Homo Sum:
humani nil a me alienum puto

You may also remember my pleasant surprise at how much I enjoyed Titan’s first collection of Nemi strips. I’ve been reading the strips online fairly religiously since. The second collection of strips also showed up today, and I’m quite looking forward to going through it to see which, if any, of the strips collected in [...]

You may recall me marvelling at some of the images from Berni Wrightson’s Frankenstein portfolio. Well, today I picked up Dark Horse’s new big, beautiful hardcover edition of Frankenstein that’s lavishly illustrated with Wrightson’s images. It is a thing of beauty, and a steal at a $30 retail. There’s a preview online that gives you [...]

Wikipedia is one of the best things humanity has yet invented for allowing us to use up any extra time we have hanging around. As an added bonus, this time comes with a putative “educational value” benefit, which makes it easy to justify the time and avoid guilt over it.
One example of how this might [...]

“But, although we’re very good at giving ourselves things to buy, we’re not very good at understanding ourselves. We don’t really know what we want. And that’s really a cultural vaccuum there–it’s kind of a lack. And it’s becoming sinister.”
—Bruce Sterling

The most stinging part of this observation is that the idea that self-knowledge is a [...]

You know the drill: lots of links, less commentary than usual. I plead work.

Does the idea that Sesame Street might need a warning label fire up some of that good old cognitive dissonance for you? Well, apparently there is one on the recently released early episodes. And some of the parents they showed it to [...]

You remember when I was making fun of the headline: “Another prisoner mistakenly released in N.S.“? Well, today’s top stories includes this choice headline “Halifax police mistakenly release man before court appearance”. Handsome devil, isn’t he?
Apparently I am living in Keystone.

Infected via Wheeler and Gwenda, I find that:
Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test…
Traditional, Vibrant, and Tasteful
19 Islamic, 16 Impressionist, 11 Ukiyo-e, -29 Cubist, -30 Abstract and 14 Renaissance!

Islamic art is developed from many sources: Roman, Early Christian, and Byzantine styles were taken over [...]

I got into a huge debate today about the distinction between religion and spirituality, and the relative worth of the two concepts.
Instead of boring you with more of my cocky atheism, I’ll just quote a Zen story that I think captures the whole thing:
The Real Miracle
When Bankei was preaching at Ryumon temple, a Shinshu priest, [...]

Very regularly since the American presidential race was set, and with more and more frequency over the last month, I’ve found myself astonished by how McCain seems ready to throw away every vestige of honour in what seems to be a “do anything to win” campaign of sleaze.
It makes me think of Campbell.
And the more [...]

Man, I like Scott Morse’s work. I have mentioned that I have several pieces of his original art in the house. The stuff I have hanging, though, are Morse’s black and white ink style work (I have some originals of some of his more recent stuff not yet framed).
Here’s one of his recent colour pieces. [...]

In an attempt to somewhat balance the “what a terrible parent” image I presented earlier this week, here’s a short account of some of what we’ve done over the last couple of weekends.
This past weekend featured a family trip to the movies to see one of the two HRM showings of the new(ish) Cirque de [...]

Since 2001 I’ve had less use for Christopher Hitchens than I used to. But hey, I’ve got even less use for Pope Inquisitor and his attempts to pull the Roman Catholic Church backwards in time.
So if Hitchens wants to get snarky on the practice of indulgences, as he does in the latest Free Inquiry, I’m [...]

There are things I miss, but not enough to pay the price for having them.
“The Old Man Dreams”
Oh for one hour of youthful joy!
Give back my twentieth spring!
I’d rather laugh, a bright-haired boy,
Than reign, a gray-beard king.
Off with the spoils of wrinkled age!
Away with Learning’s crown!
Tear out life’s Wisdom-written page,
And dash its trophies down!
One [...]

Part 1: Apparently we’re raising a racist.
So, apparently Sarah has joined the Klan.
Imagine the scene: we’re out for lunch on Saturday, having our usual meal at Tarek’s, which is very busy at lunch, with a very ethnically diverse crowd. It’s a Turkish place, and it’s great–we’ve been there most Saturdays for the last couple of [...]

While we’re talking about reviews… You may recall me mentioning how much I was enjoying Tom Disch’s Word Of God. I noted this weekend that Paul Witcover–himself a gifted novelist–has written a particularly good review. Until I get off my butt and write my thoughts on the book out, allow me to point you to [...]