Literary style...

This article mentions various stylistic mistakes to avoid in writing, offered by The Kansas City Star to Ernest Hemingway when he worked for that paper.

Personally, I think the list has a glaring omission and it should be obvious to anyone who read The Old Man and the Sea at some point in their lives as I did when I began high school, in fact it has to do with this sentence.

(That sentence, I must admit, doesn't really sound like Hemingway's writing, even in The Old Man and the Sea.)

UPDATE: It occurred to me that the newspapers I read are badly written. Hemingway would have had to advise them to write, not vice versa.

I don't have time to think tonight...

So I'll just fling some links at y'all.

From the InsideCatholic.com blog, a post on how looks matter in tasting wine. (Not in the sense of the wine having no visible grape skins in it.) A distressing line in the post: "Forty experts said [a particular wine] was worth drinking..." Now, I could say that a wine is or isn't worth buying, but isn't any unadulterated wine worth drinking?

From the same website, a column about Muslims, aesthetics, and the Blessed Sacrament.

Since our house doesn't have TV, the recent TV writers' strike hasn't affected me much- but I have read quite a bit about it. The best perspective on it that I have seen is here, on a post written before the strike actually began. I like the closing line of the post.

From Darwin Catholic, a post on the problem of evil. I have to admit, I don't really worry much about why God allows evil in the world, since from early childhood I have been taught that

1. Good things come from God, and
2. If something is bad, it's because mankind/the Devil messed it up.

My sister is preparing to resort to armed coercion to make me go to bed mow, so goodnight, everyone!

Since I'm reviewing a book on the Vietnam War...

Here's some stuff related to the '60s and/or Vietnam...

Sixties gun: the M16A1,

Another Sixties gun: the M21 sniper rifle,

Sixties pope: John XXIII, of sacred memory,

Sixties book: the classic Green Eggs and Ham,

Sixties music: Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son."

Ladies and gentlemen, we are set. Now, off to write that review.

I am - yet again - on hiatus...

I'm going to be writing some college application essays this week...once I finish those, I'll be putting out an essay on A Bright Shining Lie, which is a huge nonfiction book without a hero, and return to my chattering.


Meanwhile, here's some stuff I've dredged up...


There once was a lady called Ayn Rand, who wrote huge novels championing "Objectivism" (a sort of atheistic libertarianism); I found this old review of her book Atlas Shrugged interesting. (I still can't believe any sane person would name a fictional character Midas Mulligan.)


The B-Movie Catechism discovers that my web-name of "Histor" isn't quite that original, and takes a look at the lottery system in the meantime. Furthermore, his post on costumes for Hallowe'en (or All Saints' Day, if you prefer the latter celebration as my family does) inspired me to come up with animal/creature costumes:


A FROG from Frogs, (sorry, folks, no pic)

A GIANT GILA MONSTER,

AN ALIEN FROM WAR OF THE WORLDS (dare you to try it!),

THE DEADLY MANTIS from the movie of the same name,

and of course GODZILLA.

As for me, I'm going to dress up as one of the Blues Brothers...

Anyone got a pork-pie hat they could lend me?

Music...

I attended Saturday evening mass at a nearby parish, where for whatever reason the responsorial psalm resembled the song, "Go Tell Aunt Rhodie, The Old Grey Goose is Dead." Couple that with a communion hymn ("I Am The Bread of Life," to be exact) which completely lacks even the suggestion of poetry, and a Kyrie Eleison remniscent of a marching cadence, and you have a delightful instance of music getting in the way of mass.

After the mass, my dad asked, "Is there a patron saint of bad liturgical music?"

I don't think there is.

A recommendation:

If you watch movies, I'd suggest you go to this website. The reviews are really good, such as this one on Elizabeth: The Golden Age:

...in [this sequel] everything bad, evil and corrupt in the world ultimately is
ultimately the bitter fruit of Religion. And by Religion, I mean
Catholicism.

Yes,
technically Protestantism might be a form of religious devotion too. But The
Golden Age carefully expunges anything like actual belief or religiosity from
its minimal portrayal of the faith affiliation of its heroine.

The problem with Elizabeth was that she devised a reasonable, temperate religion intended to please everyone, and killed everyone who was not pleased by it. She was proud as a peacock, excessively secretive (excusable, considering her decidedly tense and dangerous childhood), and somewhat dishonest.

I wonder how the filmmakers would portray the Nine Year's War, in which (to use a similar modern example) Elizabeth played Khrushchev to the O'Donnell and O'Neill clans' Hungarian freedom fighters.

To quote G.K. Chesterton....

most of journalism is loudly announcing "LORD JONES DEAD" to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.

That is the effect I get from this article.

The three-step status reduction system:

1. Kill lots of people.
2. Deflect the blame and punishment to other people/things.
3. Become loathed.

The Anglican Church isn't looking so good right now.

I'm kind of amused how some guy in Washington, D.C. is so certain that "The idea that the average African is looking to cause a split over homosexuality is ridiculous." Has he spent a significant amount of time with average Africans?

HUMOROUS SONG ABOUT FAST FOOD?

Or SUBTLY SATIRICAL COMMENT UPON AMERICAN CULINARY VALUES?

You decide.

For those interested, this was sung at the summer program I went to.

The Sucrose Inquisition is inquiring into the identity of the singer, the squash, and the cheeseburger. This video somehow awakened their latent suspicion.

My dad mentioned that I got lost yesterday

Interestingly enough, he describes getting lost as a learning opportunity.

As Screwtape (and others) said long ago, by letting someone fail, you can open them to further improvement.

Dad had applied cartography in mind. Screwtape was thinking of morality. And I just want to remember all the exits.

A note from the same trip: Dad had Glenn Miller music playing, and mentioned that it was probably the last music many World War II soldiers heard before their deaths.

I responded that they had it better than soldiers in Vietnam.

Tomorrow...

I will be seeing "Into Great Silence" or whatever it's called. I thought it was "Into the Silence" but maybe that sounded too like a horror film.

Here's something for y'all to try: take 3 fathoms of rope (18 feet for those gentle readers who DON'T KNOW A DADGUM THING ABOUT ROPE!), tie them toether at one end, then braid them together. When done, seize the loose end together with a string of floss.

Now you have a braided rope! Some three times stronger than your old one, plus it's more easily gripped by the hand.

The Dallas Mavs have won 65 games. Only one team out of 12 that have done so lost the championship after that. So...I'm EXCITED! Especially after they goofed against the Heat last year...

Here's an article from Apologodzilla - I mean Mr. Mark Shea. It's about the classic inability of this age (maybe all ages) to realize that 2000 years ago, people were not as dumb as we are. Hat Tip to Cathy of Alex.

Well, that's all for tonight. Three books coming in by the 18th - reviews as necessary.

And it had to happen in the Octave of Easter!

Johnny Cash's house burnt down just the other day.

I know he's dead, but that doesn't mean we should torch his house.

Unrelated quote:

"Live fast,
Die young,
Bull Rider."

- "Bull Rider" as sung by the Man in Black.

These folks are FULL OF IT!

You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree

Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents.From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatchristmastreeareyouquiz/">What Christmas Tree Are You?

The Worst Christmas Song I can Imagine:

"Don't You Love The Christmas Spirit You Get When You Come Home For the Holidays and Unwrap the Gifts with Grandma and the Reindeer To Remember The True Meaning of Christmas?"

A composite, as you can notice, of many different songs.

(P.S. If you read this, Grandmas D. and P., just I have nothing against you. I have something against generic grandmas scattered about the place.)

The heck with Che shirts...

Wear this shirt!

"Viva Histor!" sounds pretty appealing, don't it?

DEATHS AMONG CATTLE ARE DOWN

Or so I have experienced. The Youth Group I am in had a Broadway night at our house on Saturday, in which various skits from Broadway plays were performed. I featured as the King of Siam in an altercation with Anna (played by my sister). There were several other skits, then chitchat. Some fine piano was played, too.

Then everyone left and I was depressed.

From the "Watch what you say" folder:

I have a SAT prep CD, which disappeared some time ago. When I told mom it was lost, she said, "YOU BETTER FIND IT QUICK, THEN!" Seconds later, I checked under the table in my room - and there it was.

From the "Is this wierd or what?"

Check this link out - if you want to wonder "so, how do you pierce a thigh with a stiletto, anyhow?"

***Mental Break***

Time to get coherent. Much has changed since Saturday, when I started this post. Advent. Change from "testing" mode to "standard study" mode in homeschool. Discovering that homeschoolers can dramatize their Spanish vocabulary if they want, or study Latin in the driveway. Suddenly growing a hankering for a "Fiddler on the Roof" CD. (How odd that St. Nicholas' day is almost here...) Discovering that visiting 100 websites in a day is very, very, bad for your school, and adjusting accordingly. And all that kind of guff.

Now for some pontification.

I figured out why we hate skunks. They resemble mankind too closely. "Smelly, bad company, and oddly colored" would be a good description of the human race.

It would seem that democracy means government of the people for the rich by the donors. Or maybe I'm just cynical.

For Advent this year, I am going to read a Douay-Rheims Bible and agonize over the nonstandard names. Here are some samples:

Elias
Paralipemon
Esdras
Jepthe

And worst of all...

Noe?

NOOOOOOE!{1}

Nah. Just drop sweets.

Well, time for dinner. GBYASYA!









{1} "Aedam,"Eave," "Jaisus," and "Mariey" were considered when the Jesuits at Douay, Belgium translated it in the 1500's, but space required that they delete the extra letters.

Scattershooting

We got snow today! Yep, East Texas gets that cold!





The EoD launched 3 cruise missiles into the nation of L. L's declaration of war is likely, but no less than 10 (of 30) GAAF aircraft were destroyed. The GAAF has a piddling 19 planes now - mostly F14's and F105's.



Time for a ground offensive from the GAAF, perchance?

While the Pope is in Turkey, let us consider dialogue:

The wages of sin is death,

Whereas the wages of gluttony is stomachache.

I am currently reading the book "The Flying Inn," by G.K. Chesterton. It's about two men who roam England with a barrel of rum and a sign from an inn, avoiding the enforcement of a British Prohibition (enforced, oddly enough, by champagne-sipping noblemen). Good so far.

This is the point when prudence is expected to overrule desire. 10:43, Sunday night, means "Go to Bed."

God bless.