Lynn Vincent asks what would be up for grabs “if Hell had a menu.”
Free linkage to Terrible Blogger
Here’s a link to an interesting post on a design blog:
I’m a terrible blogger. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to be a good blogger, but every time I sit down at my computer thinking, “I must write something to post on Peachpit’s blog today,” I get up hours later having had a fine time Web-browsing and cyber-slacking; having learned many fun and interesting things; having discovered interesting connections between people I know; and having done no writing, editing, or even responding to email. Even just the thought of blogging is unproductive for me.
I hear ya. Mmm, hmmm.
Two Billion Pints of Guinness
Kevin is doing something different with his blog, and he has an excerpt from a book on Guinness. Did you know that “Guinness Stout is the seventeenth largest selling beer brand in the world, and by far the best-selling beer brand that is not a pale yellow lager”? Fascinating.
Elmer, coast to coast
I heard a friend on Michael Medved’s show today. Michael had Ann Coulter on as a guest, and one of his callers was a fellow I’ve written about before on this blog (some time back; probably on the old site), calling him “Elmer” (not his real name). Michael recognized his voice, and said, “I know you. You gave me some religious literature when I was in Minneapolis.”
Elmer was a little odd when we were growing up together, and he hasn’t gotten less odd with the years. He’s a Christian now, and heavily involved in end-times prophecy studies. He figures the world will come to an end in a few months, and has maintained that view consistently, in a rolling fashion, for the past decade or so.
Still, for all that, he has the moxy to call a national radio show to try and chat up Ann Coulter.
I mean, if you’re going to be crazy, you might as well have some fun with it. Not that I want to be Elmer, but he seems to have a better time being crazy than I do.
Until the world ends, of course.
I finished reading Randy Wayne White’s Twelve Mile Limit today. Enjoyed it, but his Doc Ford books (I reviewed Shark River a while back) leave me conflicted. There’s elements I like very much and elements I don’t like at all. But compelling, withal.
That’s not a review. But it’ll do to round out this post on a pseudo-literary note.
Robert Irvine Making Cooking a Smidge Easier
Chef Robert Irvine, recently of “Dinner: Impossible” on The Food Network, has a book out on his style, experiences, and ideas on thinking ahead. WSJ.com has a video spot on him here. I’ve seen his show a few times, and it’s impressive what he can accomplish. I must be nice to pull up good ideas in a few minutes and carry them through with excellence. No doubt, no hand-wringing. I’d like to try that sometime.
Drivel
How bad can it be before it can no longer be called poetry? I know y’all are fierce poetry advocates, so here’s an article on a poem, once highly praised, now considered the worst ever written. If that’s not enough bathroom reading for you, here’s a promising book: Very Bad Poetry.
The Raging Debate
Apparently, Richard Dawkins and other atheists agree to be in a documentary without full knowledge of the intent of the film–or with incorrect knowledge because the film makers did not level with them. They say they were told it was a film on the debate between Darwinism and creationism, but it appears it was actually a film on the shut-out of professors who endorse Intelligent Design. (via Books, Inq.)
Hopefully, Dawkins is fully aware of what he’s debating tonight at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He is scheduled to debate John Lennox on the question of God. Both men work at Oxford, so it will be an peer argument in a sense. The debate is hosted by Fixed Point Foundation.
Harry Potter and the Christian Critics
In First Things, Mark Shea writes:
The magic of Harry is, as John Granger points out, “incantational,” not “invocational,” exactly like the magic of Gandalf. Born with the talent for magic, Gandalf says the magic words and fire leaps forth from his staff, just as from Harry’s wand. No principalities or powers are invoked in HP. Indeed, if any words are “invocational” they are the prayer to Elbereth and Gilthoniel uttered in Middle Earth. Yet nobody accuses Tolkien of promoting the worship of false gods. That’s because we understand Tolkien’s fictional subcreation and its rootedness in Christian thought. I suggest Christian critics try to extend Rowling the same charity.
Spoiler warning. [via Mars Hills Audio]
Book Pictures
I’ve wanted to make this kind of art for a long time, but I’d tend toward playing with words as well as books, such as “Not Easily Moved” in Gallery 2 (the eighth selection).
Coming to a Theater Near You
Blue Like Jazz. At least, it will be a movie loosely based on the book.