Dennis Ingolfsland over at Recliner Commentaries passes on a report from WoodTV 8 in Grand Rapids, MI:
Christian publisher Zondervan is facing a $60 million federal lawsuit filed by a man who claims he and other homosexuals have suffered based on what the suit claims is a misinterpretation of the Bible.
Because the “Gay” movement is all about, you know, live-and-let-live.
You run across all sorts of things, surfing the web. Tonight, for no particular reason, I’ll share with you the story of Margaret, the Maid of Norway, a girl who lived only seven years and did nothing at all remarkable, but is nevertheless renowned in the folklore of two countries.
I realize there’s no reason you should be interested in her story, so I’ll attempt to lure you in by notng that Margaret’s story is the backstory to the movie Braveheart.
You’re aware, aren’t you, that, fine as it is as a rousing piece of manly cinema, Braveheart is, from a historical point of view, a load of haggis? The costumes are wrong. The chronology’s mixed up. The battles are inaccurate. And the politics are skewed.
At the beginning of the film, you’ll recall, William Wallace’s father (his brother too? I forget) rides off to a meeting with King Edward I of England, where all the Scots in attendance are treacherously hanged. Such an incident may have happened at an earlier time (it can’t be proven one way or the other), but it didn’t happen to Wallace’s father, and that wasn’t what started the conflict between Edward and the Scots. Continue reading Margaret, the Maid of Norway
I want to follow up on what I wrote yesterday about the contrast between Dean Koontz’ early books and his later ones. I’m lukewarm about most of the early books, and I loathe at least one of them. But his more recent books are magnificent, and they get better and better, in my opinion.
This is a lesson (and an encouragement) for all aspiring writers.
When I was a kid, I meant to be an artist when I grew up. I wanted to draw or paint, or something. Be a cartoonist, or an illustrator or a commercial artist.
I drew incessantly. I drew behind my books during lectures in school (an 8 ½ by 11 sheet folded in half was my preferred canvas. It was easily hidden, and just about as much space as I could handle conceptually). I drew while watching TV in the evening.
But I was always frustrated with my drawing. I compared what I produced to what real artists did, and I knew mine fell short. And I never seemed to progress beyond certain limits. I never quite mastered proportion or perspective. I never learned to do hands well.
Then I started writing. And somehow that was different. I didn’t think I was as good as the published writers, but I never felt like I hit that wall. I felt as if I had control over words, in a way I didn’t have control over my pencil. Something told me I could pretty much go as far as I wanted with this thing.
The improvement in Dean Koontz’ books should be (it seems to me) an encouragement to everyone who wants to be a writer. There are doubtless others, but I personally don’t know of another author whose work exhibits such a clear upward learning curve…. Continue reading The learning curve
Movies fascinate me. I rarely actually go out and spend a double sawbuck to see one, you understand, but I’m always interested in what’s being made, who’s making it, who’s in it, and what it’s about. Regular readers will have already noted that I write about movies quite a lot on this book blog, even though we don’t even have a Movies category.
So for a long time, one of my must-read daily blogs has been Libertas. Started by Jason Apuzzo of the conservative Liberty Film Festival and his wife Govindini, Libertas passed, for the last couple years and up until very recently, into the stewardship of an independent director who called himself “Dirty Harry.” I liked the blog even better under Harry, who admits to being a Christian, and therefore (until a few weeks ago) kept his identity secret for fear of blacklisting.
Then he suddenly disappeared from Libertas, and Apuzzo returned. It was unclear for a while what had happened, but it finally was explained that Dirty Harry was gone, Apuzzo was back, and Dirty Harry was now blogging over at Dirty Harry’s Place. Which I accordingly bookmarked. I then followed both blogs.
No details were given, but clearly there’d been a falling out.
Today Apuzzo announces that Libertas is going on hiatus for the summer.
Excuse me?
Phil, if we ever decide to drive a stake through this blog’s heart, that would probably be a pretty good template to follow.
Tonight, another episode in my ongoing engagement with the works of Dean Koontz. Not a review, exactly, but an appreciation and evaluation.
I’m going through Koontz alphabetically, picking up his books left to right across the bookstore shelf. This results in some odd juxtapositions, such as when I read Night Chills (published 1976) immediately followed by One Door Away From Heaven (published 2001). Having made it more than half way through the corpus, I think I can say that those two books represent something like the full range of Koontz’ work—from the creppiest early stuff to the most sublime of the recent.
Night Chills is barely recognizable as a Koontz book, in the sense I’ve come to know them. It’s a pretty standard thriller with a cutting-edge (for the time) scientific premise. But the way Koontz handles the material seems to reveal an immature artist, unsure of himself and trying to emulate established writers.
Which is probably why there’s so much sex in the book, and why it’s so (relatively) explicit, and… frankly, creepy. Continue reading Dean Koontz’ full range
I hope your Independence Day holiday was a good one. Mine was about what you’d expect. My contribution to the general festivities was to put my flag out each day of the long weekend, and to eat hot dogs. I bought the good kind (the old fashioned, skin-on ones), and buns from my grocer’s bakery (far superior to the national brands). These provided me five meals over the course of the weekend, the only variety (variety’s overrated, after all) being my having to wrap the last two in bread slices, since the buns had run out.
Let us meditate for a moment on that strange artifact of American life, the unwritten law that hot dogs must come in packages of ten, while hot dog buns come in packages of eight. All our lives we’ve endured this.
When will the madness end? Continue reading Let slip the hot dogs (and buns) of war
Autbor Thomas M. Disch has died by his own hand at age 68, according to Joseph Bottum at First Things.
Endlessly talented, Tom was always a difficult character, with strange edges and an awkward, unbalanced and finally unbearably sad life.
Update: For some reason, the link at First Things has disappeared, along with several of the most recent posts. Perhaps it’ll be back later. The report from Locus is here.
Here’s a picture of three members of the Declaration Committee, working hard on incorporating the 600th revision requested by the Continental Congress, in wool suits and without benefit of a word processor. You can tell by the look on Jefferson’s face that he’s about ready to knock those bifocals off Franklin’s puss and tell him, “If you know a better way to put it than ‘Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes…’ then why don’t you just do the next draft yourself, you old gout-sack?”
But they soldiered on, and did one another no recorded violence. Such were the sacrifices that bought us our liberty.
Some pertinent quotations from each of the three:
“Let me add that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” (Benjamin Franklin, 1789.)
“(R)eligion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and in all combinations of human society.” (John Adams in a letter to Benjamin Rush, Aug. 28, 1811.)
“God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed their only sure basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that those liberties are the gift of God?” (Thomas Jefferson. One of the quotations inscribed in the Jefferson Memorial, Washington D.C.)
(The quotations above are all found in Christianity and the Constitution, by John Eidsmoe.)
This global cooling we’re obviously experiencing means we had a pretty dismal spring, but summer so far has been rather splendid. Tonight was exquisite, and there were dragonflies around Crystal Lake.
I love dragonflies. They look sort of like little airborne Viking ships, and they search and destroy mosquitoes. That’s my idea of a good neighbor.
Mitch Berg over at Shot In the Dark memorializes the charge of the First Minnesota Regiment at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. It was one of the most remarkable battle actions in history, but it suffers in memory because it happened the same day that Joshua Chamberlain and his Vermonters* had that little dustup you saw in the movie Gettysburg.
I was a corresponding member of the First Minnesota reenactment group back in the ’80s, but I was unemployed at the time and unable to buy equipment and so become active. It was my destiny to be a Viking, and I guess that’s for the best. For one thing, it’s more authentic to be a fat Viking than a fat Civil War soldier.
Ever argue with somebody about homosexual marriage? Then you’ve heard the question, “What harm does it do to your marriage if two men or two women get to enjoy the same institution?”
This is, of course, a diversionary tactic. Obviously nobody’s going to break into your home and force you to become a sodomite. (Not right away, anyway.) The effects on individual families will happen over a long period of time. The immediate effects will be on your ability to do business and to practice your religion freely.
Think I’m being alarmist? Read this column from Patrick McIlheran in the Milwaukee Journal (link from Feddie at Southern Appeal). And don’t think it’s just businesspeople who’ll be forced to violate their consciences. It’ll be church schools and charities and parachurch organizations too. The churches themselves will come under the hammer a little later, but it’ll happen.
Note in particular the comments below the column. Notice how people are saying, in essence, “Homophobes are bad, and bad people ought to be punished.” That’s what liberal openmindedness has sunk to: “I believe in freedom of conscience for all people, as long as they agree with me. If they disagree with me, of course, they’re wicked and must be purged.”
This election matters, because judges matter. Don’t kid yourself about that.
Meanwhile (now that I’ve depressed you sufficiently), enjoy Independence Day!
*Correction: Should read “Maine.” Thanks to Bill for the heads-up.
In case you haven’t heard, our former governor, Jesse “A Certain Part of the Body” Ventura, says he’s considering running for Norm Coleman’s senate seat.
He’d given up after one term as governor. Because (apparently) he’d determined that Minnesotans could only endure so much political farce.
But then the Democrats nominated Al Franken. Which forced him to reconsider that assessment.
I went out to dinner this evening, with an old friend (I still have a couple) who’s going through a rough stretch.
We went to a steak place, a facility that’s apparently attempting to recreate the success of the “Outback” chain in a Texas idiom.
This involved having all the waitpersons gather, at one point, to do a line dance in the aisle.
Because Minnesotans have a pretty high tolerance for farce in their dining, too.
Good steak, though.