Wanderings of a no longer entirely young Christian intellectual in search of a straighter way.
Would probably be considered paleoconservative and paleoorthodox. Often go as petrarca. Finished up a law degree in 2003; married a beautiful woman at the end of 2003; am presently working in a family business; ultimately hope to do work on political philosophy and the history of ideas.
Keywords:
Akkadian Althusius Aquinas 'arabiyya Architechtonics Augustine L'Avventura Averroes Dante Edward VI Ethics Farabi Faust Greek Hillsdale College History of Ideas Jurisprudence Keats Latina Law C. S. Lewis Lucretius Maimonides Milton Moritiz College of Law Gary North Ockham The Ohio State University Old Fine Arts Paris Persona Pico della Mirandola Pindar Plato Political Philosophy George C. Roche III Rome Rushdoony Jean Sibelius Leo Strauss Tasso Tolkien Vergil Vertigo Francisco de Vitoria
I saw An Inconvenient Truth and I was surprised at how low-key it was. The movie is like one big long powerpoint with sidebars. It is much less alarmist than it could have been.
I saw Bowling for Columbine, partly to have a point of reference for some more liberal friends. Moore is at his best when he's trying to embarass people or capturing them doing and saying really comically stupid stuff.
I enjoyed The Queen, although I couldn't get the tabloid image of Diana on the diving board out of my mind, in connection with the eiree music they used in the soundtrack.
My wife enjoyed Briget Jones and I like it better second time around.
I really enjoyed Match Point. It is certainly Woody's best film. The use of Verdi's Otello in the climactic scenes was a masterstroke. It was fun to watch Scarlett Johansson play... herself. The genius of the film is that it subverts your expectations and drives you into a killing frenzy towards the main character by the end. Almost Grecian in the sort of emotion you are left with. I shoul really buy a copy but then again I don't know if I can bear to watch the film over and over again. Too intense.
Ambrose likes the Raffi concert DVD. I think Raffi is really great and I like the way he weaves subtle religious motifs into his work.
I love the early 1980s Dune and find myself watching it even more than the Sci-Fi channel miniseries, which was my old "finals week" ritual starting with law school December 2000.
The Last King of Scotland is a chilling film. When I was a kid, I was scared of Christopher Plummer as Capt. von Trapp. As a 33 yo, I'm scared of Forest Whittaker as Idi Amin. It's a very intense portrayal.
Do y'all know that Antonioni and Bergman died on the same day in July? Huge. Go watch L'Avventura and Persona back to back. Read Paglia's column on Art Film R.I.P. Weep.
My parents gave me a wonderful book on Whales for my birthday this past week. It's called Cetacean Societies and you can find it by searching StuffBooks. Fortunately, the book has not very many underwater pictures, and lots of maps and tables and text. ("Very scientificy," said Marsha.)
For those of you who don't know, I have an acute fear of whales. Just this weekend, I discovered that "I am not alone" (!).
Edward over at Obsidian Wings writes in tones that come very close to my own experience:
Handel's Ice Cream started featuring grape ice cream as a seasonal flavor last week. That's a full rich Concord grape flavor that makes a fine milkshake.
Tonight, I went there looking forward to my grape ice cream fix, but found to my great suprise and consternation that Handel's was offering not only grape but mango.
For those of you who may know know, mango by Handel's is unique flavor and probably their very best. It even includes lots of mango pureé! The only better flavor I've had are the grapefruit gelatos in Italy and Hungary.
Tigons and Ligers are real! But very diferent. What is interesting what a difference the mothers' species make.
My wife and I were speculating—or, rather I was bsing her—that tigers and lions probably have racist attitudes towards the halfbreeds, and probably need sensitivity training.
The woman writes that This town might be an attractive place for tourists. Some tourists companies have been trying to arrange tours in this town, but the first group of tourists found the silence unnerving and downright SPOOKY. And it is. They charged 1200 hryvnas for a 2 hour excursion and after some 15 minutes, they wanted to flee to the outside world. The silence here is deafening.
The NR blog linked this pair of contrasting images. It will be interesting to what happens to the French left now. If only politics in this country were as . . . interesting.
Summer 2008 is a long ways off but if present trends continue, it strikes me that this sort of thing has some merit. If Bush persists in his policies through the summer of 2008, and if no strong Republican candidate emerges and is able to gain traction against that backdrop, then the real election may be taking place in the California primary and the choice will probably be between the two junior senators.
Ahmedinejad's letter to Bush is a fascinating apologetic document. He pretty much ignores the claims of Islam as such and tries to appeal to Bush on the basis of his professed Christianity. Many commentators have seen the letter as a simple propaganda piece, but I consider that it is really proof that Ahmedinejad lives or tries to live, much as I myself used to try, in a medieveal world where the ideas are real things and not merely traditions or conventions to which men are obliged to pay lip service. There is something of Charles Williams in this letter—I am thinking of The Place of the Lion—although seen from the other side.
Drove from Springs to Buena Vista today. I loved the progression from red-rock to rocky scrub over Ute Pass, and then to high arid grasslands after crossing over the next pass. I probably liked the "South Park" area around Hartsel the best--it has endless expanse of grasslands in a 60 mile-wide huge bowl rimed with snowcovered mountains. It reminded me of the MacKensie country in NZ.
Buena Vista itself exceeded my expectations, at least as far as sweeping good views is concerned. Coming from the east, a long valley opens before one, with a string of Fourteeners stretching north to south as far as the eye can follow. We tried to drive up to Cottenwood Pass, but it was closed a few miles before the actual pass.
July 9, 1984 was a long time ago now, but I passed Fairplay about 17 miles to the south today, and very nearly turned north to try to see Windy Ridge. I'm glad I didn't, though; Samuel said that the actual road was not all that passable without a 4x4. Given the time of year (late April), I'm sure I would have gotten nowhere near the timberline.
Marsha, Ambrose, and I are in Colorado Springs for a friend's wedding. Today, I took the opportunity to drive most of the way up Pike's Peak (the last five miles were closed due to a large ice wall) and to wander around the Garden of the Godsies.
I took the opportunity to drive around Manitou Springs, and to drive by Summit Ministries. I nearly ran over David Noebel crossing the street in front of Summit. Although it was like 75°F outside, he looked a good fundamentalist in long-sleve white shirt and tie. :)
I am told that I need to post more!
Well, I am SO excited! I just acquired (acquisitively) a complete and unabridged recording of Paradise Lost. "Every word he wote / every line he wrote / I'll be hearing it!" (Oh, wait, that sounds like an old Police song.)
In case any of you have not heard, my wife and I have been blessed with a son. His name is Ambrose Richard Wiley, after Ambrose of Milan and his maternal grandfather. The little guy was actually born some time ago--on May 10th. (He was actually due on his grandfather's birthday, but my dad had to take a rain check.) He seems long, and has an alert, curious disposition (but not sanguine). I think he looks like Marsha and other people think he looks like me. Survey says he is above average cute.
Ambrose likes to be outside or to go to large indoor spaces, like malls, or to spend time with Mommy, who is (for him) the Source of All the Milk in the Universe.
When he was actually being born, I thought two things. First, his head looked like a long carrot, with eyes and a mouth at one end. Second, catching him reminded me of catching kids back in the barn a long time ago. Ambrose was very slippery and I almost dropped him.
Email me at my earthlink address if you want to see a picture.
I am sitting here drinking coffee and listening to the Stokowski orchestration of Bach's Toccatta, which is the opening selection. I think of a dark winter evening in 1982 when my late grandmother came and picked me up at Tree of Life and took me to see the re-released Fantasia. She thought it was important. It was.
I am pleased to annouce that my wife and I are expecting, and have been for some time, our first child. Marsha getting into her new if temporary role as a "pregasaurus" (it's a long story) and I'm learning too! The due date is May 4th, which happens to be my father's birthday.
