Why Fret?

The Next Best Thing

2007-06-23T10:37:00.000-04:00

The late Steve Goodman singing "Elvis Imitators". I bought the album Artistic Hair circa 1986 solely based on hearing Weasel play this cut on WHFS. Steve Goodman immediately became one of my favorite singer-songwriters. The performance in this video must be the same one as on the album. Goodman also wrote Arlo Guthrie's big hit "City of New Orleans".

Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition

2007-06-19T20:56:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition and was really impressed. Tom Allen and the crew at Catholic Exchange have done a bang up job. The production is professional with crisp editing and is beautiful to view in HD. The real story, of course, though is, well, the stories.

Major league players who share their faith include:

Three time Les Milgram Royals Player of the Year, Mike Sweeney

2006 Worlds Series Most Valuable Player, David Eckstein

12 time All Star, Mike Piazza

Two-time Cy Young Award winner, Tom Glavine

Sean Casey

2002 American League Major League Manager of Year, Mike Scioscia

Calliope Crashes

2007-04-03T21:40:00.000-04:00

Calliope Crashes. Goofy title. Maybe it should be "Cheez Whiz". That's what it sounds like.

Bonus track: Very short take on Cool Jerk. Really edited down as sort of a blog theme song.

Bishop Finn's Pastoral Letter on the Dignity of the Human Person and the Dangers of Pornography

2007-03-27T19:04:00.000-04:00

Blessed Are The Pure In Heart

Ban Water

2007-03-13T22:25:00.000-04:00

I'm not much of a Penn and Teller fan, but this video is a hoot. I've met a lot activists with this level of knowledge.

Crass Commercialism

2007-03-11T19:58:00.000-04:00

I've said it before, and now with Sean Hannity proving that he is a wimp, it is time to say it again.

Broken Neck Blues

2007-03-11T19:29:00.000-04:00

Not a composition, per se. Rather a demonstration that my old Gibson Melody Maker is still somewhat playable even after my rather crude mending of its broken neck.

Broken Neck Blues

My wife asked "What is that awful whining racket?" You can't ask for a better recommendation than that, can you?

Sean Hannity Proves his Ignorance

2007-03-11T18:06:00.000-04:00

Sean Hannity throws a tantrum when a priest calls him on the carpet for supporting contraception.

via Gerald Augustinus and Amy Welborn.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who remembers Hannity's gushing support of Arnold Schwarzenegger over pro-lifer Tom McClintock in the California Republican primary. Hannity does not understand anyone who would vote Republican because of principles, but rather bases his "principles" on being Republican.

Many times Hannity does more harm to conservative causes than liberals do. He is an ill mannered boor who's idea of "debate" is shouting someone down who disagrees with him. How anyone could be persuaded by him is beyond me.

How is pouting "I know latin" and "I went to the seminary" any different than Ted Kennedy essentially saying the same thing? Sean, are you trying to make Alan Colmes look good?

A Hard Day's Midsummer Night's Dream

2007-03-06T20:50:00.000-05:00

The Beatles act out Pyramus and Thisbe.

Live from the Bollywood Howl

2007-03-06T20:43:00.000-05:00

Indian Beatles

Urban Pastoral

2007-02-25T17:09:00.000-05:00

Urban Pastoral

Starting to experiment with basic stereo mixing.

I'm running out of space on my ftp server. Does anyone know of a free mp3 hosting service?

James Cameron Finds Christ's Tomb

2007-02-24T20:14:00.000-05:00

Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you 'The Titanic' is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he's sinking is Christianity.

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn't resurrected --the cornerstone of Christian faith-- and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

...

But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.

Yeah, right.

Who is he going to match the DNA to? Audrey Tautou?

Musical Incontinence

2007-02-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

I don't seem to have the patience to slow down and work something out better. This could have benefited from further run downs, editing, etc, but here it is: Quivering Jellyfish

Prince Rocked

2007-02-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

I'm not a big Prince fan. I actually do enjoy his music, but most of the lyrics would be banned in our house. That said, he rocked the Super Bowl half-time show. And was clean. If any of the lyrics were suggestive, I couldn't make them out.

The guitar playing was awesome. I really dug the sound of the telecaster. When he pulled out his odd symbol guitar, he started a solo that was very dissonant, but managed to pull it back in.

I really wanted him to play more of All Along the Watchtower. The amazing thing to me was that he made it rocking, funky, and soulful without any Hendrix licks. Does anyone else think it ironic that Prince played Watchtower when he has been purported to be a Jehovah's Witness?

Truth in Advertising

2007-01-15T14:40:00.000-05:00

I don't particularly keep up with fashion as it is. "Men's" fashion is even more ridiculous than women's. "Men" is in quotes because no real man would be caught dead wearing any of this ..., well read the shirt.

Researchers discover alternative stem cell source

2007-01-07T19:56:00.000-05:00

US researchers say stem cells nearly as powerful as embryonic stem cells can be found in the amniotic fluid that protects babies in the womb.

They have used them to create muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve and liver cells in a laboratory, and say they believe the placenta and amniotic fluid can provide one more source of the valued cells, which scientists hope will some day transform medicine.

Will this discovery stop Michael J Fox and Nancy "I've got the Power!" Pelosi from pushing to still kill babies for their embryonic stem cells? Sadly, I doubt it.

Remember, though, that all of the actual cures attributed to stem cells have been from adult stem cells.

Eins ...

2006-12-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

Zwei.

Moondance

2006-12-16T21:54:00.000-05:00

I've only in the last month started to play with recording myself. Here is the first mp3 of hopefully more: a brief take on Van Morrison's Moondance. There was only one take each for the rhythm and lead tracks. Please be kind.

Equipment:

1980 Les Paul Custom through GuitarPort running GearBox 3.0. Recorded via Audacity and saved with LAME mp3 encoding.

Here it is.

Test your musical skills in 6 minutes!

2006-12-15T19:26:00.000-05:00

While working at the music and neuroimaging lab at Beth Israel/Harvard Medical School in Boston, I developed a quick online way to screen for the tonedeafness. It actually turned out to be a pretty good test to check for overall pitch perception ability. The test is purposefully made very hard, so excellent musicians rarely score above 80% correct. Give it a try!

I was disappointed to only score 72.2% on the tone deaf test, but was quite surprised to score 80% on the rhythm test. I thought it would be exactly the opposite. I did, however, rush through the first test. After seeing how hard it was, I took my time on the second.

Daily Power Pop Dose: Cheap Trick

2006-11-29T21:09:00.000-05:00

I discovered Cheap Trick in 1979 and to this day I think In Color (and in Black and White) is by far their best album. The video is from a song off that album performed on the Dick Clark show.

Sweet Little Sixteen

2006-11-14T22:32:00.000-05:00

"Today marks the 16th anniversary of the World Wide Web. According to the timeline on the W3.org site: 'The first web page [was] http://nxoc01.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html. Unfortunately CERN no longer supports the historical site. Note from this era too, the least recently modified web page we know of, last changed Tue, 13 Nov 1990 15:17:00 GMT (though the URI changed.)' A lot has happened in 16 years and this little 'baby' has grown into quite the teenager."

I'm sure I've geezed about this before, but I remember FTPing the source code for Mosaic, compiling it, and being able to connect to only a handful of web pages.

Air Guitar T-Shirt

2006-11-14T22:24:00.000-05:00

Scientists at the CSIRO's Textile and Fibre Technology division in Geelong have woven electronic sensors into a T-shirt so that it can be played liked a real guitar.

Movements by the wearer's arms are mapped and beamed by radio to a computer which interprets them and turns them into musical notes.

The wearer only has to act out playing the instrument to make sounds.

"The left arm chooses a note and the right arm plays it," said Richard Helmer, a CSIRO chemical engineer who led the project. The arrangement can be reversed for left-handed musicians.

When I first read about this I thought it was a put on. I've changed my mind after watching the video. When you are watching it, keep in mind that the player is only playing limited chords to a backing track that includes lead guitar. There seems to be a noticeable lag which is inherent in synth guitars too.

Office Space

2006-11-14T21:15:00.000-05:00

Jimmy Akin posts about a funny re-make of the Office Space trailer that makes the movie look like a thriller.

Am I the only one who found Office Space to be tedious? Duller than day old dishwater. Yes, it has many memorable, funny scenes that we often make reference to at the office, but those funny scenes are stretched out over a full length movie when they could have all been boiled down to a fifteen or twenty minute short. Sort of like Wayne's World, or for that matter, any Saturday Night Live skit that has been turned into a movie.

Hey Bulldog!

2006-11-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

Awesome video of the Fabs in the studio recording "Hey Bulldog". The audio was added later to an originally silent film. I never thought of the Beatles as playing SGs, but you can see both George and John using (the same?) one.

This has always been one of my faves. Over the years since the breakup, Apple has at various times released "new" Beatles singles. I can clearly remember "Got to Get You into My Life" all over the airwaves in the late seventies after such a release. "Hey Bulldog" would be perfect to release now.

Meet The Smithereens

2006-11-08T21:22:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 07, 2006 -- KOCH Records announces the release of "Meet The Smithereens!," the new album by New Jersey's The Smithereens in January 2007. Paying homage to The Beatles' groundbreaking album, "Meet The Beatles!," the Smithereens have rerecorded the album in its entirety, and the result is a fun and nostalgic trip through 12 classic songs done Smithereens style. The CD also features liner notes by legendary promoter Sid Bernstein, musician (and some would say musicologist) Lenny Kaye, Beatles historians Bruce Spizer, Dennis Mitchell and Andy Babiuk, author of the fantastic book, "Beatles Gear."

Eyesight to the Blind?

2006-11-08T20:32:00.000-05:00

A revolutionary stem cell treatment developed by British scientists could restore sight in the blind.

In a world first, blindness has been cured by replacing worn out and damaged retinal cells with stem cells.

Is it more than a just a little odd that you have to read three-quarters of the way through this article before you find out that the stem cells in question are not harvested from embryos, but rather are adult cells from the patient's own eyes?

While stem cells are often obtained from embryos in the first days of life, it is thought the patient's own eye could hold a bank of cells suitable for transplant.

Researcher Professor Robin Ali, of University College London's Institute of Ophthalmology, said: "Recent research has shown that a population of cells found on the margin of the adult retina have stem cell-like properties, in other words, they are capable of self-renewal.

"These could be harvested through minor surgery and grown in the lab before being re-implanted onto the retina."

Using the patient's own cells would also avoid the possibility of 'foreign' cells being rejected by the body.

Remember: adult stem cells have been the only stem cell treatments that have yielded results. Take note, Mr Fox.

Daring

2006-11-06T20:30:00.000-05:00

This evening at daily Mass as I was returning to my seat from communion, I saw a man rush in through the back side door. I recognized him as someone whom I often see at this particular church during the week. He looks to be in his late sixties and in good health. He was obviously in a hurry and I realized he was trying to make it in time to receive communion. I looked towards the front of the church and saw the back of the priest as he was heading back to the altar.

For a brief second the thought "foolish virgins" crossed my mind thinking he should have planned better and made it on time, but I quickly rectified my intention and felt sorry for the man. After the final blessing I was making my thanksgiving and reflecting on this man and the great spirit he showed in trying to make it to at least communion even though he obviously knew that he was late. Most people would have glanced at their watches as their car approached the church, realized how late they were, and driven on to their next appointment.

I looked up from my thoughts towards the tabernacle and saw the same man walking out of the sacristy with a wide grin. He obviously showed holy daring and approached the priest (probably with a sheepish grin) after Mass explaining that he was late, but wanted to receive Our Lord anyway. The man looked at me, smiled, and gave a little wave.

That made my day.

Be more daring still, and, when you need something, don't ask, but — always mindful of the Fiat — say, 'Jesus, I want that... and that... and that', for this is the way children ask.

St Josemaria Escriva, The Way - Point 403

Made to Order

2006-11-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine has a great idea about helping to maintain order. He has made a resolution that whenever he misplaces something, he will start throwing things out until he finds it.

Maybe I should start hiding my car keys in the stacks of old bills and paperwork in the home office.

Become as Little Children

2006-10-27T21:16:00.000-04:00

We have a beautiful, darling infant daughter who just melts daddy's heart when she smiles. I'll knock myself out trying to get her to focus on me to see her smile, but she is at the stage where she is fascinated by her toes or a shadow on the wall, so it might take a bit of clowning around to get her to make eye contact. But, as soon as she does, she just beams.

This morning while making my thanksgiving after Mass, I was reflecting on this. God truly is the perfect Father who never tires of trying to make eye contact with us, but we are all too often distracted by, well, pretty much anything.

Stop a second, listen, and you'll here Him cooing to you. Look up and smile.

John J. Simmins for Governor of Maryland

2006-10-25T20:41:00.000-04:00

I am running as the only 100% pro-life candidate for Governor in the state of Maryland. As a late entry and a write in candidate, I could use all the help I can in getting the word out. If the spirit moves you, please publicize my efforts. If it doesn't, then don't expect an invite to the swearing in! Here is my website:

http://www.write-ingov.com

Peace!

John J. Simmins

Catholic World News : French clerics oppose restoration of Latin Mass

2006-10-24T20:13:00.000-04:00

Oct. 24 (CWNews.com) - French clerics are leading the opposition to release of a papal document that would allow wider use of the traditional Latin Mass.

A group of 35 French bishops and priests have issued a statement urging Pope Benedict XVI not to issue the motu proprio that has been widely discussed in recent weeks. The clerics predict that by allowing broader use of the Tridentine rite, the papal document would "plunge us back into the liturgical life of another age."

"Plunge us back into the liturgical life of another age"? I'm willing to bet a lot of people are willing to take the plunge.

Firefox 2.0

2006-10-24T19:57:00.000-04:00

Firefox 2.0 is out. I'm using it right now. So far no issues at all. The upgrade was seamless. Neat, it even has spell checking built-in.

Who Wants to be a Monk?

2006-10-22T21:49:00.000-04:00

TV series demystifies life in a Benedictine monastery.

The five-part series, which the producers are calling an ``observational documentary,'' recorded the experiences of five laymen who volunteered to live, work and worship as Benedictine monks for 40 days last spring. It is being aired Sunday on The Learning Channel.

Boy, are reality shows tedious. I won't watch it, but this one might do some good in showing that not everyone wants to live a soft life of ease.

Former Delegate gets Purported Diebold Code

2006-10-22T21:32:00.000-04:00

Diebold Election Systems Inc. expressed alarm and state election officials contacted the FBI yesterday after a former legislator received an anonymous package containing what appears to be the computer code that ran Maryland's polls in 2004.

Gives one that warm, fuzzy feeling about the security of the upcoming election, eh?

History vs The Da Vinci Code

2006-10-22T21:23:00.000-04:00

This is an interesting site created by an atheist historian who dissects the book chapter by chapter for historical inaccuracies.

Now that the DVC DVD (say that three times fast!) out, it is good to have a few bookmarks handy for the gullible.

Sting, Halloween is Still a Week Away

2006-10-22T21:08:00.000-04:00

Notre Dame looks to find more Catholic faculty

2006-10-22T20:54:00.000-04:00

Must suppress urge to ... state the obvious.

Just in Time for Halloween

2006-10-22T20:47:00.000-04:00

A Bollywood rip-off of Michael Jackson's Thriller. As far as I can tell it is called "Killer". This is scary for entirely different reasons than the producers intended. To me it sounds like the last line sung is "I'm a girly man".

U.K. Fingerprints Drinkers

2006-10-22T20:38:00.000-04:00

Did they steal this idea from the Arch-Diocese of Washington which requires that all volunteers in its schools be fingerprinted and attend mandatory training before having the privilege of reading The Cat in the Hat to kindergarteners even with a teacher present. Maybe if these two ideas were combined I consider volunteering. I'll raise a pint to Dr Suess any day.

Lawn Mowering the Lawn

2006-10-22T17:05:00.000-04:00

My boys (3 and 2) love to help me "lawn mower the lawn". They have a "popper" lawn mower that they push behind me. If they think I'm not looking (or if I really am not for a second) they'll make a dash to commandeer the real thing. One day my neighbor was mowing his lawn and our two year old ran to the shed and pulled out my mower. Fortunately they are not strong enough, yet, to successfully pull the rip cord and get it going. I also now make sure to double check that I've locked the shed.

Blogger Outage?

2006-10-22T17:03:00.000-04:00

Did anyone else notice a major outage at blogger.com and blogspot.com yesterday? I could neither post nor read any blogs hosted at blogspot last night.

Grace Before Meals

2006-10-19T23:03:00.000-04:00

Grace Before Meals is a new television show coming to PBS dedicated to bringing families back to the table. Host Father Leo Patalinghug brings people from all walks of life into the kitchen to share his insights on cooking and strengthening relationships. Whether they're at a crossroads or have cause for celebration. Grace Before Meals creates fun and informative opportunities for people to feed themselves - body, mind and soul.

This looks like it will be great. Check out the Pilot Sample and the trailer.

It is good to have a normal, funny, nice priest on a television show to counteract all the negative stereotypes we have come to expect from the media. It is also good to see normal, healthy family life show. It's sad that intact, traditional, happy, non-dysfunctional families are rare on television today.

Father Leo, you can come cook for us anytime.

Human species 'may split in two'

2006-10-18T20:33:00.000-04:00

But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.

Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.

Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.

This article has gotten a lot of attention through out the blogosphere.

Two observations:

1) If all this is supposed to occur due to evolution in a thousand years, why has it not already happened? We've been around a lot longer than that already.

2) Most westerners today contracept. The future is much more likely to be populated by people who are willing to have children such as Catholics and Muslims.

Circus Mind

2006-10-18T19:39:00.000-04:00

Circus Mind was a DC (really Capitol Hill) band which included Karl Celarier (lead guitar), the brother of my friend, Eric. Other members were John Giesecke (drums), Sean Hanley (bass), Antoine Jenkins (vocals), Andy Soloviev (rhythm guitar), and Kevin Price (percussion).

Circus Mind was an interracial band that sounded like an amalgamation of Chuck Brown Go-Go, the Grateful Dead, and Fishbone. They were trippy and funky at the same time. Here is a taste of their version of Iko Iko.

I like this more recent track that features Celarier and Giesecke.

Karl has a few other tracks on his website.

Here is an entry in Congressional Record about Circus Mind.

My cassettes of their (out-of-print) releases disintegrated long ago.

If anyone knows where there is more of this to be found, please post here. Unfortunately, there are some other bands out there with the same name.

Does Television Cause Autism?

2006-10-17T19:47:00.000-04:00

Autism is currently estimated to affect approximately one in every 166 children, yet the cause or causes of the condition are not well understood. One of the current theories concerning the condition is that among a set of children vulnerable to developing the condition because of their underlying genetics, the condition manifests itself when such a child is exposed to a (currently unknown) environmental trigger. In this paper we empirically investigate the hypothesis that early childhood television viewing serves as such a trigger. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, we first establish that the amount of television a young child watches is positively related to the amount of precipitation in the child’s community. This suggests that, if television is a trigger for autism, then autism should be more prevalent in communities that receive substantial precipitation. We then look at county-level autism data for three states – California, Oregon, and Washington – characterized by high precipitation variability. Employing a variety of tests, we show that in each of the three states (and across all three states when pooled) there is substantial evidence that county autism rates are indeed positively related to county-wide levels of precipitation. In our final set of tests we use California and Pennsylvania data on children born between 1972 and 1989 to show, again consistent with the television as trigger hypothesis, that county autism rates are also positively related to the percentage of households that subscribe to cable television. Our precipitation tests indicate that just under forty percent of autism diagnoses in the three states studied is the result of television watching due to precipitation, while our cable tests indicate that approximately seventeen percent of the growth in autism in California and Pennsylvania during the 1970s and 1980s is due to the growth of cable television. These findings are consistent with early childhood television viewing being an important trigger for autism. We also discuss further tests that can be conducted to explore the hypothesis more directly.

I'm sure this paper will be controversial. I hope that further studies follow up on this. It is interesting that the authors of the the study assume cable television subscription indicates more hours of television viewing. The cable industry will probably tell you that they just offer higher quality reception and better choices, but that people don't watch more television if they have cable. I'm betting that people with cable do watch more.

Even if this study is not accurate, watching more television is certainly not going to be good for kids.

Hacker Catches MySpace Predator

2006-10-17T19:28:00.000-04:00

(Kevin Poulsen has) been invited here to witness the end-game of a police investigation that grew from 1,000 lines of computer code I wrote and executed some five months earlier. The automated script searched MySpace's 1 million-plus profiles for registered sex offenders -- and soon found one that was back on the prowl for seriously underage boys.

That's something that MySpace has said it cannot do. Rather, it is seeking new laws that would make it easier to ban sex offenders from the site through an e-mail registry.

I'm skeptical as to how many sex offenders this will catch given that most are crafty enough to know better than to use their real names on MySpace, but something like this should be in place anyway. The real lesson is to not let your kids wander aimlessly through cyberspace unaccompanied.

Matthew Fox Stamps his Feet in Impotent Rage

2006-10-14T20:53:00.000-04:00

Matthew Fox tries to "blast" Opus Dei in an article in Tikkun:

Matthew Fox discusses the infiltration of the Opus Dei in American society.

Ooh. "Infiltration". Let's use a good scary word just in time for Halloween. Or would that be "Samhain" to you, Matt?

The pet club of the late Pope John Paul II and the current Pope Benedict XVI, Opus Dei, has gone through a rough week. First the release of the film Da Vinci Code, which, granted, is fiction but which integrates some of the realities of Opus Dei including its penchant for housing strange characters and fostering body-beating ascetic spiritual techniques all in an effort to render fascism fashionable, and allow its members to circulate unencumbered in powerful places of European politics, economics and religion (to say nothing of American media and governmental hot spots).

Funny thing about that Da Vinci Code thing, isn't it? It bombed and gave Opus Dei the best publicity possible.

Opus Dei allows its lay members to "circulate unencumbered"? I should hope so. Members of the Work are part of the laity and have all the associated rights.

Opus Dei is the club, remember, that the current and past papacy has substituted for base communities and liberation theology in Latin American. The latter had as its motto, a "preferential option for the poor." Opus Dei might have as its motto, "a preferential option for the rich and powerful." Opus Dei is a club that has infiltrated the American CIA, FBI, Supreme Court, media and now the bishopry, where four dioceses in the United States (most recently that of Kansas City) are now headed by Opus Dei bishops just as numerous dioceses in Latin America are so "ed." (The greatest spy in American history, FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who got more American agents and double agents murdered than anyone is U.S. history, was a practicing Opus Dei member who hid for years in the FBI when it was headed by -- you guessed it! -- an Opus Dei chief.)

The Work replaced liberation theology? That's funny, I thought Opus Dei had been around since 1928 and liberation theology was circa 1955.

As for "preferential option for the rich" - hah! I'm a member of the Work and I'm just getting by by the skin of my teeth with six kids and three private school tuitions (No, none of the kids go to schools operated by the Work, though, that would be nice some day), a broken tv, a couch that just collapsed, an ice maker that just went on the fritz, and many other small inconveniences that just will have to wait due to lack of funds.

"Infiltrate". There's that word again.

There is no getting around the fact that Hanssen was a scum bag, but that was hardly caused by living the spirit of the Work -- exactly the opposite. Fox repeats the canard that Louis Freeh is a member of Opus Dei. This has been proved false in many places, the most recent being Freeh's own memoirs.

A second embarrassment for Opus Dei this week was the following headline: "Italian Opus Dei Banker Savagely Murdered." Gianmario Roveraro, coming home from an Opus Dei meeting in Italy, was kidnapped, murdered and chopped into pieces about 30 km from Parma. Opus Dei's biggest concern is secrecy and this unfortunate happening, like the movie Da Vinci Code, has shed some unwanted light on the organization.

Turns out that seventy-year-old Roveraro has been implicated in Europe's largest corporate scandal regarding the collapse and fraudulent bankruptcy of the food and dairy conglomerate, Parmalat, which went out in 2003 with a debt of 23.6 billion dollars "the largest European corporate failure in history. Said one Italian news magazine, the case involved "rivers of money, opaque interests and shady figures." Smells like the Opus Dei I know.

I really do not know anything about Roveraro. I don't know whether he was a member of the Work or not -- most people who go to evenings of recollection are not members of the Work. I also do not know whether he was involved in anything shady or not. It doesn't really matter. Someone who does not live up to an ideal does nothing to diminish the greatest of the ideal. Anytime you see "Opus Dei member" in a news article try substituting "Catholic" as in "Catholics were part of Franco's government".

When I was in Frankfurt a few years ago I had tea downtown with a journalist. He said to me, "See all those new skyscrapers surrounding us here? They are all financial headquarters since the center of European banking is moving from Switzerland to Frankfurt because of the Euro. At the top of each of those skyscrapers is ... Opus Dei."

This is just bizarre. Matt: just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. What was in that tea anyway?

The third bit of bad news for poor old Opus Dei is the Mel Gibson "I am drunk ... with anti-Semitism" case. Here is a self-proclaimed theologian and poster boy for Opus Dei, having served up the sadistic, fascistic, bloody, gory, anti-Semitic pseudo-religious film The Passion of the Christ (see my review on my web page, www.matthewfox.org) that is a veritable parody of Jesus' teachings (Gibson's PR kit mailed to all Christian parishes in the country led with bold headlines: "Dying was Jesus' reason for Living"), and now informing all who would listen to his drunken tirade that "all wars are caused by the Jews."

Why are people so surprised at the ugly words that came out of the mouth of drunken Gibson? Given his fascist political leanings and his religious yearnings for a godly punitive Father, and his membership in Opus Dei, whose founder (rushed into canonization in record time by the last and present pope) actually praised Hitler, why were people so thoroughly shocked?

Matt, did you do your homework? It has been widely reported that Mel Gibson is not a member of Opus Dei. Gibson is not even, technically, a Roman Catholic -- he is a schismatic. As for St Josemaria Escriva praising Hitler, this is simply scurrilous.

The trouble is, many investigating units in the media are themselves riddled with Opus Dei influence. Check out Chris Matthews' so-called ÂHardballÂ program on CNN, which ran a cuddly one-hour show on a sweet Roman Catholic Opus Dei couple just a week after yielding to Opus Dei pressure to cancel a theologian who was promised thirty minutes of interview time on his program to provide an alternative view of Pope Ratzinger. Is it time that someone investigated Chris Matthews' love of right wing Catholicism? The least he can do is rename his program from "Hardball" to "No Balls."

And what about the Supreme Court judges who are Opus Dei? Is the number two? Or three? Or four? Won't someone please investigate? (Come to think of it, isn't that the job of our senators who are supposed to examine Supreme Court candidates?) And what about the senator from Kansas, Sam Brownback, the cheerleader for a theocratic America, who is an out-of-the-closet convert to Opus Dei Catholicism? He deserves some attention also.

Wrong again. Not a single member of the Supreme Court is a member of Opus Dei. As far as I know, no senators or members of congress are members of the Work -- maybe that is what's wrong with the Supreme Court, Senate and Congress? Matt, while you are investigating who is and who isn't a member of Opus Dei, why don't you find out who is Catholic -- or Jewish for that matter. Isn't religious freedom one of the building blocks of our country?

Yes, with Opus Dei bankers being murdered and chopped up; with Opus Dei Hollywood producers (I wonder who got the largess of Gibson's $600 million in profits from his pseudo-Christian film) drunk and spouting deeply held anti-Semitic epitaphs; with exposes on Opus Dei bishops like that of Kansas City (the first thing he did was to fire every church worker in the diocese's officeÂand then swear that his seminarians would all go to the right wing so-called Catholic Ave Maria college put up by right wing owner of Domino's pizza in a strange Florida town where everyone must be a right wing Catholic); with Opus Dei senators preaching a theocratic America; and with the film Da Vinci Code beginning to tell some of the secrets of this silly but dangerous and powerful club, this has not been a good season for Opus Dei. Its covers are being blown open. The secrets are seeping out.

But when you have the amount of money they have and the amount of "friends" in high, high places (like the Vatican and the Supreme Court and mainline media as starters), it's hard to count them out. Better to stay alert and ring bells of warning when you see them coming.

Yes, and let's all pray for Mel Gibson's conversion. Then maybe some of his $600 million ill gotten gains from sick religious filming will go to authentically spiritual causes ... one can hope, right?

All these lies, character assassination, unsupported claims, misinformation, and downright hatred from a website that aims to "heal, love, and repair the world"?

John Paul the Great!

2006-10-14T19:01:00.000-04:00

The Vatican will make history this week when it releases a cartoon film about the life of Pope John Paul II.

Lasting just over an hour, it charts the life of the man born Karol Wojtyla, from his humble beginnings in Poland to his death last year aged 84. John Paul II - The Friend Of All Humanity is the first cartoon account of a Pope's life.

This is not really my cup of tea, but the Vatican endorses it, so it does not really bother me either. I'm sure some sedevacanist RadTrads will see this as further proof of the new fall of Rome while at the same time the "progressives" will pooh-pooh it.

It doesn't really look like him, though, does it?

O, Canada!

2006-10-14T11:54:00.000-04:00

No, not the Canadian national anthem. "Canada" has for unknown reasons become my three year old son's favorite insult. When I was his age I used to infuriate my baby sitter by calling her "band-aid". Like father, like son, I suppose.

The use of "Canada" as an epithet could carry some cachet with Dear Old Dad. In the summer of 2001 (before September 11) our family traveled to Canada with a good friend and his family. We stayed in his father's ancestral farm house. It was beautiful and, for the most part, the people were wonderful and friendly. However, when we paid a visit to my friend's cousin, the cousin started bashing Bush and the "stupid Americans" within about thirty seconds of my shaking his hand. Good luck, buddy, if you ever have some "immigrant" problems up there. You may make great beer and be the home of a decent pretentious band, but when you are under sharia that's not going to do you much good.

Royal Mail Will Issue Beatles Stamps

2006-10-13T23:22:00.000-04:00

The stamps and miniature sheet will be on sale at most Post Offices from Tuesday 9th January at face value of £3.36 for the set and £1.28 for the sheet. Many POs will also sell the first day cover [FDC](commemorative envelope) for 30p, and/or a presentation pack, and postcard-size enlargements of the stamps.

Paul McCartney says "I just want to be licked". Hmmm.

Rod, The Letter, and Regensburg

2006-10-11T19:49:00.000-04:00

Today Mark Shea posts a link to a post by Richard Chonak about the apparent jump of Rod Dreher from Catholicism to Orthodoxy. Mark and many of the commenters make mention that Rod needs prayers and that we cannot judge him. I wonder why we always feel the need to do this. It should go without saying that we cannot judge someone and everyone needs prayers. We could say the same about an abortionist or Osama bin Laden. That should not stop us, however, from making prudential judgments about actions.

It appears that Rod has left the Church because he is (rightly) upset by the The Scandal. He also wants a place where his children can better feel as if they are part of a community.

Amy Welborn has an interesting post today about The Letter from Bishop Tod Brown of Orange County where Brown laments the Church becoming a sort of sacramental machine where people come for the one time sacraments of baptism, first communion, confirmation, and marriage and are never seen between. Amy makes a great insight:

The answer, or at least part of it, is unintentionally contained in the video sent out to accompany The Letter. It is a sort-of-slick presentation of the matter, replete with folks talking about their experiences of Church, and what they like:

I feel as if I belong...I was looking for fellowship...I enjoy helping others...this has been an incredible journey..

The closing montage is played under a song, of course, and the song is about how we all join "to shine the light together."

The end. Hardly a word about Jesus Christ. I mean...not much.

This is a hard place we have come to, isn't it?

Amidst the violence following the Pope's speech in Regensburg, the main message of his speech seems to have been lost. Faith and Reason go hand in hand and faith is reasonable. "Not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature".

Rod Dreher's "reason" for leaving the Church is not reasonable. It is emotionalism. The same goes for Bishop Brown's approach to apostolate. The title of John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio, does not translate to "Faith and Emotion".

Anger at the failings of some our of priests and bishops is entirely understandable as is the human need for community. These should not, however, be the basis for affirming or rejecting faith.

Christ allowed Judas to be one of the twelve, He has allowed Judases to continue to be in the Church throughout the centuries, and He will likely allow them in the future. Reading St Paul, we can see that there have been serious problems of community from the very beginning.

We should strive to make our parishes more welcoming. We should hope and pray for holy priests and make those who are not accountable. But even when our goals and hopes fall way short, we should still embrace the Faith and the Church.

I am not Catholic because of the choir in my parish really belts it or because my pastor is a nice guy. I'm Catholic because I believe the Catholic faith to be true.

That is reason enough.

Slickee Boys: Gotta Tell Me Why

2006-10-06T21:25:00.000-04:00

Memories of the Eighties in DC. I probably saw the Slickees two dozen times at places like the Wax Museum near 7th and D, the Psychadeli in Bethesda near the original WHFS studios on Cordell Avenue, LaPlata Beach and Colony Ballroom at the University of Maryland, and other places that have slipped my mind. I think I lost two pairs of glasses slam dancing at different Slickees shows in College Park.

The Slickees were campy but still rocked with their own unique combination of garage band psychadelia, punk, and eighties whatever.

iWillRead

2006-09-27T21:26:00.000-04:00

What can iSay? iWill have to read this. Actually I've enjoyed all the histories I've read of the early days of Apple. I'm sure that Woz will have some interesting anecdotes.

New Who Singles Premiered via Net Stream

2006-09-27T21:10:00.000-04:00

The Who have put up streams of two of their singles from their new album Endless Wire. Neither really impress me on a first listen. Of the two I prefer Tea and Theater over It's Not Enough. Daltry's voice is pretty ragged. Pete would have probably sang them both better. I can barely hear Pino Palladino's bass. Zak's drumming is pretty standard. Pete's acoustic guitar work is fine, but his electric work suffers from him finally discovering the whammy bar.

Orlando Bloom Doesn't Like Kissing In His Movies

2006-09-25T20:07:00.000-04:00

"In my new movie 'Haven' I hated kissing Zoe Saldana! I was like, 'Take your tongue out of my mouth, please. Your boyfriend is standing right there.' Most people think kissing beautiful co-stars must be great but it's always awkward."

Wow! How refreshing to hear an actor speak with some wisdom. Of course it is weird to swap spit with someone you hardly know. Kissing is an intimate act. Webster defines "intimate" as "belonging to or characterizing one's deepest nature; of a very personal or private nature". We should protect our deepest nature, not throwing pearls before swine.

Protesters Against Fluoridation

2006-09-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

Flag of Allah to be raised above Vatican

2006-09-24T18:22:00.000-04:00

"The day will soon come when the green flag of La Illah Illah Allah (There is no god but Allah) and Muhammad Rasul Allah (Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah) will be raised upon the Vatican and all around the world and on the fortresses of those who want to destroy Islam because they know that this religion obliges them to face the truth that Islam is Allah's favorite religion. And until they join Islam hell is their last station," Abu Saqer said.

...

Abu Saqer claimed he did not condone violence. He blamed the pope for recent anti-Christian attacks in the Palestinian territories.

"We are deeply sorry for these acts that we condemn. But I am sorry that this little racist did not think of the consequences upon the Christians in the Arab world when he insulted our Prophet. It is an open war - the Muslims against all the others."

Looks like the protestors against the Pope have decided that demonstrating their "peacefulness" is not enough, but now have to also demonstrate their "rationality" along with it.

St Muhammad?

2006-09-19T20:33:00.000-04:00

(2006-09-18) — A day after violent Muslim riots spurred Pope Benedict XVI to apologize for implying that Islam has brought more evil to the world, the Pontiff today agreed to consider a petition to add the name of Islam’s founder to the pantheon of Roman Catholic saints.

ScrappleFace is still one of the funniest blogs.

Unfinished Tolkien work to be published in '07

2006-09-18T20:31:00.000-04:00

Christopher Tolkien has spent the past 30 years working on "The Children of Hurin," an epic tale his father began in 1918 and later abandoned. Excerpts of "The Children of Hurin," which includes the elves and dwarves of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and other works, have been published before.

"It has seemed to me for a long time that there was a good case for presenting my father's long version of the legend of the 'Children of Hurin' as an independent work, between its own covers," Christopher Tolkien said in a statement.

Awesome.

Me Too

2006-09-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

I believe that this is going to be good in the long term, but that there is going to be some serious doo-doo in the short run. How long is long term? Your guess is as good as mine.

The problems for the short term are obvious. Part of the long term good may be that the general public will see through the media's anti-catholic bias. Rational people will not accept "We will kill anyone who calls us intolerant" as tolerance no matter how the New York Times tries to spin it.

Opus Dei celebrates 50th anniversary in St. Louis

2006-09-10T20:12:00.000-04:00

On Sept. 5, 1956, a priest and layman from Chicago embarked on a car trip to St. Louis to spread the message that lay Catholics should strive to be saints in their ordinary lives.

Their journey served as the official beginning of Wespine House on West Pine Boulevard in the Central West End, the first Opus Dei center in St. Louis.

Today, the apostolate celebrates 50 years in St. Louis, the only part of the state in which Opus Dei has centers. Almost 90 laypeople are considered members here.

You are On Notice

2006-09-05T20:05:00.000-04:00

Mortgage Resets on the Horizon

2006-08-25T20:00:00.000-04:00

Though estimates vary, some industry experts say that at least a half a trillion dollars' worth of loans with reduced initial payment terms are scheduled to reset during the coming year.

Many of these mortgages carry "negative amortization" features that permit borrowers to pile on additional debt beyond their original balance, and make minimal payments for the first several years. Once the initial period is over, however, payments can shoot up by 100% or more as the loan resets.

This is bad, bad news. A lot of people who have odd-ball loans like negative amortization mortgages took on this level of debt because it was the only way they could get into a house and they are barely making their minimum payment. When their payment doubles, what are they going to do? Sell their homes? Surprise. Housing prices are dropping.

What do you do when you bought the house in the last two years at the top of the market and you have to sell it for less than you owe on the mortgage? If this starts to happen, do the prices of houses go up? Sorry.

A situation like this could spiral into recession. Let's pray that this doesn't happen.

Guitar Hero

2006-08-22T20:19:00.000-04:00

In Guitar Hero™, players press the fret buttons on the Guitar Hero™ SG Controller in sync with scrolling “notes” on screen that indicate the rhythm of the song. Players activate these “notes” by flicking the strum bar on the Guitar Hero™ SG Controller. When you’re using the Guitar Hero™ SG Controller and rocking out to songs like Iron Man, or Thunder Kiss 65 you’ll feel just like a Guitar Hero!

Save your cash and buy a real guitar. It will be a lot more fun.

The Fertility Gap

2006-08-22T19:25:00.000-04:00

Liberal politics will prove fruitless as long as liberals refuse to multiply.

This is why orthodoxy will win out. Vocations are going to come from generous, large families. God's first and continous message to us is Crescite et multiplicamini.

Bush Sells His Soul

2006-08-21T20:44:00.000-04:00

During an August 21 press conference, President Bush was questioned about reports that his nominee as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Andrew von Eschenbach, would approve non-prescription sales of the drug known as "Plan B." The President responded:

I believe that Plan B ought to be -- ought to require a prescription for minors, is what I believe. And I support Andy's decision.

If only George had gotten the abortifacient drug, Plan B, confused with the Dexy's Midnight Runners song, Plan B...

PLAN B
Bill Withers was good to me
PLAN B
Pretend I'm Bill and lean on me

Opus Dei Volunteers Clean Up in Fiji

2006-07-14T22:44:00.000-04:00

A 22-member team of Opus Dei volunteers from Australia and New Zealand is spending two and a half weeks in a Fiji Catholic school doing maintenance and repair work as part of a clean up campaign.

The guy sporting the mohawk looks like he could take on Silas any day.

Heartache

2006-07-14T21:07:00.000-04:00

Contraception is For Wimps

2006-06-18T19:33:00.000-04:00

Real men are fathers.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Spiderman Outs Himself to the Press

2006-06-15T20:01:00.000-04:00

In the latest edition of the Marvel comic "Civil War" on sale, Spiderman does the unthinkable and removes his Spidey mask to publicly reveal his hidden identity.

Whew! When I saw "out" in the headline, I thought he was going the way of Batwoman.

Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me?

2006-06-11T21:05:00.000-04:00

Macca, who will actually be turning 64 a week from today, looks like he doesn't need someone to feed him -- he can cook! Sort of.

Worm-inspired robot crawls through intestines

2006-06-06T21:51:00.000-04:00

A robot designed to crawl through the human gut by mimicking the wriggling motion of an undersea worm has been developed by European scientists. It could one day help doctors diagnose disease by carrying tiny cameras through patients' bodies.

Most people will cringe at this, but having had an endoscopy recently, I'd prefer the mechanical bug.

Supreme Court Ends PRS/Gibson Lawsuit

2006-06-06T21:23:00.000-04:00

Paul Reed Smith Guitars has announced that the United States Supreme Court today denied Gibson Guitar's final appeal of a Court of Appeals decision upholding PRS' right to make a single cutaway-style guitar.

The Supremes rock.

Billy Preston, RIP

2006-06-06T20:47:00.000-04:00

Another musical obituary.

Billy Preston, the singer-songwriter famous for his collaborations with Ray Charles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Beatles, among others, as well as for the Grammy-winning solo hits "Outta Space" and "Nothing From Nothing," died Tuesday from complications due to chronic kidney failure. He was 59.

Get Back,Billy.

Vince Welnick, RIP

2006-06-05T19:53:00.000-04:00

Vince Welnick is the Dead's fourth keyboard player and fifth member to have died. This sounds like a bad parody of a parody. Spinal Tap had a hard time keeping the drum riser filled; the Grateful Dead the keyboard bench. Tom Constanten is probably glad that he quit the band in 1970 and Bruce Hornsby is probably glad that he never officially appeared on the roster.

The Dead's long time roadie Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff died last month.

Before joining the Dead, Welnick was a member of the Tubes which had an underground hit with White Punks on Dope. My friends and I used to sing it as White Dopes on Punk - and we were.

Judge James Ryan: "No Hope" for Muhammad

2006-06-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

Sniper John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to six consecutive life terms without parole yesterday.

Maryland prosecutors and the victims' families consider the sentence insurance in case his death sentence in Virginia is thrown out.

"You chose the wrong community, sir, to stain with your acts of violence," Circuit Judge James Ryan said.

"You, Mr. Muhammad, have no hope. You have no future. You will spend the rest of your life locked in a cage."

I'm glad, very glad that John Muhammad and John Malvo will likely live out the rest of their lives in prison.

Judge Ryan has the authority to sentence Muhammad to six life terms, but he does not have the authority to pronounce judgment on whether Muhammad or anyone else has hope. Everyone, Muhammad included, can have Hope. Even if he is sentenced to die by lethal injection he can Hope if he repents.

I've heard it said that the death penalty can be an act of charity committed by the state. When you think about it, the final goal -- attaining everlasting life in heaven -- is the objective of the greatest acts of charity. Very few of us know when our last day will be. Confronting death can be sobering and, hopefully, will lead to taking stock before the final accounting.

Genital mutilation 'torture'

2006-06-02T20:17:00.000-04:00

In my book, mutilating someone against their will in any way is "torture" -- with or without quotation marks.

Heart May Generate Stem Cells

2006-05-31T20:42:00.000-04:00

Yet another source of stem cells that does not involve killing a child.

DVC Jumps the Shark

2006-05-26T09:19:00.000-04:00

Snakes in the Yard

2006-05-25T20:26:00.000-04:00

Forget Snakes on a Plane, today I found two snakes hiding under a wood pile in the yard. I picked up the smaller one (with a gloved hand) to show my three year old son. Today's gospel reads: "... they will pick up snakes in their hands..". Weird. I had not even noticed that this morning at Mass. I'm not going to try drinking poison, though.

Pirates promise improved version of DaVinci Code next month

2006-05-25T19:49:00.000-04:00

I love the title of this article. I picture Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow making Tom Hanks and Ron Howard walk the plank.

Good News on the Vocations Front

2006-05-25T19:30:00.000-04:00

The Archdiocese of Washington's paper, the Catholic Standard, is reporting that twelve men will be ordained priests for the archdiocese this year. Interestingly, lay movements seem to be a real catalyst for vocations. Two of the men mentioned the Neocatechumenical Way as an influence.

Three mentioned Opus Dei. Of the three, two are sons of members of the Work, come from large (over 7 kids) families, and attended The Heights, a local high school that is a corporate work of Opus Dei. The third was influenced by Fr CJ McCloskey. The last few crops of priests in DC have had a number of ties to Opus Dei.

Also notable, is that the priestly candidates seem to be getting younger. In the past few years it seemed to be that a high percentage were forty and over.

Congratulations and prayers go out to all twelve of these men and to Fr Robert Panke, vocations director of the archdiocese.

What a Prize

2006-05-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

The prizes in those things have certainly gotten better since I was a kid.

Brown's Last Supper

2006-05-19T20:55:00.000-04:00

This is fiction, but true. My theory is that Dan Brown was a closet Star Trek freak. Note how Tom Hanks has that pasty-faced Commander Data look. Ron Howard is sporting a Klingonish goatee. And is that shadowy figure above Opie's head an ET? Do Audrey Tautou's ears look a bit pointy to you?

Somewhat Serious Subject. Very Juvenile Humor

2006-05-19T20:39:00.000-04:00

In grade school they taught us that the book The Yellow River was written by I.P. Daily. It looks like the follow up was authored by Sonny d'Lite. Rimshot.

Vatican restricts public ministry of Maciel

2006-05-19T20:08:00.000-04:00

I'm not really sure what to make of this. Reading between the lines, most people are interpreting this that the Vatican thinks that at least some of the accusations against Maciel are well-founded.

Some people who are against the Legionaries are laughing and piling on all sorts of anecdotes. They are saying that the Legionaries are stone-walling and defending a pedophile.

I have a good friend who is in Regnum Christi and actually is employed by the Legionaries and know other members of Regnum Christi who are really serious about their faith. While the little I know about Regnum Christi's spirituality does not appeal personally to me, I've always thought that it was good and that there is plenty of room in the Church for different personalities as long as they are orthodox, prayful, devout, etc -- which is my personal observation of my friend and others that I've known to be in Regnum Christi.

I am a member of Opus Dei and have heard all sorts of calumnies aimed at the Work and even a cursory glance at the history of the Church has shown that it is full of great saints who were maligned. I'm hoping that that is the case with Maciel, but am not naive. I think it is best to let history decide on this one.

In the meantime, my prayers go out for my friend and all the sincerely prayful people in the Legionaries and Regnum Christ.

More Reviews

2006-05-19T09:22:00.000-04:00

You know a movie's a dud when even its self-flagellating albino killer monk isn't any fun. - John Beifuss, commercialappeal.com

The Hollywood alchemists haven't turned gold to lead. They've turned copper to zinc. - Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The story is not so much an enigma wrapped in a mystery as an unlikelihood wrapped in an impossibility." - Jay Stone, CanWest News Service

I cannot vouch for the novel, but the movie is a remarkably underwhelming experience. - David Cornelius, efilmcritic.com

That it is risible and dim-witted doesn't make it less disgusting. - Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films

The most controversial thriller of the year turns out to be about as exciting as watching your parents play Sudoku. -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

what has ended up on screen is roughly as compelling as a bowl of wax fruit. -Anthony Quinn, The Independent

How can a film contain so many clues yet remain utterly clueless? - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Paul Bettany’s Silas, meanwhile, is the most sympathetic character in the film. You know there’s trouble when you care most about a murderous albino monk. - Erik Lundegaard, MSNBC

It's Just Fiction, Right, Dan?

2006-05-19T09:11:00.000-04:00

Dale Price says some things about Dan Brown's mother, but it is just fiction, so it is alright.

Real Piece of Opus

2006-05-19T09:02:00.000-04:00

Movie reviewers must really love stinkers. When else can they throw out lines like this.

I don't know about the Dei, but anybody who can make cellphone calls in Latin, while flagellating his naked back raw, is a real piece of Opus. And not to be messed with.

Da Vinci Code' misses the mark for critics

2006-05-16T20:12:00.000-04:00

The Cannes audience clearly grew restless as the movie dragged on to two and a half hours and spun a long sequence of anticlimactic revelations.

"I kept thinking of the Energizer Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way," said James Rocchi, a film critic for CBS 5 television in San Francisco and the online outlet Cinematical. "Ron Howard makes handsome films. He doesn't make bad ones, but he doesn't make great ones."

One especially melodramatic line uttered by Hanks drew prolonged laughter and some catcalls, and the audience continued to titter for much of the film's remainder.

Albinos Not Happy with Da Vinci Code

2006-05-16T19:58:00.000-04:00

Critics cite a long list of albinos cast as heavies by Hollywood: The dreadlocked twins in "The Matrix Reloaded," a powder-haired hit man in the Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn crime romp "Foul Play," the pasty zombies in "The Omega Man," a sadistic killer in "Cold Mountain," even the wicked executioner in the fairy-tale comedy "The Princess Bride."

Michael McGowan, an albino who heads the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, said "The Da Vinci Code" will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino.

"Silas is just the latest in a long string," McGowan said. "The problem is there has been no balance. There are no realistic, sympathetic or heroic characters with albinism that you can find in movies or popular culture."

No word yet from the Winter brothers, Johnny and Edgar (pictured above).

This Poster Makes Me Laugh

2006-05-10T20:14:00.000-04:00

...don't listen to the demon, laugh at him -- St. Therese of Lisieux

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. -- James 4:7

... for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed. -- Screwtape

The "Opus Dei Code"

2006-04-18T20:24:00.000-04:00

Time magazine has a cover story on Opus Dei this week just in time to cash in on hoopla surrounding the premiere of the Da Vinci Code movie in a few weeks.

Rooney "Welcomes" Couric

2006-04-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

I’m not enthusiastic about it. I think everybody likes Katie Couric, I mean how can you not like Katie Couric. But, I don’t know anybody at CBS News who is pleased that she’s coming here.

New "Mini-Opera" Due from the Who?

2006-04-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

On January 10th I had a sudden flash. Nick Goderson who is the manager of Eel Pie, has been ill with cancer for quite some time, and is often on my mind. I remembered that he had once suggested I turn TBWHM into a ‘Mini-Opera’ rather than a Magnum-Opus. This was what I needed. With the story fresh in my mind, and with hundreds of useful comments from those who had responded as I had published the chapters one by one, I was able to quickly scratch out a lyrical synopsis of The Boy Who Heard Music. This comprised seven or eight short lyric-poems. I took into account none of the depth, background or complexity of the story. In a way, I deliberately skipped over what I had explored and elaborated in my Novella, and just grabbed at whatever came into my mind as I sat with pen and paper. I had the benefit of my notes from the Lifehouse script and lyric-guides from as far back as1971, one of which – Sound Round – I used to start the collection. I also used some of the lyrics I had written especially for the Novella. Quickly I found I had enough coherent lyrics to comprise a short song-cycle or ‘Mini-Opera’. I did a couple of quick demos and by January 17th knew I had about 30 minutes of music that would create a vigorous backbone for the Who album, but allow me to continue to draw on the bloodline of The Boy Who Heard Music.

I hope that Zak is the drummer on the final product.

Housefly Gets Glasses Made With Lasers

2006-04-04T20:47:00.000-04:00

I'm seeing my opthamologist tomorrow. I hope I look this cool in my new specs.

Brain Cells Fused with Computer Chip

2006-03-27T20:01:00.000-05:00

I sometimes joke that I could write code a lot faster if there was a USB port in my cerebral cortex, but this is getting a little scary. I think that using animal brain cells would be ethical. I'm not sure if all uses of human brains cells would be immoral, but tend to think that most cases would be.

Digital Medievalist

2006-03-27T19:55:00.000-05:00

DM is an on-line, open access, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the use of digital tools and media in the study of medieval culture.

Hat tip to Bill White.

Buck Owens Dies

2006-03-25T20:04:00.000-05:00

Guitar Shred Show - Mr.Fastfinger

2006-02-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

Strange, but cool.