I watching this interview right now on R.C. Sproul’s website, Sproul discussing the issues of Ben Stein’s upcoming movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. They mention Galileo early on, which we’ve discussed on this blog. Later on, while discussing the idea that chance is not a force of creation or anything at all, Stein says, “Chance means something if you have no better explanation.”
Should Older Books be Modernized?
No, not modernizing The Count of Monte Cristo or Oliver Twist, if that were possible. The question is should pop lit books from several years ago be modernized for today’s readers with no sense of history. Speaking of Sweet Valley High, BuzzSugar says, “It’s as though Random House sat down with the ’80s editions and thought, ‘huh, these unrealistic expectations just aren’t quite unrealistic enough!'”
In other bad news, Madonna apparently wants to remake Casablanca and set it in Iraq. This is a rumor, but the article quotes an unnamed source: “She and her representatives have been touting around a project which is a remake of Casablanca. The reception has been lukewarm to say the least.”
A Great Day for Some
April Fool’s Day is Christmas Day for passive-aggressives. Roy Bragg of San Antonio, Texas, says, “The main goal of April 1 should be to avoid embarrassment. Don’t say “yes” to anything tomorrow. Question anything that appears out of the ordinary. Check everything twice. If someone appears to be goofing on you, grab the nearest blunt object and hit them in the head with it.”
Don’t Miss the Narnia Drawing
If you weren’t here last week, don’t miss our contest for Narnia books. Get your comment in by Wednesday night.
Is it from the Bible or Shakespeare?
Tuesday being April Fool’s Day, other blogs will be telling jokes, pulling pranks, and testing your gullibility with fake news. But here on Brandywine Books, I want to edify you a wee bit with literary quizzes. I doubt regular readers will have difficulty with these, but maybe some passersby may find them challenging.
The question for my homemade quiz is simple. Which of the following statements or quotations are from the Bible (King James Version) and which are from Shakespeare’s plays?
1. “Dispute it like a man.”
2. Life is “a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
3. “The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones.”
4. “To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?”
5. “Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”
6. “Every subject’s duty is the king’s; but every subject’s soul is his own.”
7. “Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.”
8. “Had I but serv’d my God with half the zeal I serv’d my king, He would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies.”
9. “The trying of your faith worketh patience”
10. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
Bonus: Does the saying, “the blind leading the blind,” originate in the Bible, Shakespeare, or elsewhere? Continue reading Is it from the Bible or Shakespeare?
Selling Your Book
Terry Whalin keeps talking about one of his books and answering Why Novelists Need Book Proposals That Sell. A great story isn’t all you need to sell your book.
Initials Reading Challenge
Becky announces a reading challenge for April through November 2008. “Read five to eight books by authors who publish under their initials.”
UTC Annual C.S. Lewis Lecture Monday Night
The 26th Annual C.S. Lewis Lecture at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is tomorrow night, March 31, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. I meant to blog on this before, but now that I am I see that lecturer has changed. Timothy George was scheduled to speak. Tonight, I see that Charles Lippy will fill that spot. It’s free admission to the Benwood Auditorium tomorrow night.
I’m told that Mark Noll is scheduled to speak next year.
Tags: c.s. lewis, Chattanooga, UTC, c.s. lewis lecture, theology, Timothy George, Charles Lippy, Mark Noll
The Java Boogie
Baristas boogied while we dealt with the jitters, says this report from the Starbucks blackout.
In news from North Florida and South Georgia, “postal workers and tax preparers with valid identification can get a free iced or hot coffee from one of the 18 participating Dunkin Donut locations St. Augustine, Palatka and Waycross” on April 1 and 15. It’s part of a Hero of the Month program.
And from our coffee tip desk, use burrs to grind your beans, not blades.
Tags: coffee, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, free, coffee grinders
Blogger Bags Book Deal
I learned about the blog “Stuff White People Like” from Jared at Thinklings. Can’t say I would have clicked on a link to this blog if I had seen it in a list of 10 popular or interesting blogs from some reputable site, but I saw in the NY Times that the writer has received a book deal at $300k. The writer, Christian Lander, comments on this deal:
The combination of white people and books has been a pretty solid combo for the past few hundred years. So whenever a white person is given a chance to write a book, it’s considered a pretty big deal. This is especially true when it happens to someone who started a blog that they never expected to reach more than 100 people.
I gather this is site is inline with the white mascot joke seen in this remarkable line of products, though maybe it’s the reverse of that. Either way, Random House thinks Lander has something going for him, so bully for him.