Blogroll

The end of limbo, Catholic style?

One of the numerous things that bemused me in Catholic grade school was the fate of “pagan babies,” as the nuns tended to call them. The story was that infants who died unbaptized ended up in limbo. That was part of the reason we had to raise money for missions. We needed to help save […]

Marginalia and local dicta (Updated)

A few recent odds and ends now that the Thanksgiving and snow break have ended and I’ve looked at something other than a book:

I’m a big fan of Wikipedia. Now comes Wiktionary and it looks quite intriguing. Now I just need Firefox to add it to the options for its search box so I […]

Book Review: The Year of Magical Thinking (2005)

I’d be the first to admit that I’m about as far from the literati as you can get. That said, while Joan Didion probably helps define that class and her National Book Award winning The Year of Magical Thinking has plenty of literary references, its scope goes far beyond that.

The Year of Magical Thinking […]

Bashing Bush with humor

Two recent reads reflect the role of satire and humor in trying to get across political ideas.

Steven Hanley’s The Legend of Bushistotle: History’s Greatest Philosopher-Warrior-King is satire told in the first person. Hanley takes a job with the Vatican to translate ancient Greek manuscripts that may shed light on the true story of Bushistotle. […]

DVD quick takes

Gaslight (1944) 2.5/5

This film is a good example of why I generally don’t watch classics. You know the plot and where this movie is going about 15 minutes in and not much after that comes as a surprise or keeps you in suspense. Don’t get me wrong. Ingrid Bergman, who won both the Oscar […]