Today at 9:00 p.m. local, we (meaning me and whoever wants to join me) are toasting Professor J.R.R. Tolkien on his birthday. There’s a Facebook page about it and you can read other laudatory comments at the Tolkien Society site.
So far, I'm doing pretty well
I’ve been remiss in making Achievable New Year’s Resolutions the last few years. As I’ve explained in the past, it’s my custom to celebrate a high self-esteem holiday by setting achievable goals for myself during the upcoming swing around the sun.
So here are my Achievable Resolutions for 2011:
I will not learn to speak Classical Korean.
I will not make a solo voyage across the Atlantic.
I will not ask my congressman (Keith Ellison) to recommend me for a place at West Point.
I will not go into the Organic Foods business, either wholesale or retail.
I will not throw a wooden shoe into a steam loom.
I will not go on an all-escargot diet.
I will not attempt to give a ninja a wedgie (I’ve learned my lesson on that one).
I will not sign a non-aggression pact with Germany.
I will not pursue the legendary White Buffalo.
I will not paint an armadillo blue.
I will not steal a manhole cover.
I will not play hard to get with Gabrielle Anwar.
And a happy New Year to you, too!
Fairy Tale as Crime Fiction Contest
John Kenyon has a short story contest announced on his blog, Things I’d Rather Be Doing. He calls for stories that update a fairy tale as crime fiction. This could be pretty good. Many fairy tales would make crime stories without any alteration at all. Snow White has at least two counts of attempted murder. Another story with Snow White and Rose Red has stalking, bribery, and a manhunt. Rumpelstiltskin has kidnapping. Many of them have what amounts to drug abuse.
Not to mention gnomes, the scariest, most wicked creatures in the whole forest. If you see a tiny cone-shaped hat while walking in the woods, don’t wonder, don’t call out, don’t get out your camera. Just run. Run like you’ve never run before.
Reading Poll – L.A. Times
The L.A. Times Jacket Copy blog asks how many books you’ve read (this year (Sorry for the omission, Michael (2 more demerits for you))). Not many answers yet. Perhaps the left coast is still waking up. The highest percentage of votes has been in the 101-150 category, followed by 51-75. I don’t keep a clear number of books I’ve read, but comparatively, it isn’t that many.
Let me ask for your comment on this idea. Not all books need to be read completely, that is from cover to cover, to be considered read. Some readers may take them in completely, but many readers should feel no compulsion to read all of a book they don’t like or don’t need to read. I’m reading The World Encyclopedia of Coffee
Wednesday, with lefse
Picture credit: Lance Fisher
I apologize for not posting anything yesterday. The day worked out differently than I’d planned, and I didn’t get home until after 10:00 p.m. (That’s 22:00, for our European readers.)
At noon I tried out my Christmas present to myself (made possible by a gift card, given by my neighbor in thanks for clearing the driveway, plus a very deep sale discount at the store). It’s a GPS device. I bought it because I came to see with intense clarity, while spending two hours driving around Chicago last October, looking for my motel, that I’m lousy with maps, have no sense of direction, and lack a wife to sit in the passenger seat and navigate. I’m the man GPS’s were invented for.
I plugged the thing into Mrs. Hermanson’s cigarette lighter, allowed it to acquire the signal, and then did a search for Culver’s Restaurants. I love Culver’s, but the only ones I knew were too distant to visit regularly. The GPS found me one just 3.5 miles away. (The hamburgers are great, but I particularly crave the deep fried North Atlantic Cod dinner.)
So this looks like a good thing.
Then I got a call from my friend S. S. had talked to me about collaborating on an epic lefse-making effort. We had planned to do it on Thursday (that would be today as I write), but he thought the weather forecast for today looked bad (ice storms, for the record; in fact the temperature was high, so the streets were mostly just wet), so could I come over now?
I did this, and spent an intense afternoon and evening exploring the mysteries of the sacred lefse. Continue reading Wednesday, with lefse
2010 Book Lists, Recommendations
The Millions has been summarizing the year in books with a month’s worthy of posts. Here’s the month long index with scads of links.
I doubt any of the books praised here by Aaron Armstrong are in the posts above. He has focuses on Christian theology, living, and biographical books.
Author Mary Demuth has a different list for 2010, one of regrets.
The Tattered Covers blog has several author recommendations, by which I mean recommendations by authors. Click the Older Posts link to read more posts in this category. This is getting to be like a big literary party, without the spiced eggnog, by which I mean spiked eggnog.
Spiked eggnog may be the reason The Thinklings have not posted a 2010 book recommendation list, despite their claims of tee-totaling. They could be innocent, but where’s the list, I ask you? Where’s the list?
Patrol's 14 Worthy Writers
David Sessions of Patrol, having given us ten writers in Christian media whom he considers unworthy, provides a list of 14 worthy writers for our consideration: Ross Douthat, David Gibson, Matthew Lee Anderson, James K.A. Smith, David Bentley Hart, and others. (link defunct)
G.K. Chesterton on Film
Terry Teachout links to Alec Guinness’ portrayal of Father Brown and to Chesterton receiving an honor from a large crowd of admirers.
A Tragic Fairy Tale
Once there was a prince who upset an evil fairy and was turned into a fruitcake. Only if someone would love him enough to eat all of him would he turn back into a prince. He was passed around from family to princess to servant to family, but no one would eat him, and he remained a fruitcake forever.
God Works Even With the Foolish
“And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.” Matthew 2:9
Since Lars is talking Christmas, let me throw out this holiday thought. The star which brought the Magi to Bethlehem to find the newborn king (cf. Matthew 2:1-12) was either a supernatural event or a natural one. If we say it must be an angel or a divine light shone only for the birth of Christ Jesus, then we have nothing more to say. An astronomer who has written a book on the Bethlehem Star notes this view has had credibility from good men over the years. “The great astronomer/astrologer Johannes Kepler,” Mike Molnar writes, “thought the Star was a miracle accompanied by natural phenomena such as a triple conjunction and a supernova similar to what he observed in 1604.”
But if we hope to find a natural explanation, there are many options and a great deal of research to do. I heard an expert on the radio say that new explanations for the Star of Bethlehem are offered almost every year, and Molnar has a whole book on his explanation of a natural occurrence. He gives a good bit away in the FAQs on his site.
Not long ago I told my girls that the star had to be supernatural because the Bible says it moved before the Magi and stopped over Jesus’ location. Now I am second-guessing. My only thought for this post, small and nearly pointless it may be, is that we know the Lord uses even foolish reasoning for his purposes, so it is entirely possible for the Magi, being astrologers, to interpret the Star’s normal behavior in the sky as guiding them in ways we would believe to be crazy if we could have them explained today. These wise men saw Jupiter approaching a part of the sky, and they interpreted as it to mean a king will be born in Judea. Apparently the astrology all works out for regions to have symbols and planets to have meanings. In this way, the Magi believed they had seen heavenly signs of a Judean king, so they went to Jerusalem to ask about him. Herod’s scribes told them Micah’s prophecy, and they went to Bethlehem.
The Magi may have believed the Star was directing them (moving and stopping) in ways we would not agree had we been there to argue about it, and isn’t that the way God works sometimes. He blesses good-hearted people who run with out-of-context verses. He helps those who have bad theology–not often, but often enough to notice. That’s no excuse of laziness in worship or Bible study, but it is a good reason to praise him for his grace and mercy.