awful. Still Sofia Coppola tried to make a revisionist movie about the life of the ill fated French Queen, and if you are willing to go along with her, and ignore the bad acting, you will find a decent movie.

5: Fille Sur le Ponte

Not so much considered a bad movie; instead it is unjustly forgotten. The director, Patrice Leconte, is my favorite contemporary French director. Before you think I'm being all pretentious, he is also probably the only contemporary French director I know. Just a great movie about a guy and a girl who fall in love when he throws knives at her.

Spring Break

2007-04-03T10:44:00.004-07:00

Damn Catholic Schools not having Spring Break until Holy Week. I am looking foward to sleeping in for the next week.

2007-04-03T10:44:00.003-07:00

Simone, next time I update my links, I'll spell your name right.

Real News

2007-04-03T10:44:00.002-07:00

That's enough for the today.

For all you Graham Greene fans out there. I just found out they recently published all his journalism for the Tablet. That includes his reports from Mexico.

Ok now I'm on a kick

2007-04-03T10:44:00.001-07:00

I love this picture (since it also plays on my love for Haruhi&Asuka, and Yuki&Rei).

I know this is late,

2007-04-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

But what did all of you think about Kanon? Or maybe I should ask how many of you watch new (i.e. as soon as it is dubed) anime?

Scholars, God bless them

2007-03-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

What I love most about modern scholarship is its tendency to argue about everything. Even the most obvious of truths. For example in the March issue of First Things there is a review of a new biography of Bach. The reviewer mentions that many musicologists do not think that Bach was a really a man of faith, and the biography under review proves this opinion wrong once and for all. Maybe it's my lack of musical training, but I figured anyone who has ever heard the St. Matthew Passion would have no doubts about Bach's deep faith.

"We are sorry to inform you ... twice"

2007-03-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has received rejection letters from Graduate school departments knows that it is an experience that can best be discribed as "shity". You think over every little thing about your application; your writing sample, letters of recomendation, your personal statment. "If only I had re-written that paragraph" you think "I might have stood a better chance". Usually it is an experience best met drunk.

Lucky for me, their is Cornell University. Last week I got a letter from the Graduate school of Arts & Sciences telling me that I am a memeber of the unwashed masses that did not deserve a place and stipend in the Great Univeristy in Ithica New York; in spite of the $70 dollars I paid them to spend five minutes with my application and writing sample.

In a moment that could have come out of a Waugh novel (or at least Office Space), the Philosoply department condescended to notify me, in a completely different letter last night, that yes the graduate school of Arts & Sciences was correct; I am not worthy of a place in their department.

I guess I should be happy, this means that I only paid $35 for my rejection letters. That is some consolation.

PS: Why do Graduate schools think that it makes the news better if they say that there where only six places for 240 applications? I don't know how they think this sounds, but to me it sounds arogant. As if they are saying "all of our students are the creme de la creme" (like they're Jean Brodie) "And you young man are not the creme de la creme. We get 240 applications, so we get to pick who we want, and you are not what we want." Fair enough, but why do I care if you get 240 applications or 7 application for six spots? I still didn't get in.

Its Spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

After ten weeks of snow on the ground, the eight feet of pile up has melted. (Actually that happened a while ago.) I just spent the final minutes of dusk walking out side in shirt sleeves and smoking my pipe. Heaven after the winter from hell. Let's just hope that the famous April blizard Denver gets every year is not too bad.

Classy

2007-03-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

They were given a corner table near the door. Bond ordered a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and scrambled eggs and bacon.

Ian Fleming: Casino Royal.

What the hell is wrong with the English?

Too Much Consonance?

2007-02-24T11:11:00.001-08:00

I heard, for the first time, Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, Op 14. last night. My first reaction was supprise at how painfully boring a piece of music can be that lacks any real dissonance.

Barber will never be considered a great orchestrator, and this piece of music makes it clear why. He is timid to give his themes and melodies to the different instruments, so that they can devoloped them into something new and interesting. Instead he gives his themes cautiously to one instrument, but that instrument is never forced to devolop the theme. Thus it returns to the soloist, exactly as it sounded two minutes before, so that he or she can equally do nothing with it.

This would not have been such a glaring fault had the concert not also had Stravinsky and Enesco also on the program. Two of the greatest orchestrators of all time.

The lack or any real daring on Barber's side would have been smothed over had the Concerto been half way interesting. But Barber just heaps one smoth fully tonal and fully consonant melody on us after another. If the consonance isn't coming from anywhere, ie. isn't resoloving any dissonance, then we are left with just sweet but very empty theme music.

Which is exaclty what Barber sounds like. His music would be better in a movie than a concert hall.

The New Blog Just Like the Old Blog

2007-02-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

That about says it.

2007-02-24T08:26:00.000-08:00

I'll Try this Again

I'm not too happy with this template, so I'll be looking for a new one. Not only is the comment section weird, but you might have noticed that the titles went away as well. I do like the black and grey though.

New Look

2007-02-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

New Look

I decided to give the old blog a face lift, and I'll see if I can revive this whole blogging thing. Well see how it goes.

I lost all my comments (I think). I am trying to find them, but don't expect too much. This makes me kind of sad, since your comments where the thing that kept me blogging.

Also I got rid of defunct blogs, but I don't know what blogs are active these days. If you have any link suggesting tell me. Also what's Simone's new blog address.

2007-01-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

We got our fifth big snow strom in a month yesterday. It put our snow pack at about four feet since December 20. I really, really, really want to be somewhere else.

You'll See Me at the Show

2007-01-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

I just bought tickets to the The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. After being told to go to New York to see it for the last two years by Terry Teachout. The smart people who produce the play decided to bring the show to me. I must say I'm a little excited.

What do I expect from the 70s?

2007-01-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

One of my weird quirks is my love for hippie movies, although I hate all things hippy (and 1960s baby-boomer). I don't mean to say that I like the movies or think they are any good, but they are always worth a watch just for the unintentional humor they give. Movies like Easy Rider, Jesus Christ Super Star, M*A*S*H, even Fear & Loathing in Los Vages. They are all just so damn ernest, and that is what makes them so bad.

I just saw the be all and end all of hippe movies. Brother Sun, Sister Moon. If you don't know, it is about how St. Francis of Assisi was the first hippie. And he wanders around the Tuscan hills guitar in hand, pressing flowers to his heart. It is one of the most campy (in both senses of the word) movies I have seen. Check it out, and be sure to have a lot of wine when you watch it ... you're going to need it.

I knew this would happen someday

2007-01-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

A video of me showed up on Youtube, and the tags are 'drunk' and 'log'. I just hope this is taken down and all forgotten before I run for Congress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHn3jnRYcTM

I Hope Someday I Can Write Like This

2006-12-27T10:47:00.000-08:00

Check out http://www.jamesbowman.net/default.asp. The web page of James Bowman. I don't know much about him but he does a weekly movie review that is worth reading because unlike almost every other movie reviewer he is sharp and critical.

This week he reviewed Home of the Brave, and I laugher out load when I read this sentence.

Another of the veterans, played by someone calling himself "50 cent," goes on a rampage with a gun and is shot by police.

I can imagine him looking at his press kit and reading the actor's name "50 cent'?!? WTF!

This Happens Every Christmas

2006-12-12T15:50:00.000-08:00

I buy some books for gifts, and then I start reading them. So in the end I wrap up well thumbed and coffee stained books and give them out when December 25th rolls around. This year its 1776.

Great, now I am a bad steward!!!

2006-12-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

You can't make this stuff up. The new head of the Episcopal Church USA has made herself clear (in a New York Times interview). The reason why there are so few episcopalians these days is because their educated, stewards of the Earth and all around better people than us dirty stupid Catholics, Mormons, and Evangelicals. If you aren't registered to NYT I'll just cut and paste part of the interview.

Q. How many members of the Episcopal Church are there in this country?

A. About 2.2 million. It used to be larger percentagewise, but Episcopalians tend to be better-educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations. Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for producing lots of children.

Q. Episcopalians aren’t interested in replenishing their ranks by having children?

A. No. It’s probably the opposite. We encourage people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion.

2006-11-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

In response to Clara, I consider that last post but two ago to be about Godzilla, not anime.

That said, I got all my niece and nephew addicted to Godzilla over Thanksgiving. Now my sister is going to kill me.

You can't make a commercial like this in the U.S.

2006-11-13T15:10:00.002-08:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vbcADoSz9bg

Don't think we need the CSI here

2006-10-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

If I forget thee Kyoto ...

2006-10-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

For the last few months I have been wanting to sell all my belongings and go to Japan. When I tell me family this, they mostly say 'why do you want to go there?' Well I came up with a list of six reasons why Japan is better than America.

6. Kimonos

Though I don't think that the'll be a lot of women my age walking around in them, I think there is a better chance of me running into them there than here. (This picture brings up my favorite anime influenced pick up line, one that I will use as soon as I get a chance. 'So are you naturally blue haired?'

5. Ramen Shops

You Just can't get a good bowl of Ramen in this country.

4. Killer Lolis

Any Country that has a whole genre of TV shows about murderous 14 year old girls has my vote for best country ever.

3. Mecha

America is just not the place to be if you love giant robots and the laconic, blue haired, clones who pilot them. (Again see above pick up line.)

2. Godzilla

No Comment necessary.

1. Haruhi-Sama

You find me another country where a 15 year old goddess lives and I'll be happy to go there.

Be Afraid

2006-09-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

It is probably only a matter of time until nomikkh and I just give up and only blog about anime. In fact I think her blog already belongs on 好き.

2006-08-30T19:08:00.001-07:00

Yes I know. I just,

a. posted about Anime, even though my post about watching Cowboy Bebop at TAC was called "My First, Last, and Only Post about Anime".

b. posted a cartoon picture of an underage girl in a bunny outfit.

And you know what? I don't care.

The MSN & Haruhism

2006-08-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

In this week's edition of Newsweek in an aritcle about Youtube there is this comment,

Already, though, YouTube has become a major conduit of the popular buzz. A cartoon aired by a local TV station, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, has become a national phenomenon, thanks to more than 2,000 related clips, including parodies, now available on YouTube.

But Newsweeks is not the issue man; The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is the issue. Basically I am saying, get your butt on Youtube right now and watch the 14 episodes of this show. It aired in Japan from April to July of this year, and like the quote above says has become a phenomenon. The show has everything, nazis, vampires, Godzilla, Cary Grant in drag, crazed monks trying to kill the last decendent of Christ (who as luck would have it is a Japanese school girl).

Ok I lied the show has none of those, but still it is the best seven hours you'll spend this side of Cowboy Bebop. The picture is there to turn you guys to haruhism.

2006-08-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

I finished my thesis today. Will I get drunk? Well I have $0.00 to my name, and work at 6:30 am, and no-one even to free load booze off of. So you bet I will.

Were We Ever This Bad?

2006-08-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

I just got the summer issue of my alma mater's news letter. As always they have pictures of all the seniors, and their thesis titles. There were so many great titles that I came up with a great game. I will give my nominations for the Most Pretentious Thesis of 2006 award, and you guys vote for them. Note, that names are withheld, just so this isn't that mean (but if you want to know the names you can always check the news letter yourself)

1. An Exposition of Rational Sensation

2. A Metaphysical Inquiry into the Nature of the Human Soul

3. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza: An Aristotelian Friendship of the Unqualifies Good.

4. Unity Order and Peace: On the Superiority of Traditional Hereditary Monarchy over Modern Liberal Democracy

5. An Examination of Anna Kerenina in Terms of Poetic and Scientific Knowledge

And the Award for the funniest Title 2006, goes to,

Torture: An Application of Aquinas' Theory of Punishment

Give that man a job in the Buch Administration!

Update

2006-07-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

I will post again, I just don't know when.

strange thought of tody

2006-06-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

Classic dialogue from an unjustly forgotten movie; this stands up with the best the Coen brothers have produced.

Cedric the Entertainer - "They never grow up, lady.They just get tubby." (referring to cheating husbands)
Catherine Zeta-Jones - "How charming. An aphorist."
CTE - "Oh, yeah, I've always had ample proportions. But believe you me, it's all muscle. I'm as hard as a rock. ... Gus Petch don't pussyfoot around."
CZ-J - "I must say, for someone in your line of work, you don't exhibit a great deal of tact."
CTE - "You want tact, call a tactician. You want an ass nailed, you call Gus Petch."

Why do people so this?

2006-06-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

I can't figure it out. Why do people underline and make notes in a unviersity library book? What is especially annoying is that the person knows it's a library books, knows they shouldn't put pen marks in a library book, but goes ahead and does it anyway. Why? Why? The arrogance of these people.

I must also admit that sometimes notes in books are funny. I am now looking at a table of contents for a translation of Aristotle's Physics, and written next to 'COMMENTARY' is 'or, obscurum per obscurius'.

The Stupidest Sentence in Philosophy

2006-05-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

"The investigation of the truth is in one way hard, in another easy."

Aristotle: Metaphysics, a, 1.

Anniversary

2006-05-17T03:11:00.000-07:00

Fourty years ago this week the Chinese Cultural Revolution started at the behest of Chairman and Madam Mao.

Of All the Useless Things in the World ...

2006-05-15T01:45:00.000-07:00

Did you guys know that Wikipedia also come in Esperanto?

I Love Living in the Future

2006-05-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I am posting about his, but I am sure that only nomikkh and John W. will care (or even know what I am talking about). Basically this post will only interest those who know what 'AMV' means, ... or want to know.

In my random drunkin late night searching on youtube.com tonight I ran across two Soul Coughing "music videos",

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-SBpDjiILM&search=soul%20coughing%20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYtF1T1C4PM&search=soul%20coughing%20

The first is of "Circles" added to a clip of the Flinstones, and the secons of "Rolling" added to a Betty Boop clip. The info at the site says that Catoon Network made them, although it wouldn't suprise me if they are the real music videos made by the band. If I had to guess I would say they where made in about '97 or '98, and I would say that not becuse I know anything about video editing software, but that is about when Sould Coughing was hip and cutting edge .

My point in bringing this up is that these two videos seem antique to me and I was wondering if any one else, used to wathing new AMVs, might agree. In the "Circles" video the editors did not even try to match the cartoons movements to the beat of the music, and although the second one does better you get the sense that it is because there is just more flow in the cartoon to go with the music.

Compare this with any classic or highly rated AMV and you will see a world of difference, such videos like this or this or the classic . Has video editing advanced this much in eight years? If computers made it possible for everybody to be an editor, does that mean that the bar had been raised to new hights? I think so, Anyone can now do a much better job at Soul Coughing videos (f they knew who soul coughing was). Another example of the same thing is audio editing, I couldn't imagine anyone getting a record deal for doing what the Jerky Boys did (back in 1992) because we can all do that now; Here is the proof.

My New Addiction

2006-04-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

... is D minor. I have become infatuated with the dark deep sounds of the greatest of the minor keys. Once you get to know this wonderful key you'll never go back to E flat major or C major. Here is a short list of some of the great music in D minor,

J.S. Bach - Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080
" - Concerto for Keyboard, BWV 1052
" - Toccata Und Fugue, BWV 538
Mozart - Concerto for Piano No 20, K 466
" - Requiem, K 626
Beethoven - Symphony No 9, Choral, Op 125
" - Piano Sonata No 17, Tempest, Op 31 No 2
Brahms - Piano Concerto No 1, Op 15
Mahler - Symphony No 3

"You'll come for the ashes, but stay for the cross"

2006-04-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

I do not know why so many people in the clergy think that the laity want their theology lite and their liturgy feel good. Today, Good Friday, the local parish church was packed. The same was true of yesterday, Palm Sunday, and Ash Wednesday. Of course the reason for this is that many people who don't go to church regularly come "for the ashes". Fr Neuhaus mentioned the same thing on Ash Wednesday; that people like to go get ashes even if they aren't Catholic now, or never where. I don't want to sound like I am pessimistic about this, I am very happy it. Nor do I think that it is great only because it can bring a lot of people back into the Church. In fact it might bring very few people back. I say that because, speaking from my own experience, if I ever left the church I would still go to mass on Ash Wednesday and service on Good Friday. There is just something about these two services that is so transcendent I don't even know what to say it transcends. Maybe its bing reminded where are mortal in one, and that we bow to something greater than ourselves (in the veneration of the cross) in the other. Pretty soon though we are going to have to start calling, to borrow a term, thes guys "lenten" or "Holy Week" Catholics, instead of Christmas Catholics.

One More Reason to Ask for My $85,000 Back

2006-04-05T03:56:00.000-07:00

Poor Hippocrates G.

2006-04-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

In doing research for a paper I ran across an old review of a book written by my good friend Hippocrate G. Apostle (in Ancient Philosophy volume 13 if you care). In the short article was a great line that sums up every thing you ever need to know about Hippocrates G. as a philosopher.

"The philosophy in this book is pretty slavishly Aristotelian, and it is also pretty bad, not because it is Aristotelian, but because it is slavish. "

Gossip

2006-03-31T10:59:00.000-08:00

One of my habits that freaks me out is my ability to collect random gossip. In spite of the fact that I live on the northern tip of an island that is eight thousand miles from where most of my family and school peers live I still seem to know far too much about there lives. Well I have some great gossip (that is, not the bad kind) about a fellow TACer. Well actually I don't know him since he graduated long before I ever went to TAC. Here is the gossip. Sean Kelsey just got tenure at UCLA, I think that means sometime this year.

How do I know this? Well that is the funny bit. I was talking to a St. Andrews professor last night, and she asked me where I did my undergrad. I told her. She said that she knew the place because she was a Princeton when Sean Kelsey was there, that she keeps in touch with him, and she reads his papers for him. She ended with, "oh and he just got tenure". Yet one more proof that the world is a small small small small place.

My First, Last, and Only Post About Anime

2006-03-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

Most, if not all, of my readers will have spent a good deal of their lives in Ridley's van drinking. If you are one of these readers, you'll remember the all night drinking, hot boxing ten packs of smokes in an enclosed space, Marian and Joe going out to talk every ten minutes, and me going out to puke in the bushes ever fifteen minutes. (Now that I think about it, that was only two years ago. Why does it feel so much longer?) You will also remember watching movies and Family Guy, and Futurama and all sorts of random stuff on Ridley's laptop. An all time favorite, at least for Nomikkh, was Cowboy Bebop.

Although I do not consider my self a devotee of the Japanese Animated arts I was quite impressed by the show. I even went so far as to introduce my brothers to the Cowboy Bebop movie. They were not amused.

Since I am on break from class this week I just sit around and watch stuff on my computer. However, the University does not allow me to use P2P software via their network (I guess they don't want to get sued). So you could imagine my excitement when I found a website in which I could stream all 26 episodes of Cowboy Bebop (youtube.com). Well I spent all day Saturday and all day Sunday (minus one hour for mass) watching every episode in order.

I must say the show is more impressive when watched in one go and in order. Also I think the show is far superior to the movie. I think that is because the movie lacks a lot of the humor that the show has. The show's eccentricities are also easier to take when you really know the ins and out of the whole metastory. For example Ed, the first time I watched the show I was not exactly a fan of her. This time when I watched it I really liked her, and I could see why Nomikkh was her biggest fan. It even got to the point that when I watched episode 24 I ... Well I felt really sad.
That is the hallmark of a great TV show. When we flip channels all day, and see Fear Factor and Big Brother we forget that TV can be artistic, every bit as good as movies. Cowboy Bebop is in that category of truly great TV shows, that is something I say about only four other shows: Fawlty Towers, Simpsons, Futurama, and The Office (UK). Pretty good company I say.

Capote

2006-03-26T00:45:00.000-08:00

I finally saw Capote at the local theater. Only six months after it came out in the US. I liked it, of course. Much better than the gay cowboy movie.

Mea Culpa

2006-03-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

If you read my blog regularly, which I don't expect you to do, I recently posted about some nut job who happens to think he is more Catholic than the pope. This blogger has pointed out that I should show respect to the trad movement, and not judge it by one crazy person. I see the point and accept the criticism. I do try to show genuine respect, but I often stumble. So I recant any comments I made about the wider Trad Catholics based on this one jerk.

Analytic Thomism or Averroism: There Is No Third

2006-03-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

In the book Essays on the Aristotelian Tradition by Anthony Kenny there is an essay called "Body, Soul, and Intellect in Aquinas". This essay should be required reading for any one who gives a fig about Aquinas' philosophy of the mind; which should be everybody. For any good TACer there is a lot to think about and a lot to disagree with, but I just want to quote Kenny's conclusion,

We must add Wittgenstein to Aquinas if we are to save Aquinas from falling despite himself into the arms of Averroes.

Aquinas in October

2006-03-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

You guys know about the 61 volume edition of the Summa Theologiae right? It was published in the 60's, and translated and edited by the Blackfriars of Oxford University. You know, they had it at school, and they came in three colors (on for each part of the Summa). It was great for four reasons,

1. The translations where fluid and not overly technical.
2. There was the Latin test on the facing pages, just in case the translation was bad.
3. There where extensive notes, introductions, and appendices.
4. The whole edition was divided up by treatise, so you didn't have to carry around the whole summa, if you just wanted say the treatise on law.

Well, guess what? Cambridge University Press is republishing the whole 61 volumes. Also they are revising a few of the translations, and keeping the facing Latin. We just have to wait until October that's all. Oh, and I think they are doing hardback and paperback (though I am not too sure about that). I figure the hard back will be about $60 a volume, and paper $20 a volume. So that is $3660 or $1220 for the best investment in you life.

However, for all of you serious Thomists out there (who know you're Latin too) that means that the Leonine Opera Ominiais cheaper (at about $3400) than the Cambridge Summa. But You can buy the Cambridge Summa piece by piece.

I am going to go for the hard back, how about you?

Finally Someone Who Thinks I'm Too Liberal

2006-03-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Alright, so some SSPX* guy came up with a quiz. It is a fine example off why the SSPX is dying; good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. Not only is it foolish, but more than a little offensive; as well as homophobic**. Click on the link and enjoy.

Oh and if you want to know, I scored between being the Anti-Christ and worshiping dirt. Kinda funny since I am a Catholic in union with the Church.

*You all know what this means, unless you don't. If you don't, you're lucky. Oh and I want to point out that I love Pius X, and I think that it is a bad thing indeed that the SSPX have stolen him from his rightful Church.

** Homophobic in that closeted self-hating gay sort of way. I would not be surprised if the author is a gay man in denial.

What am I doing in philosophy?

2006-03-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

From the New York Press,

A recent job posting at the City University of New York offered a position in teaching literature, rhetoric and composition. The instructor (not professor) had to publish and carry a full load of teaching, which includes grading papers and consulting with students after class. Candidates had to have a “doctorate from an accredited university” and “demonstrated excellence in teaching.”?The salary started at $35,031

Another job posting offered a position that required a bit less education:?plumber. The qualified candidate had to know how to repair pipes and have five years of experience.

The salary began at $77,483.

"I think we should see other philosophers"

2006-03-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

Alright, I was going to do a serious post today, but Dianne D. sent me a hilarious list of philosopher's breakup lines. I did, however, find them a little unrealistic; because philosophers usually don't have girlfriends to break up with. Anyways here they are (my top three are 'Plantingian', 'Polish Logician', 'Kripke 2' (especially if you've ever heard about Kripke's predilections).

Plantingian: A possible world with you and I together for the foreseeable future hasn't been actualized.

Chisholmian: The ideal definition, which I've taken seventy-five little steps toward, doesn't contain your name. So hit the trail.Posted by: David at March 12, 2004 10:19 AM

Quinian - To you it might have appeared that we were really together, but our relationship was just a bunch of undetached dating parts.

Paraconsistent logician v.2 - We can break up, but we'll still be together. . . and that does not imply anything (everything).

Polish Logician - BreakupYouMe

Structuralist Logician - You and I do not satisfy what it is to be in a "going out" relationship.

Hempel -
Explanans:
People are only together when both parties want to be seeing each other. (General Law)
I no longer want to see you (particular fact)
Explanandum:
Therefore we are no longer together. (explanation of why we are not dating)

Plato - We no longer participate in the Form of dating.

Leibniz (v2) Our relationship clearly did not make for the best of all possible worlds, and that is why we are no longer in it.

Kripke - Our relationship does not exist in the actual world, but perhaps in some other possible world.

Kripke 2 - I thought I was going out with someone named "Schmidt".

Indeterminacy theorist - I was never able to quite pinpoint our relationship anyway.

William James - Our breaking up is live, forced, and momentous. So take it on faith that we are no longer together.

Seminar at Princeton

2006-02-26T02:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you straussians, platonists, and neo-thomist know about this seminar at Princeton, but I imagine you might be interested. Its a summer graduate seminar in Metaphysics, Ethics, and Politics in the Thomistic and Analytic Traditions. That is HOT. You Catholic U guys might know about it because Michael Gorman is going to be there. Check it out and come if you hearing about it for the first time. Also if you already knew about it, are you applying. The faculty is unbelievable: Nicholas Rescher, Mark Murphy, and the above mentioned Michael Gotman.

I think the TACers should take the seminar over. Just think if we got Zep, Wink, Neoteronous, and Bissex all to come. (Who else is studying philosophy anyway?) I hope I'll see you there.

"It glorifies Satan in some way"

2006-02-20T02:15:00.000-08:00

In the Denver Post, which I still read online, there was a commentary piece by Ed Quillen. In it he speaks about the latest school curriculum scandal. The scandal is erupting in Bennett Colorado, a town that is small, ugly, and ... well small. What is happening? Are they trying to kick Evolution out of the curriculum ? Are teachers sneaking prayers into the classes? Not really.

A few weeks ago the elementary music teacher, Tresa Waggoner, showed portions of a video designed to introduce children to opera. The 1859 opera was "Faust" by Charles Gounod, a French composer of church music.

First, let it be said that the Bennett school district is to be commended for having an elementary music program. So many schools these days have eliminated music and art programs.

I can't even think of a practical economic rationale for such cuts, since I know many people who make their livelihoods from music and art, while I've never known even one professional football player. You'd think that if schools were preparing children for careers, they'd keep the programs that offer the most career possibilities. If the idea is to produce educated citizens, music and art are certainly important parts of our culture.

He then goes on to explain the story of Faust; which I find embarrassing. I live in a country in which no one can be expected to know the plot of Faust. After all Faust stands with Troy and Arthur as one of the defining legends of our civilization. If we can't expect people to know about Faust, what can we expect them to know?

Any way back to article, Quillen is spot on when he says,

Faustian themes illuminate modern discussions of capital punishment and stem-cell research.

This seems to be beside the point for certain concerned parents of Bennett, one of whom said, "It glorifies Satan in some way."

That's because a major character in all Faust versions is Mephistopheles, the demon who represents Satan while transacting with Faust. Mephistopheles is a complex character, who comes running for Faust's soul at his first opportunity, but also implores, "Oh, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands, Which strike a terror to my fainting soul."

This is hardly a glorification of Satan, who is, after all, a necessary character in such accounts. To put this another way, the Bible would be a very short book without Satan.

Other parents complained that their children had nightmares from the video about opera. I can still remember the childhood nightmares I had after watching "The Wizard of Oz" for the first time - some works, no matter how innocuous, can do that.

But how far are we supposed to go in the prevention of child
hood nightmares? Can we guarantee that children riding the bus to school won't pass some gruesome nightmare-generating auto accident? Or that nightmares will never be provoked by "Hansel and Gretel," "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Bird Hunting with Dick Cheney"?

The more one ponders this, the more it appears that those concerned parents ought to demand that the school present a full production of Marlowe's Faustus to the youngsters. Mephistopheles might get many of the best of Marlowe's mighty lines, but the play is a straightforward tale of a man who is damned for seeking knowledge.

And that seems to be the exact attitude of those parents - seeking knowledge is an evil which must be punished.

Oh, To be Forty Years Older

2006-02-13T12:41:00.001-08:00

Father Neuhaus writes today,

Big Bill Jones is dead. Those of us a certain age keep an eye on the leaves hanging on our branch of the tree of life, wondering which will fall next. That’s one of the reasons I hang out with Avery Cardinal Dulles, age 87, who seems to be attached where the sap flows strong.

The Rev. William A. Jones was for more than forty years pastor of Bethany Baptist, a huge church in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, the largest black community in New York. As best I remember, we first met in 1962 in a protest against the exclusion of blacks from major construction unions in the city. We spent the night in jail, and he was excellent company. It would not be our last time to be arrested together.

Bill was a bear of a man, with a musical voice that rumbled a couple of octaves below middle C. He remained very much a man of the conventional left, viewing Rudolph Giuliani as a fascist or worse, and given to elegantly outrageous homiletical riffs on Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush as Pharaohs.

Martin King at his very best may have been the greatest master of black preaching I have ever heard. For steady greatness, nobody was more reliable than Gardner Taylor of Concord Baptist in Brooklyn. Bill Jones was in their class, as those who knew him from “Bethany Hour,” broadcast in hundreds of cities, can testify. He was big and ebullient. He didn’t have a theological bone in his body but he loved Jesus. More precisely, I think he loved the Bible stories of which Jesus was the hero.

I regret that we lost touch in recent years. There was a roughness about him. I once called him “God’s gangster,” and he wore the title with pride. But I suppose I remember him chiefly as a man greatly amused by the ways of the world, and by his place in it. William A. Jones. Requiescat in pace.

Plato and Platonists

2006-02-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

I am posting my reply to Shulamite and Neoteronous because it is too long to put in the comment section and because my points are also important for my current thoughts about philosophy generally.
First I am not putting Plato down. To say that Wittgenstein had tools that where unavailable to Plato is an incontrovertible truth. This has no bearing on Plato's place as a "great" philosopher. Consider other academic disciplines. Gibbon is still a great historian even though his actual history has been superseded by recent scholarship: a more indepth study of sources and archeology etc.. The development in philosophy over the last 24 centuries is not superficial or formal (in the non-logical sense). Then again I never said it was getting better. After all most, if not all the great philosophers of the 20th century have looked back to earlier philosophies (by that I exclude the contenetial school not from prejudice but from lack of familiarity). The best example of this is modern epistemology; which still wrestles with Humean skepticism (I think has finally been answered by Puttnam). Because philosophy is not an exact science like physics the wisdom of the ages plays an extremely important roll for it, and that is the truth that I base my Aristotelianism on.

I think Neoteronous and me are on the same page on this point. If not please explain to me how not.

As for the Shulamite's form/matter argument that is a bigger story. I will grant him something I don't believe before I give my argument. I will grant him this,

... what is Plato's account of philosophy, of that thing which he was doing? He views it as an attempt to assimilate oneself to the life of God, to prepare oneself for death. Said another way, philosophy is a meditation on, and an assimilation of eternal things, according to that part that is eternal within us. To say that Plato means something else by philosophy is to fundamentally misunderstand what he is doing, and confuse the per se with the per accidens.

The reason I don't agree with this is that I think it gives us an impoverished sense of Plato. Plato did seek the Good in his philosophy but that is not all he sought. The Cratylus, Sophist and the other late dialogues prove that Plato was very concerned with other things as well. Indeed that is the wonderful thing that the Plato's opus shows us. He started with ethical and theological concerns and ended up in linguistic analysis (just like modern philosophy). All the same I said I would grant this point.

So suppose that Plato is primarily a philosopher of religion (in the modern sense); not overly concerned with all the things that those annoying analytics like to do (linguistics, meaning, logic). If this is true can we still compare him with Wittgenstein the supreme analytic, the philosopher who believed that philosophy was only linguistic analysis? I say yes.

Now I can see how my point in the original post was unclear. I did not mean to say that Wittgenstein will be shown better than Plato, but only that we would start to see deficiencies in Plato, lacunas in his thought, blind spots. This cannot be turned around on Wittgenstein and say that because Wittgenstein didn't do traditional metaphysics he had a blind spot. Because Wittgenstein didn't have a blind spot; he just rejected traditional metaphysics. There is a huge difference between ignorance of (Plato) and rejection of (Wittgenstein).

Now my last point. Going back to Plato the philosopher of religion and Wittgenstein the philosopher of language there is no equivocation in the 'philosopher' at this point. The Platonist can argue against Wittgensteinians and say they are wrong in ignoring the Good. The Wittgensteinian probably won't care, but that won't take away from any valid argument that the Platonist made. Likewise the Platonist better cover his arguments in modern logic lest he fall into fallacy. Because this dialogue between platonism and analytics can still exist, and indeed does (and further consider John Haldane calling himself an 'analytic-thomist) I think that the burden of proof lies with you. I see no equivocation; I see quite the opposite.

Blogger Comments

2006-02-11T09:48:00.001-08:00

In general I don't comment about other's blogs on my blog, and I also don't usually read anything with the word 'vomit' in the title. I did run into an interesting post over at Vomit to Lukewarm though, and I thought it deserved comment. He makes a funny but good point about classical poetry,

To complain that Latin is a dead language can only be a part of a proof of the fact that dead men are the only ones worth listening to. The sort of thing that Virgil does with words simply cannot be done in English, and the craftsmanship of what he does can no more be done by a modern writer than an ancient doctor could perform interuterine surgery or build the space shuttle. One can certainly talk about "beautiful modern poetry", but this means about the same thing as "cutting edge- 13th century chemistry".

But then he goes and says something that one can only describe as BAT SHIT CRAZY.

There is something to comparing Tennyson or Rimbaud to Cutullus, for example, but it would be utterly meaningless to try to compare, say, Wittgenstein to Plato, as though the two could be measured by a common unit.

What the hell does that mean? I say let us compare Wittgenstein to Plato, and Plato is going to come out the worst for it (sorry guys but it's true). Let's see, Plato didn't have
(1) Logic
(2) the distinction between sense and reference
(3) the notion of a demonstrable argument
and a whole bunch of other shit that is slightly important if you want to find the truth about anything. I hate to tell you guys this but philosophy develops. When someone comes around and discovers something, (like Aristotle and logic, Boethius and the fourth figure, Russell and formal logic) it makes the subsequent philosophy better.

Mr. Vomit might say that that proves his point, Plato is missing so much that Wittgenstein is taking for granted that there can be no comparison. I say this is the wrong way of looking at it. We can never know what Plato's blind spots are if we don't compare him with later philosophers. To say otherwise would result in the conclusion that we cannot point out the logical fallacies in a Socratic argument.

Granville Ohio, Here I come

2006-02-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

Are you guys as excited about going to Granville Ohio as I am? I'm not talking about for a vacation but for a conference that can only be described as sexy. The 2006 annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. Still not excited? Well the conference them is "Intelligence and the Philosophy of Mind". If you are still not excited yet, and you would have to be dead not to be, then check this out. The plenary speakers are,

John Haldane (University of St. Andrews)
Anthony Kenny (Oxford University)
Kurt Pritzl (The Catholic University of America)

I know, I know. I am looking for plane tickets already too. See you all there.

TAKE THAT!!! WORLD

2006-02-02T10:48:00.000-08:00

48 hours ago I thought I was leaving St Andrews in shame and poverty. Now I am staying at St Andrews, at least until May, in extreme poverty. Oh, and I got an Internship at the Center for the Study of Religion and Politics doing research into Benedict XVI's encyclical Deus Caritas Est, and the magisterium's political philosophy.

HA!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan: 1. Reality: 30,000,000

More Herodotus

2006-01-25T02:44:00.002-08:00

The end of book III is the gift that keeps on giving. First I was wrong the part with the people copulating in the open is in book III and not book I. Here is is;

All the Indian tribes ... copulate in the open like cattle; there skins are all of the same colour, much like the Ethiopias'. Their semen is not white like other peoples', but black like there own skins; the same is to be found in the Ethiopians.
Book III 101.

The editor of the volume I have says that Aristotle corrects Herodotus on this point in Hist. Anim. III 22.

If you enjoyed that one, then I got more for you.

It is clear that it is the northern part of Europe which are the richest in gold, but how it is procured I cannot say exactly. The story goes that the one-eyes Arimaspians steal it from the griffins who gaurd it; personally, however, I refuse to believe in one-eyed men who in other respects are like the rest of men.
Book III 116.

And my favorite:

Another tribe ... known as the Pardaei. ... Among their coustoms, it is said that when a man falls sick, his closest companions kill him, because, as they put it, their meat would be spoilt if he were allowed to wast away with disease. The invalid, in these circumstances, protests that there is nothing the matter with him - but to no purpose. His friends refuse to acccept his protestations, kill him and hold a banquet. ... If anyone is lucky enough to live to an advanced age, he is offered in sacrifice before a banquet - this, however, rearely happens, because most of them will have had some deisease or other before they get old, and will consequently have been killed by their friends.
Book III 99.

Who Wants to be a Teacher?

2006-01-25T02:44:00.001-08:00

I ran across this, which is both funny and worrisome. Its about the intense competition in hiring for humanities departments. The author tells the story off one nervous philosophy applicant who tries to explain logic.

All men are mortal.

Socrates is mortal.

Therefore, Socrates is a man.

I raised my hand. "Birds are mortal too, aren't they?" I asked, hoping he would correct his error.

"Yes," our teacher agreed.

"So Socrates could be a bird?"

He smiled benignly. "No. Socrates doesn't have feathers."

Herodotus, again

2006-01-17T04:43:00.002-08:00

Another Classic from the master historian:

[Pharaoh] was blind for ten years, and in the eleventh he received an oracle ... to the effect that ... he would recover his sight, if he washed his eyes with the urine of a woman who had never lain with any man except her husband. [Pharaoh] tried his wife first, but without success.
Book II, 111.

Herodotus

2006-01-17T04:43:00.001-08:00

With little gems like this, it's no wonder Herodotus is the greatest historian ever:

"In the old days the Telmassians had pronounced that Sardis would never be taken if Meles, who was king at the time, carried round the walls the lion which his concubine had borne him. "

Man, That's Weird!

2006-01-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

Wavelet has tagged me so I guess I’ll give you my five weirdest habits. Well ok, most of you already know them, like things I do when I get drunk and nervous, and so on. In that case I’ll give you my five weirdest habits that no-one or almost no-one knows about.

1. Canned tuna. Yes I did just write ‘canned tuna’. When I was in High School I moved into a small apartment with my father when my parent’s marriage was in its death throes. Since my father was out of town for three days a week, it was like living on my own without paying rent. I had a lot of fun, but I also had to buy my own groceries. I quickly found out that canned tuna was a cheap and delicious meal. It could make melts, casseroles (or my abortive attempts at casseroles), salads, wraps, even a gumbo with rice and pinto beans (which I think stands out as the worst meal I have ever had). While at college I never really ate it, but once I moved out and had to start cooking again, canned tuna has again taken its rightful place in my diet.

2. Humor at the expense of my deeply held beliefs. Some of you might know I do this. When I’m around people who vaguely know my religious and political beliefs but are not the closest of old friends I will often mock my beliefs. To do this I collect many Catholic jokes. I have meet few people who know as many priest and alter boy jokes as me. Or Sectarian jokes that always come out worse for the Catholics. Likewise with politics I make fun of being a conservative republican all the time. “Sure I voted for Bush” I’ll say “But only because I want him to invade Azerbaijan.” Needless to say I love jokes about Dick Cheney, Condi, and Rumsfield.

3. Sweeney Todd lyrics. I never go more than two or three days without running through a large chunk of the lyrics in Sweeney Todd. I do it when I’m walking. I’ll just be thinking about whatever, than I’ll start humming a song from the musical. Then I’ll jump from song to song going through the lyrics and melodies in no particular order. I sometimes shift over into a Little Night Music too: Humming Send in the Clowns, or Now/Later/Soon. This might sound crazier than it is. After all Sondheim is one of the greatest English language word smiths and so you can play around with his double and triple entendres for a long time. My favorite song being They all Deserve to Die.

4. Buying CDs like reference books. Often I’ll by CDs but just to have around for reference, even though I know I won’t listen to that often. Things like ancient Greek chant, Renaissance Spanish pilgrim ballads, sung Russian Orthodox liturgies, early Louis Armstrong recordings, recordings of early 20th Century musicians playing classical repertoire pieces (of which I can get much better new recordings), and contemporary eastern European composers. Mostly these just sit around and collect dust, but I love them, and if any one ever needs to compare Homeric odes with Russian chant I’m the guy to talk to.

5. I save articles from major on-line reference sites. After I check something on the on-line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy or the Dictionary of National Biography I always save the article to my hard drive. I have no idea why. These sites will be around longer than I will, its not like I need to save them from disappearing. Most of them are also free and require no registration. Granted you have to be at a school with a subscription to the Dictionary of National Biography to access it, but still why bother saving the articles? I now have a large collection of these sites’ articles for no real reason. This is combined with my habit of saving news reports, commentary pieces, and journal articles about major world events. I has very upset when I had to re-format my hard drive and I lost my collection of articles about Iran’s nuclear program, and Ukraine’s orange revolution and ever thing else. Again I have no idea why I do this. All I know is, I don’t want to live in a world where I don’t have a large library of saved articles, historical and contemporary, on my computer.

Being opinionated at Berkeley

2006-01-15T14:34:00.000-08:00

This might be considered political, again I'm tying to stop but old habits die hard; it really has more to do with the state of public debate in America. Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd stroking their egos at Berkeley. Yes you read that right! The two biggest egos in the country can get bigger if there is a whole room full of adoring Berkeley journalism students. Friedman, who is the better writer and thinker, of course sounds better. MoDo, however, is so fun because she is always incredibly self-centered. The event claims to be about being an opinion columnist in America, but it is really about why Friedman and Dowd are wonderful people. In other words it has more to do with what is wrong with public debate in America. All that is left in public debate is intellectual masturbation.

Teddy, You Are an Idiot!

2006-01-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, I don't like to do political blog post anymore, but I have to do it today. What is wrong with the Alito hearings? The dems are acting like a bunch of Zombies. Their going "brains!" but moving too slow to to catch up with Alito and eat his yummy grey stuff. This is a real sleeper. At least Roberts was cute and cuddly with body poster that said "you hate me, but you can't do anything about me running the SCOTUS for the next thirty years". After today though I like Alito more than before, and more bleh about the Dems. I mean even Teddy and Feiny aren't being fun.

On another note, I have my finals on Friday and Monday. I get to spend the next 36 hours learning every thing done in the last forty years of epistemology and the philosophy of mind.

"I Find the Most Erotic Part of a Woman is the" ... Ah, Forget It!!!

2006-01-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

No one else has said it so I will. This whole blog thing is getting old. Face it when those old foggies over at First Things have a blog you know its not cool any more. I mean it was one thing when it was this gay guy and don't forget this gay guy, but now strait people and democrats have blogs. Not to mention a quite lucrative porn blogging group. What has driven me to this rant is that my a fellow graduate student here has linked to me on his blog. My problem is that his blog is good. Its about philosophy, logic, and stuff that will help him get a job. My blog is mostly jokes. So I have come to a cross roads, and I was wondering if any one cares. In general most of the TAC grad blogs are dying. Sean, Koobs, Feil, Emma have not bloged in a long while. Emma has not blogged since summer, and let us not forget Marian's abandonment of us. On top of that the comments have gone away too. I mean its only so long you can write without some feedback. I am not saying that what I write is all worth commenting on, but when it isn't tell me. I try to tell Danny every time he is full of it. (Like when he started making metaethical points and tried to pass them off as ethical points, I mean the nerve of it!) If you don't give a rat's ass about what is in this month's issue of the New York Communist tell me (good magazine by the way, I suggest April 04). So I have one idea to save my blog. Going high brow, i.e. blogging so that I can contribute to my chosen career. Does any one want my blog to become a clearing house for my random philosophy papers? The problem is, I can't justify a blog as a message board, (and this works just as well) and I have no idea what the hell this damn blog is about now. I mean do I want it to be a fine arts thing, a philosophy thing, a religion thing, a political thing, or a sick joke thing. All I know is that this one's for the Gipper.

Am I the Last One to Hear About This?

2006-01-05T02:18:00.000-08:00

But Big John Almeida and Mollie Coughron are, finally, engaged. Wedding in late August: Kansas City. Which is great, because I'll be back in time to go. See you all there. Let's teach those Coughron girls how to drink like Scotsmen.

2005 Favorites

2005-12-30T08:23:00.000-08:00

Aletheia just did something like this. I guess its something you think about at the end of the year. Well if any one cares I am going to give you my favorites for Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi 2005.

Favorite person (that is, the person who let me sleep on her floor for three nights, bought drinks a few occasions, and generally just showed me a good time in the Big Apple.)

Marian Kummerline

Favorite unpaid job,

Independence Institute

Favorite paid job,

(Blank)

Favorite discovery of mine that got me the nick-name 'dildo Dan'

Favorite web site discovery,

Wikipedia

Favorite new blog,

First things

Favorite old blog that I found this year,

Joey McKeown

Favorite blog post,

Joey, free and liberal man

Favorite new movie (I only saw about ten movies this year),

King Kong

Favorite concert, show, opera I saw,

Opera Colorado's The Marriage of Figaro

Favorite new book (published in the last two years),

Anne Applebaum Gulag: A History

Favorite old book,

Eberhard Bethge Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography

Favorite philosophy book,

G.W.F. Hegel Elements of the Philosophy of Right

Favorite Book that was written about my college, or by someone who went to my college,

Naomi Schaefer Riley God on the Quad

Favorite painter I did not know existed before I went to an exhibition of his paintings,

David Alfaro Siqueiros

Favorite painting I always knew existed, but had never seen before,

Favorite purchase that has made my life better,

Glenn Gould (1955): Bach Goldberg Variations BWV988

Well that's all I can think of right now.

Pat Robertson is a Jerk ... But so is Daniel Dennett

2005-12-27T15:44:00.000-08:00

The problem with free will is that some real jerks can agree with you without your prior consent. For example, being a Christian, with political leanings towards the right, I sometimes find myself in cahoots with a bunch of crazies. On the other hand, going into analytic philosophy means that sometimes I'm bed fellows with a bunch of bastards. When I become King of the World I won't let Pat Robertson or Daniel Dennett ever speak again!

I have noticed that Joseph Bottum, of First Things, shares my predicament. Especially in regards to "intelligent design". Over at FT's blog he writes,

Once again, for the third or fourth time in the last century and a half, the battle over evolution has reignited. In some ways, this is unintelligible. How can we still be having this fight? But in another way, the return of agitation about Darwin is perfectly predictable, for the mainstream consensus has finally failed us. Except that it wasn't the Bible-only people who broke the great compromise. It was instead the Darwin-only people.

Amen, brother Bottum. Can't we just go back to the good old days, and let science be science and philosophy of science be philosophy of science. (To the end of my days, I'll never know how religion got in there. After all, say you "prove" a designer, well your left with the 'god of the philosophers'. A god who is as far from the 'God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' as you can get.)

On the other hand, I love how the neo-Darwinians are shootingthemselvess in the foot every time the get a chance to. For example, check out the debate between William Dembski of Baylor and Lee Silver of Princeton. Dembskiwipess the floor with him. Silver never actuallyrespondes to Dembski's points, and by the end the audience (a Princeton audience no less) is rooting for the IDer. It's great; check it out.

Mad Mel

2005-12-26T02:08:00.000-08:00

Mel Gibson has been going crazy ever since he did a movie called Mad Max. He has now reached the point of clinical insanity. In the teaser for his latest crime against good filmmaking, Apocalypto, he inserted a picture of himself hanging out with decrepit lepers. If you haven't checked it out yet, here is what you do. Play the teaser (I don't think it works on the hi-def one) go to 1:46 or around there. Pause the player and advance frame by frame. You'll jump out of your seat when you see this,

Rag Update

2005-12-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I've done this, and I am pretty sure no one reads the articles when I do. Still its my blog, and I want to update you on all the great articles I've read in recent days, in case you missed them.

First Things

I think Fr. Neuhaus has the best article on Katrina and New Orleans that I have read.

St. Andrew's resident 'Analytic Thomist' John Haldane has a great article on the current state and end of philosophy. Side note, when I told him I went to TAC, he actually knew the school, and had the blue book in his library.

About Last Night

Terry Teachout, who is the drama critic for the Wall Street Journal and music critic for Commentary, almost died two weeks ago. He has been posting about going to the hospital and not wanting to die. It's quite interesting and provoking. There is also a great NYC moment, when he the paramedic asks him,

"So youre a drama critic, huh?” one of them asked as they carried me down the stairs. My grandma is coming to town for Christmas—I want to take her to a show. What do you suggest?”

New York Times Magazine

Also about death, this article is quickly becoming a classic, I have ran into references to it all over lately. Its by David Rieff about the death of his mother Susan Sontag. Quote

There are those who can reconcile themselves to death and those who can't. Increasingly, I've come to think that it is one of the most important ways the world divides up. Anecdotally, after all those hours I spent in doctors' outer offices and in hospital lobbies, cafeterias and family rooms, my sense is that the loved ones of desperately ill people divide the same way.

National Review

Kathryn Jean Lopez and Peggy Noonan talking about John Paul II. Noonan says about the male-cenuniverseveras of the Vatican,

They [the bishops and Cardinals] have limited categories — "a woman is my mother who put me through seminary and taught me my faith." [... ] I think they need some Teresa of Avila's ... how to put ... kick their ass.

The New Atlantis

One year out The New Atlantis gets around to reviewing Tom Wolfe's I am Charlotte Simmons. It is by far the darkest of all the reviews I've read. Not because of the sex, but because of the scientific theories underlying Wolfe's understanding of human nature. As a corrective of this article see this one from the New Pantagruel.

At the Cemetery

2005-12-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

I decided to go walking through the St. Andrews cemetery today; which is less morbid than it sounds. The cemetery is on the cathedral grounds and is right in the middle of town. The above picture is of Adam Ferguson's grave, who was a one of the great philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenmen, and the author of Essay on Civil Society. Here is the inscription,

Here rest the Mortal Remains of Adam Ferguson, L.L.D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. He was born at Logierait in the County of Perth, on the 20th June, 1722, and died in this City of Saint Andrews, on the 22d day of February, 1816. Unseduced by the temptations of pleasure, power, or ambition, he employed the interval between his childhood and his grave with unostentatious and steady perseverance in acquiring and in diffusing knowledge, and in the practice of public and domestic virtue. To his venerated memory, this monument is erected by his children, that they may record his piety to God and benevolence to man, and commemorate the eloquence and energy with which he inculcated the precepts of morality, and prepared the youthful mind for virtuous actions. But a more imperishable memorial of his genius exists in his philosophical and historical works, where classic elegance, strength of reasoning, and clearness of detail, secured the applause of the age in which he lived, and will long continue to deserve the gratitude and commend the admiration of posterity.

And here a a few more photos.

War and Peace, 4

2005-12-15T02:19:00.000-08:00

I finished War and Peace and it only took nine weeks. Well kind of finished, I still have the second epilogue but I should read that tonight. I talked to Hope (she wrote her thesis on it) last night about the book. I hashed out my pet theories with her, some where just wrong, some tautological. When I read it for class senior year I was surprised by every one thinking that you either like Pierre or Andrey. Unless you are Mr. Wodzinski, in which case you don't like either. Hope belongs to the Pierre crowed; I belong to the the Andrey crowed; it was a long conversation.

I just cannot read the first epilogue without thinking that Pierre will fail in what he is trying to do. He will try to change Russia, join the Decemberists, be sent to Siberia, which will kill Natasha, and destroy his family. Not only that but the Decemberist revolt brought about the repressive regime of Nicholas I. Tolstoy, in his architectonic-no-free-will sort of way, thinks that Andrey and Nikolay Rostov do more for Russia by treating their sefs well, and living life for their families. You think Pierre learns this lesson, but he doesn't. On the other hand, Tolstoy greatly admired the Decemberists, so we can't say that Pierre is a bad man. I have a lot of thought about this, but they are far from organized.

As for the new translation, it is adequate. Anthony Briggs (the translator) did try to make the soldiers a little more soldierly; which is a needed corrective. My favorite example is when Kutuzov is giving his speech about 'seeing the French off' One of the older translations says,

But after all is said and done, who asked them to come here? It serves them right, the bÂ bÂ.

Ah, the good old days when you couldn't put swear words in print. I do like the way the new translation puts it,

They asked for it, the fucking bastards!

Because it is the first, last, and only time that a named character in War and Peace swears it holds special significance. In it comes all thhatreded that has been boiling over since the invasion started. It is shocking because in two words Tolstoy shows how much the Russians hate the French for invading, killing, pillaging, and raping. In a way its better than Andrey's speech before Borodino, or Kutuzov's 'I will make them eat horse flesh'.

So much for that. As for the rest of the translation. Any one will make mistakes in translating a 1400 page book, so I wont complain too much. Some of the more poetic moments in the book, however, don't come out very well in this translation. Like old Prince Bolkonsky's death. Also, in thdescriptionsns of Natasha the 'chit of a girl' is updated to 'slip of a girl'. Small point I know, but 'chit' and 'slip' don't mean the same thing. 'Slip of a girl' means that she is young and skinny. 'Chit of a girl' however means she is wild, exciting, youthful, and has a certain erotic charm; in other words Natasha. 'Chit' might not be a word used very much these days, but it is still the best word for Natasha and I see no reason to change it.

Vladimir & Gerhard: Two Peas in a Pod

2005-12-15T02:12:00.000-08:00

I liked this, but why are they holding hands?

Philosophical Humor

2005-12-13T03:35:00.000-08:00

This might be old news to all of you. But I just found a large diposit of Philosphical humor, funney songs, jokes, etc. All thanks to one of the greatest living philosophers David Chalmers. Everyone out here already knows about these, but you TACers might enjoy a few 'proofs for P'. I picked out most of the ones that where funney by there own lights and so you could enjoy them without knowing the philosopher.

Plato:

SOCRATES: Is it not true that p?
GLAUCON: I agree.
CEPHALUS: It would seem so.
POLEMARCHUS: Necessarily.
THRASYMACHUS: Yes, Socrates.
ALCIBIADES: Certainly, Socrates.
PAUSANIAS: Quite so, if we are to be consistent.A
RISTOPHANES: Assuredly.
ERYXIMACHUS: The argument certainly points that way.
PHAEDO: By all means.
PHAEDRUS: What you say is true, Socrates.

Stove:

While everyone knows deep down that p, some philosophers feel curiously compelled to assert that not-p, as a result of being closet Marxists. I shall label this phenomenon "the blithering idiot effect". As I have shown that all assertions of not-p by anyone worth speaking of, and several by people who aren't, are due to the blithering idiot effect, there remains no reason to deny p, which everyone knows deep down anyway. I won't even waste my time arguing for it any further.

Goldman:

Several critics have put forward purported "counterexamples" to my thesis that p; but all of these critics have understood my thesis in a way that was clearly not intended, since I intended my thesis to have no counterexamples. Therefore p.

Anselm:
I can entertain an idea of the most perfect state of affairs inconsistent with not-p. If this state of affairs does not obtain then it is less than perfect, for an obtaining state of affairs is better than a non-obtaining one; so the state of affairs inconsistent with not-p obtains; therefore it is proved, etc.

Fodor:

My argument for p is based on three premises:
q

r
and
p

From these, the claim that p deductively follows. Some people may find the third premise controversial, but it is clear that if we replaced that premise by any other reasonable premise, the argument would go through just as well.

Sellars' proof that p:

Unfortunately limitations of space prevent it from being included here, but important parts of the proof can be found in each of the articles in the attached bibliography.

Read all of them here

So, in the pit, you have a guy struggling on the natural horn; and on the stage you could have a guy dressed like Tinkerbell performing a sex act

2005-12-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

In an article this weekend that is more than a little condescending from the Financial Times, "Opera in America may lag behind Europe in innovative stagings ..."

Damn good thing, I say.

Of course, I must inform my European readers that the American Opera companies are tripping over themselves trying to turn the opera halls of North America into look-a-likes of the Euro-trash Discotheque that was once the Salzburg Mozarteum. I've been pained by productions of Rigoletto that where supposed to be the "iconaclastic", and a Handel opera that was supposed to be MGM musical. In all the cases the evening was ruined and the music tainted. The opera companies are looking for relevance, but the audience will simply start staying at home, listen to recordings. Better than being "shocked" by something that is not shocking, only childish.

Nothing is worse than Salzbug! I have never been, but like the crazy man that I am, I keep up with what is going on at the Festival. Just read this article. But why can't Salzburg put on an opera without nude under-age children? Or transvestites? Or fetisheque sexual innuendo? Why, in other words, can't they just put on Operas like when I was a kid?

Well, I'll Never Be Allowed To Teach At TAC Now!

2005-11-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

I am going to do something quite dumb. I am going to make enemies of the few readers I have (if I have any reader). Although that is by no means my intention. I am going to post on a philosophical topic. One that has been pestering me for some time now. I know some might be upset at me for doing this, and some others might disagree with what I say (if they ever read it). What I'm thinking is; St. Thomas Aquinas might be mistaken on a fundamental point.

"So what!" I hear someone yelling. Well the point is about the immortality of the soul. A pretty important concept in the Thomistic system. If I am not mistaken, Thomas premises the soul's immortality on the fact that all mental states (to use the modern term for the soul) are super physical. Yet he beautifully avoids Cartesian dualism.

Now, what if every mental state is found to correspond to a physical state? Which, of course, modern science has done. It is important to note, that what has not been shown is that universal mental states correspond to universal physical states, but that particular mental states thus correspond. What now? It seems Thomas' premise is wrong. Are we left with materialism?

Well no, because materialism doesn't work. Modern philosophy comes to the rescue in the form of identity theories. See especially Donald Davidson's Mental Events, and David Lewis' An Argument for the Identity Theory is helpful too. For Davidson, mental events are identical with physical events, but that does not mean that we can reduce mental events to physical. There is a logical distinction between the two events although ontologically they are identical (I could be wrong on this point, Davidson is quite hard to read.)

Of course, this has profound implications for Thomistic human nature. This means that the body and soul are only different in ratio and not in rei. Which means that we cannot prove the immortality of the soul. To which I respond "so what!" I think we could learn something from Kant here; we now have a space for faith. This last point, I think, goes too far, and there might be a way out. I'll keep looking.

Russia!

2005-11-26T03:13:00.000-08:00

Ah, it happened again! Yet one more huge exhibition in New York that I've missed in the last few years. First it was El Greco, and then Byzantine Art (as you remember both at the Met). Now it's Russia! at the Guggenheim Museum. It closes in January. What is so upsetting is that I could have gone to it. It opened on September 16, and I WAS F***ING IN NEW YORK THEN.

I don't know if it gets any better than this one.

Oh, Repin! One of the few great painters that could give Turnner a run for his money.

Soviet realism at its best.

Same again.

Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T02:42:00.000-08:00

I'll just pass on a couple of things I'm thankful for.

So, You Wannabe a Writer?

2005-11-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

Joey, Mairan, all you other folk, First Things is looking for you! Well ok they don't want to give you a job or any thing, but they want you to spend ten days in Jersey to learn to write.

“The first Southwell Creative Writing Workshop will take place June 15-25, 2006, at the Carmel Retreat House in Mahwah, New Jersey—which is about an hour from the New York City and Newark, N.J., airports. Each accepted applicant will receive a Southwell Scholarship covering all costs, including room and board, except for travel expenses to and from the Retreat House.

“The purpose of the workshop is to encourage a small group of interested, post-baccalaureate Catholics (ages 21-30) to develop their talents in creative writing from a traditional Catholic point of view.”

Sounds Crazy? I agree. But it is free, and in Jersey!

On another note. If any of you care (I'm sure none of you do) I am still reading War and Peace, and I will be posting soon about what I think of the new translation.

On another note. If any of you are looking for the perfect Christmas present for me. I found it. The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection: More than 1000 of the Greatest Classics (Paperback). Its a deal too at $7,989.50, that's $5,326.34 off the cover price. And Amazon throws in free shipping.

Those Darn Continentals

2005-11-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

"When Heidegger and Sarte entered the British field of consciousness after 1945 they astonished those who read or heard about them by their lack of intellectual decorum. Their successors in the leadership of intellectual fashion on the continent of Europe have kept up the bad work: Habermas, Foucault, Derrida. The gratuitous obscurity which is offered as a challenge and a reproach to the naive lucidity and pedestrian argumentativeness of the Anglo-Saxon empiricism more or less guarantees that what is said will be misunderstood, or, in the face of criticism, be help to have been misunderstood. "

Anthony Quinton (Baron Quinton of Holywell)

From: Values, Education and the Human World, ed. John Haldane

Classical Music! OHHHHHH YEAH!!!!!!!

2005-11-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

People sometimes ask me why I like classical music. I have two words for them, Hilary Hahn.

Public Service Announcement

2005-11-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

Tonight I ran across to of the greatest free resources on the Internet. I think that they will make a real contribution to the life of any person who takes the time to mine them.

1.) Book TV
C-Span's weekend show. On line they have archived a large amount of wonderful interviews. The best part or the "In Depth" interviews. Three hours with the who's-who in modern American intellectual life. They include Tom Wolfe, Bill Buckley, Howard Zinn, Victor Davis Hanson, and Fr. Neuhaus, etc. The only I have watched so far is Fr. Neuhaus , of course. Even though its three hours long it was never boring, much like every thing Neuhaus does. In it there is all sort of fun stuff. He considers Newton and Werner Heisenberg two of the most important men ever. Also you get too see him talk to a anti-Semite, and a Jewish caller who was mad that he didn't tell him off. You also get to see his office, where I never got a job. And he says that his home library is about 600-700 books.

2. Cocoa compilation
Took me a while to figure out how it works, and its pretty slow. It is a archive of classical music. Wonderful selection and good recordings. Every thing you ever wanted for free. Like I say, slow, but for the value it can't be beat.

Remembrance Day

2005-11-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing,
fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Gary Hart is a Cheating SOB

2005-11-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

I know that for most of you Colorado political culture is not that interesting. However, I think this might be of universal interest. On November 8 in a column in the Denver Post praised ex-Senator Gary Hart (D-Colo).

Back in the day, back when Gary Hart was running for office, candidates kept their religious faith to themselves.

Memories of genocide and religious persecution were still too fresh for any leader to dare suggest that his actions in office would be dictated by his religion.

"In those days you didn't use religion to get votes," the former U.S. senator from Colorado said Monday. "Nowadays you almost have to."
He does not consider this progress.

Obviously I take issue with every word of the above; finding it trite and full of cliche. What is so bazaar about this though is who Gary Hart is.

I don't know if any of you are old enough to remember, but Senator Hart ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1984 and again in 1988. The second time he had to more or less drop out because he was caught in an extra-marital affair. The column never once mentions this. Its good to know Gary Hart is upset on the whole drive for "values votes".

Birthday Presents

2005-11-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

I just found out the little theater in town, three whole screens, is going to be showing "Broken Flowers" next week. So, I'm only three months behind the rest of you in getting my Bill Murray fix. In another three months they should be showing "Copote", I hope. By the way, who has seen "Copote"? I just started reading "In Cold Blood" today, and this had convinced me I must see the movie. I also hear that Philip Seymour Hoffman's acting is even better than usual, if that is possible. Funny, if any one asked me who would be the best actor to play Capote, I would have said P.S. Hoffman. Not because it seems that he is typed cast as playing very gay men, but because he could be the best actor of our generation. (Yes today is my birthday, and I hate all of you who did not remember!)

HOLY S***!!!

2005-11-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

I don't know what to say.

Just Google "TAC"

2005-11-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

Ah, the wonders of Google! In one of my I-really-should-write-that-Hegel-paper-but-I-think-I'll-kill-time-doing-nothing moments I checked out Google's new blog search. Well I did what any self-respecting person would do, I blog-googled "Thomas Aquinas College" (and no, blog-googling "porn" is not what self respecting people do!). Well I found out all sorts of fun stuff. Like who else has blogs and suchuff. But the following two really caught my ete.

This comes from 'El Blog De Cruz y Fierro' who says,

En la 5ª posición encontramos al Thomas Aquinas College de Santa Paula (en California). Sobre el límite del Parque Nacional “Los Padres”, esta universidad es “el retiro perfecto... para ocuparse de la ‘gravitas’ de Tomás de Aquino”. Se dicta una única carrera: bachillerato (equivalente a nuestra licenciatura) en Artes Liberales. El plan consiste en un mínimo de 146 horas de matemática, filosofía, lenguas extranjeras, teología, ciencias y música. Los graduados suelen proseguir sus estudios, especializándose con éxito en las más diversas profesiones, en las principales universidades de los Estados Unidos y Europa.

Who Knew?

Also, I found a blog called 'Wanderings of my Mind' published by Kate. Now Kate is a freshmen this year, and she is full of that 'enthusiasm for the program'. I mention her because I found her comments on Don Rags funny. Where have I heard this before?

...well, it's just kind of tricky to explain unless you get the whole TAC works. Basically, I need to answer the opening question more, talk more in the first twenty minutes of class. What I'm doing well on is I'm really good with Latin, I'm approaching math with a quirky attitude the tutor apparently (I was surprised) likes and wants me to keep up, I'm thinking about theology with the right heart and mind, my seminar tutor said I need to constantly participate in the whole of seminar, not drift in and out, but that I really get the spirit of characters that the text is trying to say, my lab tutor said that I ask a lot of excellent questions, but I need to join the rest of the class in clarifying what the actual readings are saying more. . .and my philosophy tutor was sick, so I don't know how I'm doing there.So there, full story on the Don Rags before ye.

My favorites:

'I need to answer the opening question more'
'I'm approaching with a quirky attitude'
'my seminar tutor said I need to constantly participate in the whole of seminar, not drift in and out'
'I need to join the rest of the class in clarifying what the actual readings are saying more'
'my philosophy tutor was sick'

Ah, the memories.

Flavored or Ribbed? My Life Really Has Changed!

2005-10-30T09:29:00.000-08:00

I'm sure I'm not the first one to comment on this site, but I just found it today. There is a lot to say after wandering around the site for a couple of minutes. Like "I want my $85,000 dollars back!" or "I want my four years back!" or "thank God I haven't joined yet and started posting pictures of my children dressed as the pope!" or "Joey Mckeown! oh man! that just ruined your blog for me!" or "If I ever register with this site, you have the right to euthanize me, even if I seem perfectly healthy!"

I must admit though the school I am currently going to is just like my undergraduate alma mater. For example at the above web site you see questions like this,

I've heard people say that the Catholic Church changed its doctrine concerning the charging of interest. Is this true, and is it a failure of infallibility?

And at my current student union web site you get questions like this,

How to choose a condom
one that fits - more details
flavor, ribbed etc - what difference does it make?
anal sex - what's best?
what about lube?
and what about dams?

Sunday Morning, 11:45 am

2005-10-30T03:43:00.000-08:00

Ah, Sunday mornings! Is there any thing better then Sunday mornings? Going to early mass, eating a big breakfast afterwards, drinking three cups of strong percolated coffee, reading the Financial Times, and smoking my pipe. Life is all about the simple pleasures.

The Best Short Story Ever!

2005-10-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

I never knew this, but apparently "Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words, which he did". Fr. Neuhaus writes today in his blog over at First Things. I don't want to keep you in suspense, so here is the greatest short story ever written. “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”

Ed Stien's View

2005-10-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

Ed Stien is a cartoonist for my local, Denver that is, paper. I can't say that I like his cartoons but every now and again there is a funny one. I found two this week.

On another note, he also has good fun at the expense of the think tank that I worked for over the summer. It feels so good to know that I was part of the vast-right-wing-conspiracy for a whole three months.

"To Mier" Is Human

2005-10-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sure you all woke up to the good news. But I just came back from the bar and then heard the good news. What a great day, we slapped GW Bush a good on. Seriously George! What would Reagan do? I tell you what he wouldn't do, nominate a lackey to the highest court in the land. Any who, I don't assume any one who cares about politics reads my blog, so I'll just leave you with the definition of the newest word in the English language (a la the term 'to bork'), "to mier" means "to put your own allies in the most untenable position possible based upon exceptionally bad decision- making."

What's Wrong With Wodehouse!!!

2005-10-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't know what any one sees in Wodehouse. The only thing that amazes me about him is that he is still read forty years after his death, and a hundred years after he ceased to be funny. On that note, I wish to draw you attention to an article in last months First things about Wodehouse, by Joseph Bottum. (As you can guess, it is a little hard to get First Things out here, so I can no longer be the first on in the blogosphere to comment on the new issues.) I am not too sure what the point of the article is. I can only assume that it is what all Wodehouse is, viz. filler. Like all Wodehouse this article is a lot like reading nothing. I am a little disappointed in First Things this month (October). They also ran an article by Stephen M. Barr, on some hack pseudo-theory of the origin of life. In all its a good thing that I'm out of the country, because RJN would be hearing from me otherwise.

Back to Wodehouse. Please don't try to convert me. Sure the man was a good writer, i.e. he would have passed with an 'A' in Strunk English comp class. Also, I admit, that he has influenced so many authors whom I do love, Waugh, Chris Buckley, and I'm sure a couple others. On the other hand that does not make you a worthy writer. For example, Wolfe (the 18th century philosopher) influenced Kant and Hegel, but is he worth reading, of course not.

Then there is the whole Nazi thing. To suckle on the tit of Nazi Germany for five years is beyond reprehensible. Granted, he was not evil; just an idiot. Though I think that is Wodehouse in a nutshell, he was just an idiot.

appendix, Ole Hjortland has a blog. One of my fellow M.Litt. students here. He is a great philosopher, and for all of you who are going into philosophy of logic you will here much about him in a few years. He will certainly be added to my links page when I update that again.