Fiction

Scalzi and Redshirts

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“John Scalzi is interesting as someone who has built a writing career in these strange days,” Joseph Bottum explains. “He spent a few years writing movie reviews after college before landing, in 1996, a sweet gig at America Online as editor and in-house writer. Laid off in the meltdown of AOL, he took to writing guidebooks for the money and science fiction blog posts for the fame. Or, at least, the dribs of money and the drabs of fame. The blog, called “Whatever,” proved enjoyable for readers—a few years ago, he issued in book form selections entitled Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded—and it successfully established him as a voice to be reckoned with in the field.”

Scalzi’s most recent novel is called Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas. It’s a story about a red-shirted crew that discovers it’s dangerous to accompany the senior officers on landing parties.

Blogs, Socials, Fiction

Advent Ghost Stories 2014

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“There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long. long ago.”

Loren Eaton hosts another round of ghost stories centered on Christmastime. There are many here, and Loren has a couple himself. Note this one called “Elizabeth.” Enjoy and post your comments.

Authors, Religion

He Can’t Make a Christian

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In her regular Thursday column, Bethany Jenkins gives us Martin Luther on the nonexistence of a sacred/secular divide . Here’s part of it.

The pope or bishop anoints, shaves heads, ordains, consecrates, and prescribes garb different from that of the laity, but he can never make a man into a Christian or into a spiritual man by so doing. He might well make a man into a hypocrite or a humbug and blockhead, but never a Christian or a spiritual man. As far as that goes, we are all consecrated priests through baptism, as St. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a royal priesthood and a priestly realm.” The Apocalypse says, “Thou hast made us to be priests and kings by thy blood” (Rev. 5:9-10).

Goofing

“Valkin’ in my vinter undervear”

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Back for a reprise: A ghost from my Christmas past. This guy is the late Roger Awsumb. In the ’60s he used to play Casey Jones on the “Lunch With Casey” program on a Twin Cities TV station. This is probably the most popular thing he ever did.

Authors

Ayn Rand Didn’t Understand Capitalism

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Joe Carter breaks down the egoism of Ayn Rand.

“Reason, applied consistently, doesn’t lead us down a straight path to egoism, much less to capitalism. Examined closely, we would find that her entire Objectivist philosophy is founded on this simple question begging premise. . . .

“Ultimately, Rand’s egoism is irreconcilable with both Christianity and capitalism. In fact, since the system fails to have any true explanatory value, it’s difficult to find any reason to adopt Objectivism at all. Fortunately, we don’t have to buy into Rand’s philosophical errors in order to appreciate her fiction. We just have to keep in mind that instead of reading a “novel of ideas”, we are reading a work of fantasy.”

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Hunter Baker on the Ruin of Christian Higher Ed

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Dr. Hunter Baker observes, “All universities, and certainly Christian ones, face a landscape in which students have been largely replaced by consumers.” He says in his latest book, if Christian colleges try to be like their secular counterparts, they will fail on almost every level, particularly in their stated mission. On the other hand, if they integrate the worship of the Most High with every academic discipline, they will distinguish themselves and accomplish their mission. “Christian colleges can successfully argue that the best education connects with the mind, the body, and the soul.”

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This Is Abusive

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“All abuse, whether laser-tipped irony or bare-knuckle fisticuffs, is best delivered coolly, without huffing and puffing. The best abuse looks effortless, the work of a ninja not a WWF wrestler.” Patrick Kurp talks about An Anthology of Invective and Abuse from 1929.

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Update: Still alive

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I’m half way through.

I’ve finished the fall semester in my graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. I’ve completed 18 of the 36 credits I’ll need for graduation, and should have them all this time next year, the Lord willing. It’s all as time-consuming as I expected (no, more – I didn’t anticipate how intensive the work would be), but if I want to qualify for World Domination, sacrifices must be made.

I’ll try to post more often in the free time I’m about to have – the rest of December and most of January. But there are a lot of projects I’ve been putting off, and I find them clamoring for my evening time.

Anyway, thanks for your faithful readership.

Personally, I’m making physical progress. My new, android hip is working fine. The Original Manufacturer Equipment hip (the left one) still gives me some pain, but I’ve joined a health club and exercise it on a stationary bike three times a week. The improvement has been palpable, so I hope that with time I’ll be all better again.

And now, in keeping with the season, a Swedish Christmas song by Sissel:

Coffee, Tea, Drinks

Starbucks Opens the Coffee Temple

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“These days, Starbucks stores function more like gas stations: They’re everywhere, and frequented for fuel,” writes Margaret Rhodes for WIRED. But to compete with third wave coffee roasters for high-end coffee, Starbucks has restored a one-hundred-year-old building to host its Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle. See the article for lots of pictures.

I’m thinking they keep the golden bulls in the back.

Book Reviews, Creative Culture