Tags
atheists, environment, fundamentalism, George W. Bush, going green, Johnny Depp, life in the meadow, Michel Foucault, Politics, Presidents, writing
A statement like that can cause a woman my age to go into immediate cardiac arrest. I gasped, turned to my beloved Contrarian with all the love I could muster in my eyes, and gushed, “Darling, this is the Best late Christmas present ever!”
I tripped across one dog and stepped on at least one cat tail as I launched myself across the room, eyes shining brightly at the bedroom door.
I burst in, my eyes like eagles, searching the environs. “Come out, come out, where ever you are, ” I teased.
“What are you talking about?” the Contrarian grunted. “I taped David Letterman. Depp is a guest. Since Stewart’ still off on vacation, I thought we could watch it for our bedtime fare.”
Welcome to my life. My fantasy universe collapsed before my tear-laden eyes, and I mumbled, “well of course, I was just making a joke.” I pushed my tired feet under the covers, pulled the blankets up tight against my chin, and closed my eyes, to let the fantasy play out for a few more seconds.
Sigh.
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What’s in a name? No, I’m not getting all Shakespearean on ya. Are you named after someone? Cappy over at Writer’s Block is, and she tells you all about it. Also her penchant for naming as yet unborn children.
I do that for pets. I name them in advance. My next two dogs will be Frieda and Diego. After the Mexican painters. I saw the movie. What a love affair. Passionate people hurt each other, but their love is dramatic. I like to name in love affairs. Or something else. We have Kate and Spencer (Hepburn and Tracy) and Calvin and Hobbes (okay that isn’t a love affair, except sorta it is). Our cats. They don’t exactly act like their counterparts. That is the downside.
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This next one requires some real thought. First impressions may be wrong. Does the computer enhance, or make for better writing than the old-fashioned ink and quill? pencil? ink pen? typewriter? The eraser was vilified as making for sloppy writing, easy to “correct.” How about white-out? Trickier question than you might have thought. American Scientist has a titillating review on the subject. The book in question is called: A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers and the Digital Revolution.
It sounds like a quirky but quite interesting little book.
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If Murr Brewster hasn’t come across your radar yet, you may want to take a look at her blog. She has a slice of environmental reporting to do today, done in her rather inimitable style. How do you fare in the “go green” revolution? Like Murr, up and down, depends.
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What frustrates me with “some” atheists is that their arguments are based on fundamentalist interpretations of the bible, which we (most of us) agree are utterly wrong. Yet these atheists seem either unwilling or unable to see that there is a better/clearer/more intellectually sound way of reading scripture.
Tim Bulkeley writes a great little piece over at The Bible and Interpretation that lays the plague of the neo-Atheists at the feet of the fundamentally unbiblical fundamentalist. I agree. See if you do. Thanks for the H/T from James McGrath at Exploring our Matrix.
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My thought is that Dubya might not want to take his book tour to London. Not after the scathing and terribly accurate review Eliot Weinberger gives it. An excerpt will suffice to whet your whistle:
In the late 1960s, George Bush Jr was at Yale, branding the asses of pledges to the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity with a hot coathanger. Michel Foucault was at the Societé française de philosophie, considering the question, ‘What is an author?’ The two, needless to say, never met.
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We’re having fried chicken, mashed taters and gravy and peas. I like peas. I even like the ones in cans. Like when I was a kid. They are like two different vegetables. Peas from the freezer and peas from the can. It’s one of those foods I need to revisit now and again, like that bright orange french dressing by Wishbone. Nostalgia they call it.
I’m a good wife. I cook up good grub. Even if Johnny Depp wasn’t in my bedroom.
Existential Ennui 
Hahaha that’s fantastic. I’d get excited, too, if someone said that. Johnny Depp? In my bedroom? Oh joy 🙂
Thanks for the mention again! I really appreciate how many times you’ve mentioned my blog in your posts, and I’m so glad you like the blog! Happy new year!
same to you Cappy. I loved the explanation of your name! Had no idea that was your real name. Thought it was a pseudonym. I especially like doing the Depp stuff, figuring I’ll pick up a lot of extra hits. A few stick! hahaha
Happy New Year
I can’t take my eyes off Johnny Depp when he’s on the screen, but it feels more like I’m a gay man who likes to look at pretty women. I don’t plan to analyze that because it might interfere with my enjoyment. Oh and thanks for the nice link.
I know I’m the same way! And he can really act to boot! What’s not to like here! And he can sing! lol…Like you blog Murr!
I think I write more now than before the stone tablet and chisel. I hated the way the rock chips would fly up and hit me in the face. I don’t name my dogs until I get them unless I’ve picked them up from the pound and they’ve already become attached to their name. Thanks for the link to Exploring the Matrix. I wish atheists weren’t so mean and spiteful and I wish christians weren’t either. Don’t know about agnostics. They might be the milder of the bunch.
lol…I hear ya. I know I wouldn’t write so much if I had to do it with pen, or typewriter for that matter. James McGrath has a great blog. Hope you enjoy it. I agree, agnostics may be the best of the lot!
I would probably hurt myself racing to the bedroom if I thought Johnny was waiting for me.
You know, when I get stuck writing, I use pen and paper or pencil and paper and it does often help.
Now I’ll have to remember to not use my eraser.
Lisa, I think you are a real writer. I’m kinda a pretend one, who has found a genre that I can operate in. I’m not sure I would do much with pen and paper. Actually, I find I do the wandering in search of a subject better here, where I can just delete at the end if nothing comes along. Best to you Lisa and family!
It’s beneficial you married a Viet War Vet, Contrarian. Vets have fatalistic Humor that tiolerates you dreaming of Depp in your bedroom. The cultures of ancient times may have tolerated stoning you to death. But Contrarian likes you as wife becauswe he reaslizes girls dream romasntically; you might have become a housewifey average cook if you couldn’t dream Depp Night be inb the bedroom sometime, and Men know that the way for a woman to a man is through his stomach.
What is Modern historical understanding of God Killing all Children, all adults in a village in the Old Testament? That’s one reason Fundies hate the ‘phoney’ God is evil christianity. I asked a 50th Anniversary Priest, 32 year Professor of Theology at the North American College Seminary at the Vatican what thgose verses mean. He answered Knowledgeabkly that Those Figurative teachings were the Culture of those Biblical Writing times, to the Uneducated masses; they are not Literal.
We have an Advantage in Biblical Knowledge as Catholics: Our Church Fathers Wrote the New Testament almost 2,000 years ago; we Know the Meanings, the way of writings, the Culture of the Time, the use of Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek wordssw of The Time..
And it was 3 Church Councils of Experts in the years 300’s whicgh Selected which of Hundreds of ‘epistles’, ‘gospels’ were Authentic, rejecting (now called Gnostic) Later writings like the ‘gospel of Judas’, etc., etc. Many ‘new writings’ like that ‘gospel’ were immediatelly rejected Then as not authentic by experts like St Irineaus (sic). The 3 Church Councils which selected the Canon of Authentic Books were the Greatest Expers. The Councils of Carthage, Rome and another selected the Books which we all accept as bible, except the 7 Martin Luther Removed for his perceptions of religious doctrine (No Purgatory, etc), which resulted in the King James Protestant accepted.
The New Testament Books were the ones already widelly taught, except a couple which were disputed, finally Accepted as True, like Revelation.
lol Tony. I tolerate the contrarian’s forays with Halle Berry, so it’s only fair.
I agree, fundogelicals take a lot of liberties to arrive at their literalism. Passages of the OT which they don’t like, they claim are no longer “operational” because of Jesus and the NT. That is historically not defensible, particularly when they then point out OT passages that they favor as being operative. Can’t have it both ways, but they do.
All Christians have the benefit of the earliest writers and thinkers on the various books that we gathered as the canon. I am not a Catholic who thinks that the Catholic church started with Christ. I believe it became the controlling entity when it was strong enough to end contrary groups of Christians whom it found theologically in err. The winner is declared ‘the church.” But I agree with your Priest, that we are not by and large to take much too literally.
Experts are certainly to be consulted and listened to, but still they made decisions based on what information they had at hand at the time. Today we have more. I don’t think most serious exegetes think that Hebrews would be added to the canon today. It barely made it in in the first place, and certainly wasn’t written by Paul which was about the only reason it was admitted.
Faith is about growth, and we should grow in faith and understanding and there is nothing wrong with new knowledge both adding to and CORRECTING what we thought we knew. Just my opinion of course. Blessings for the new Year Tony!
Thanks for mentioning my Bible and Interpretation piece 🙂 and thanks to James McGrath I found your blog. We don’t name our animals till we’ve seen them and the chickens names keep changing 😉
Tim, no problem at all, you most eloquently stated something I have been sure of for a long time. It is maddening. Atheists used to be reasonable people! lol…Isn’t James’ blog terrific? I get so many leads to great stuff from him, including Bible and Interpretation.
I can understand why naming chickens wouldn’t make much sense! lol..
Sherry – you bring many a smile to my face on these winter days. Thanks for htat and Happy New Year to you and the contrarian.
As for writing, computer vs whatever: I think editing always improves writing, and the computer is the best editing environment I’ve ever experienced. I can type random thoughts for possible inclusion and leave them visible just below what I’m working on and I won’t forget them that way. I can cut and paste into superior continuity. A great great tool. No blue pen and tiny tiny handwriting in the margins needed.
I’m with you Mo. Computers make my day as far as writing goes, and when I’m reading something serious that I take notes on, I sit at the computer and, boy does it go faster and more coherently.
I am glad that some find my scribblings amusing. They are meant to do that. LOL..Some take them seriously and that is always sad to realize I’ve missed the mark.