This Just In

CHURCH ORGANISTS, SINGERS, AND MUSIC LEADERS, INCENSED BY REPEATED USE OF KARAOKE AND INAPPROPIRATE MATERIAL, DELIVER ULTIMATUM TO CHURCH MUSIC LEADERS

CHARLESTON, SC – Organists at many conservative theological churches, irate at leaders' arrogance and requests to replace the church organist with $200 karaoke DVD's with the latest pop tunes from the Michael Jackson Library, Vivendi, or Warner Music Group, and even replacing the choir with teenagers gyrating to the latest secular pop music inappropriate for churches, have, along with fellow choral members who sympathise with them, announced a major statement against the rash of prerecorded church music that has become a rampant problem in today's houses of worship. Various classically trained singers, choral leaders, and musicians signed the statement.

The statement reads:

WHEREAS, the trends in church music pushed by the secular music publishing companies has been to eliminate the sacred Biblically inerrant songs that induce people into the basic fundamentals of faith,

WHEREAS, the modern worship songs used in churches are devoid of doctrine or theology, and can be sung in a bar more often than a church,

WHEREAS, the material is provided with a karaoke DVD that eliminates the job of the organist and allows the church music leader to focus on conducting the choir based on the pop, rock, or country beat of the music,

WHEREAS, other church music officials have replaced the choir in many events with youth dancing to similar popular tunes (often secular) heard on the radio today,

WHEREAS, the correct music of the church is not that of the self-help or the secular popular tunes that are rampant in today's churches, including Haugen-Haas, Sony, the Michael Jackson Estate, Vivendi, Warner Music Group, or other secular publishing houses, that are not based on the Bible but instead on people's feelings,

AND AS A RESULT, the church organist of serious Bible-teaching music is being phased out in favour of the inappropriate karaoke,

BE IT RESOLVED, AT THIS MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CHURCH MUSICIANS,

That all new contracts churches offer with organists install a prohibition of rock bands and folk instruments from church services, the prohibition of secular and other music that does not meet sound doctrine and theological standards replacing sacred songs, and a prohibition of pre-recorded music from all church services. The Association also requests the development of church choirs from youth to adult to sing sacred works of the entire church calendar, and not of the feelings-based “modern” gospel music that has been prevalent for the past one hundred fifty years.

Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control...

We've had some difficulty with the link to the site over the last week or so. We're working to correct this, and hopefully we'll have some new content up in the next week or so. Rest assured, it's not because we've run out of things to say! ◙

Dick Clark tribute: The Gamer

We know Dick Clark from his time in pop music, especially on American Bandstand, and the tributes in light of his death have favoured his pop music career. However, for me, as I grew up in the 1980's, and our ABC affiliate (WOLO) was notoriously weak and would skip Bandstand in favour of Crockett Wrestling, we'd use the Charleston or Augusta affiliates to get the show, but I wasn't into pop music (and still isn't, considering my classical music background). But it was some days watching the various forms of Pyramid that made me think of Dick Clark first as a game show host. We know him from Pyramid, but I remember him from hosting three other games, The Challengers (1990), Scattergories (1993), and the domestic version of The National Lottery Winning Lines (2000), and produced one of the more nerve-racking shows on television history, Greed (1999-2000), which came after college graduation and in a fall of frustration where I was humiliated to a bad point of watching losers every week, I badly wanted to see winners and even damaged things watching that show!

But there were other game formats he hosted that weren't as well-known (and I wasn't born then or was too young to remember) -- The Object Is (1963), Missing Links (1964), and The Krypton Factor US (1981).

And this doesn't include all the pranks on Bloopers and Practical Jokes, the various music awards shows (with the MDA Telethon falling under R. A. Clark for the first time this fall), and even the original Star Search as judge for his old partner in crime Ed McMahon.

For some reason, Clark was best at nerve-wracking game shows, either hosting or producing.

1963 (The Object Is): Dick's first game show.

1981 (The Krypton Factor): One of two British formats hosted by Mr. Clark, neither lasted long. A mentally tough game, this summer series crowned its champion, and the top two went to Britain to face the British top two of that year. The British won.

Retro TV Friday

The recent announcement that the utter disgrace known as MTV2 is producing a hip-hop themed version of a Heatter-Quigley classic that we've discussed over the years reminded me of this zinger from ten years ago on the 1998-2004 version of that very show.

I don't think whoever gets that disgraceful version will ever come to the standards of this 2002 episode. My, have times changed! (And I don't just mean the value of a win either!)  ◙

Classic Sports Thursday

A recent tweet at the Michigan International Speedway reminded me of this Kmart vs Target 2000 battle in CART's FedEx Championship Series between Michael Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya that thrilled the battle in one of the more exciting races during The Split II.

At a recent tire test at the two-mile speedplant, Mr. Montoya sent this:

"Pouring here in Michigan. Track needs a jet dryer. They used to have one, but somebody blew it up!" ◙

Here is your first subject - GO!

Sad news

I am much more aware and defensive than I used to be. It's true. Everbody is out to get you. They don't know those are lethal weapons, those automobiles." -- George Vescey, quoting from Barbara Mandrell in her biography he wrote, Get to the Heart (1990).

As I woke up Sunday morning readying myself for church after a tiring Saturday (still sore from a half), I receive word from a singing friend of a local singer's death. After checking with a few others, I later confirmed it was the bass from last year's Messiah singalong, Wesley Brax, who had been killed in a two-vehicle collision in Ripley County, IN near Versailles State Park. The 23-year old Cincinnati student's car lost control in the rain, slid sideways, and crashed into a larger car. The smaller car's monocoque was smashed where the driver was killed instantly.

Prayers go out to the Brax family. Such a wonderful singer with a wonderful future snuffed out in an instant in that tragic crash. Wesley had performed at the Tanglewood Music Festival last season, and was set for a return engagement this summer.

Our Word Remembers the life of a young baritone on his way up . . . ◙

Opera Wednesday

You're likely to be reading a lot about the Titanic this week if you haven't already, and you're likely to read more about it on this site before the week is over. But for today, a curious tie-in between the Titanic and Opera Wednesday.

The Titanic's orchestra has long since entered the realm of history for playing throughout the sinking, until the ship itself went under. Much of the discussion surrounds what the band actually played at the end, which is another story altogether. But music holds a strong power of identification in human memory, and it is enough for a few bars of a tune to be played to bring back instantly all the feelings, hopes and fears of a single moment of time. And so it was with the final piece that the orchestra played in their concert in the first class reception room that night. It was the last piece that anyone would hear until the Titanic's encounter with the iceberg, and for Noël Leslie, the Countess of Rothes, it created a memory she would never forget.

That night the orchestra played the Bacarolle from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. It is a haunting piece of music, and when viewed in context of the opera it carries its own watery images, set as it is in Venice with its canals and boats. For the rest of her life, until her death in 1956, whenever she heard the Bacarolle the Countess would immediately feel the horror of that night, the bone-chilling cold of the North Atlantic, and the terror of seeing the great ship go down. It was that immediate, and that total. And here is the Bacarolle, one of the most popular pieces in opera, innocuous in its beauty, complete in the depth of feeling it could reproduce. ◙

Happy Birthday!

Rumor has it that Hadleyblogger Steve has a milestone birthday today. I'm not sure that we're at liberty to disclose the number, but it is said to be somewhere between 59 and 61. Happy birthday, my friend! Looking forward to having some of your insight back on the blog soon! ◙

Wish I'd Written That

As much as we love the Brewers, unlike Jesus, they didn't die for your sins. With regard to beer and brats on Good Friday, let's just say that's why God created the three-game series." -- Milwaukee archbishop Jerome Listecki, telling Wisconsin Catholics to abide by religious teachings and avoid meat on opening day Friday -- Good Friday, when Catholics are not supposed to eat meat -- at Miller Park. (h/t Peter King at SI.com) What I like - an archbishop with both a sense of humor and a sense of mission. Excellent combination. ◙

Holy Saturday reflection

Traitors who so deeply grieve me, see how much my heart loves you.
To forgive you is my vengance.
You revile me in my shame.
Hear my earnest heartfelt prayer that our God fills you with grace.
This we learn is Christian love.
God, Jehovah, most holy one, You forgive the sinner all sins.
God, Jevovah, gracious one, You bestow the fallen grace and mercy.
Blest are they who follow you.

-- the duet in Der Tod Jesu (Graun, translated, L. Quackenbush, U. Wachsmann-Linnan.) ◙

Holy Week

Yes, you can blame Dr. LaRoche for feeding me a diet of classical sacred works. But when you're being fed the best works from her, you're being fed a cornucopia of the greatest vegetables, fresh from the farm, and nothing processed.

For Holy Week, Carl Heinrich Graun's "Ein Gebeth um neue Stärke" from Der Tod Jesu is found here. (And yes, an English version is being performed at Dr. LaRoche's church.) ◙

Good Friday

Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dalí, 1951 ◙

Opera Wednesday - Good Friday Edition

On this Good Friday, here is some of the most famous classical music of the season: the Good Friday scene from Act III of Wagner's Parsifal. Kurt Moll is Gurnemanz, with Sigfried Jersulam as Parsifal and Waltraud Meier as Kundry, in this performance by the Metropolitan Opera conducted by James Levine. ◙ 

Classic Sports Thursday

It's Opening Day for baseball, or at least one of the opening days - the season actually started last week with a couple of games in Japan, and there was an "Opening Day" last night in Miami, but today seems to be by consensus the real opening day.

Traditionally, Opening Day meant Cincinnati - in honor of being the first professional baseball team, the Reds always had the privilege of opening the major league season. They don't, anymore, although they always open the season at home, and it's just another of the great traditions that baseball seems to have cast off.

So we'll do our own tribute to the Reds, with this rare footage of the fifth game of the 1961 World Series, as Cincinnati took on the New York Yankees at one of the great ballparks of baseball's Golden Age, Crosley Field. ◙

Retro TV Friday

After nearly a dozen years of insulting people around the world, Auntie Beeb announced Saturday, one of their most famous international franchises is ending. The Beeb's legendary Weakest Link airs its last episode that day. In tribute to the most insulting game show franchise (and one that was enjoyable with the right amount of sarcasm, and a reason why you don't want to give wrong answers), we offer this tribute from many countries that aired The Weakest Link. Goodbye!

Domestic (One, Two, Three)

Hungary

Mexico

Russia

France

Ireland

Taiwan

Greece

Philippines

New Zealand

The original!

All-Nations Clips ◙

Greetings from Raleigh!

Well, hi y'all! (A little Southern lingo there.)  We're coming to you tonight live from Raleigh, North Carolina, the soon-to-be headquarters of Our Word.  And for those of you back in Minnesota, we don' t suppose we should tell you that the the azelias are in bloom, the grass is greener than the Grinch with an upset stomach, and the high temperature today was somewhere in the low 80s.  On the 29th of March.  I'll pause for a moment while you fume.  Our thanks as always to Hadleyblogger Bobby as always for keeping the home fires burning while I'm on the road.  (And to think - by next month, the entire center of gravity of this blog will be somewhere between North and South Carolina.)

There's a great deal going on this week, between Florida and Washington and the Supreme Court, with the Final Four thrown in for good measure.  But you know what?  On an evening like this, enjoying a little Southern Hospitality, we're not inclined to think about any of it.  Perhaps next week - or maybe not.  After all, isn't life too short? ◙

Opera Wednesday

We've commented on Die Fledermaus, and a friend informed me they are doing a production of the Johann Strauss opera. But a setting of "Mein Herr Marquis" in a soprano's concert is something none of us envisioned would happen -- ever -- anywhere except for the recent reference to the Washington National Opera where judges were needed for Tosca's suicide off the castle!

Soprano Sirkka Lampimäki goes crazy on all of us in a concert setting in Lahti, Finland of "Mein Herr Marquis" in Die Fledermaus! Her voice goes crazy at the end, but what happens to her? Calling Caroline Lewis-Jones! ◙

The book without a cover

There's no doubt in my mind that whenever one moves forward, something gets left behind.  It doesn't mean that progress should be avoided; just that there will always be something that gets lost in the translation.  Such is the case with one of my new and favorite toys, the Kindle.

I got a Kindle Touch from the sainted missus for Christmas.  It was invaluable to me on my recent trip, when it helped kill two airport layovers - I mean, to have two books in something that's smaller and easier to handle than a magazine, well, who could ask for more?  It is as advertised - easy to use, easy to read, a space saver.  And for someone who's preparing to move in the next month, saving space is no mean feat.

And yet, nothing's perfect.  As we look through our library, going through the books that we're planning to replace when time and need (and budget) permits, there's a sense of sadness at losing the tangible.  One of the great pleasures for a book lover is to look at the libraries of other people, looking at the titles on the spines of their books, admiring the quality of the binding, getting an insight into the personality of the owner - their likes, dislikes, interests, passions.  Where does that go when the titles disappear inside a tablet?  We've already lost that with music, where the album gave way to the CD, and now the iPod.  Look at all those great scenes in 60s TV shows where the man, upon entering the woman's apartment, looks through her albums while she slips into something more comfortable.  One of them might even put a record on the turntable, setting the proper mood.  It just isn't the same with an iPod.

What of the autographed copy?  I'm still not sure about that, how one goes about getting an ebook personalized by the author.  A little thing perhaps, but it still removes a level of intimacy between the author and the reader.  And as someone who hopes to have a book published next year, I'll be curious to see how this plays out.

Opera Wednesday

A few years ago during one of our roundtable discussions I mentioned how I didn't think John Adams' Nixon in China was a very good opera. I made this comment, of course, without having seen the opera fully staged from start to finish. However, I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong, and I will admit that I was wrong about Nixon. (The opera, at least.) Having seen last year's production at the Met, I found Nixon in China to be strangely affecting, quite unlike what I might have expected. I still wouldn't say that it takes the place of Wagner or Puccini for me - for one thing, Nixon is a very visual opera. The music alone, without seeing the action, can be static, lacking movement, and that is what I based my original comment on. In its fully staged version, however, done by a company like the Met, it is a completely different experience.

Here's a clip of the moving final scene from its original production at Houston Grand Opera, with James Maddalena, originator of the role, as Nixon (he also played it at the Met last year), Carolann Page as Pat Nixon, and Sanford Slvan as Chou En-lai. ◙

A welcoming place

Our faithful and esteemed colleage Steve has had an article published at a real and legitimate site, as opposed to this somewhat unreal one - check it out here. It's another example of why we admire his talent and abilities. ◙

Cee-Lo Crazy, Qantas Mayhem, and Official State Religion?

$100,000, 25 points, and a six-week suspension. No, I am not discussing Chad Knaus (but a Husqvarna lawn tractor television commercial that features one of their locally-manufactured tractors sold at Lowe's featuring him will have to be pulled from the airwaves) but instead, this is about pop star Cee-Lo Green, who deserves the said penalty after a fund-raiser for President Obama in Winnipeg Friday night featured the obscene ditty. In earlier fundraisers in the day in Winnipeg, references to obscene rapper Christopher Bridges were also made. A decade ago, Mr. Bridges featured in an album the lyrical reference of calling Fox News analysts an obscenity-laden piece.

Invented lawmaking and now this. In school we were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Now, they are teaching everything but fundamentals. In Massachusetts, they are now discussing free condoms for students as young as 12. What have we come to in this nation? Add that to the dollar-a-month surcharge we must pay on our insurance in order to fund killing babies, this nation is truly in a downhill spiral to the bottom.

Red, red, red, red, red . . . No lights! Jenson Button zips away and takes a commanding victory for McLaren at the Qantas Grand Prix Sunday. Bernie Ecclestone's arrogance continued, as he wants Melbourne to switch to a night race.

Night races in the Pacific Rim so Europe can see them reasonably. Unlike domestic formulae that favour night races for areas where heat would be an issue, Mr. Ecclestone has one reason why Formula One needs night races; that provision is he wants all races to air in a reasonable time in Europe. The 5 PM (local) start in Melbourne, with one hour of daylight left when the chequered falls after 58 laps, is a dangerous provision to please the Central European 7 AM start time (2 AM US EDT). Sunday's Petronas Grand Prix has a 4 PM local start (10 AM CET). Singapore has a 8 PM (local time) start for the same absurd reasoning. But Bernie's idea is no night races in Europe, only for Asia and Australia, and the Americas have afternoon race times that allow for prime-time European television.

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion . . . But with ObamaCare, Shepard-Byrd (a law passed by Congress, but by the way it's been interpreted by the judiciary), the DSE/SRD (by management), and other court cases, it's clear that the Courts, Executive Branch, and Departments of Education have made laws establishing humanism as the official state religion. It seems the attitude of modern humanism has established itself when the courts have been establishing a state religion simply by decree, along with other branches, just not Congress. The Founding Fathers did not envision every branch of government except Congress is establishing humanism as the state religion, which has sadly happened in this nation. ◙

Classic Sports Thursday

A typical Cessna airplane takes off around 60 MPH. Jet airplanes usually takeoff at 180 MPH. What happens when a car tries to go 300 MPH?

This weekend's Tire Kingdom Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL, marks the 20-year anniversary of Kenny Bernstein's 301.70 mph (speed in the last 66 feet) speed record, and also the 299.30 mph backing speed later to ensure the 301.70 was a record. (NHRA rules require in order for a record to be official, the record must be backed up within one percent during the meet – wonder what would happen in athletics of the 100m world record had to be backed up by 1% during that meet?)

Here's a celebration of the Drag King's rise to 300 on 1,320 (note that the switch to 1,000 foot drag racing for fuelers was not made until 2008).
◙

Opera Wednesday

It's the cat's meow, isn't it? Some people say that the character Carmen can be catty, but I've never heard anyone call her a mouse. OK, enough, right? Or else Mitchell will come back and kick me out!

Here's Tom and Jerry with a classic from 1962. ◙

Not so-Super Tuesday

I don't know what happens tonight with Super Tuesday - probably Romney wins, possibly Santorum springs an upset, possibly Gingrich springs back (once again) from the dead. But Jim Geraghty, to whom I linked yesterday, kind of sums up what I'm thinking about the state of the race, once again written in light of Breitbart's death:

…As Thursday wore down, several conservatives remarked that they felt more unified than they had in a while; our mutual shock, grief, and admiration for Andrew reminded us all how much we share with each other — after a primary season in which it has often felt as if we’ve all been at each other’s throats. Perhaps on Monday I’ll expand on this point, but for now, if one of my less-preferred candidates ends up getting the nomination (COUGH, Newt, COUGH), hey, affix bayonets and charge, and let’s make that guy president. We can deal with his flaws after the inauguration. Right now, this country’s being run into the ground by the president who got elected by all of the folks who chose to dance a jig at our friend’s passing. Like Hell are my boys going to grow up in a country where these losers set the standards of behavior and their juvenile sneers at the recently deceased are normal.

Remember, these are Geraghty's words, not mine. And yet I can't help but think this is the GOP's best bet for winning in November. All of the candidates seem, to one extent or another, to have a fatal flaw that would ordinarily keep them from defeating even a weak candidate like Obama. They all have a sizeable percentage of the vote against them, and a lot of the GOP faithful can't stand any of them.

What to do, what to do? Well, after last week, and after seeing the continuing war on freedom of speech, freedome of religion, and the Constitution in general, I've come to only one conclusion, and that's that any of the Republican candiates are better than what we have now. Even Ron Paul. That's saying a lot, coming from me (you note I haven't written much about politics, or anything else, lately), but no matter who it is who wins the Republican nomination, I'm behind him (or her - are you listening, Sarah?), aAnd a sizeable percentand in the end it doesn't matter how enthusiastic I am about my vote - that candidate sitll gets it. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? Discuss. ◙

Wish I'd Written That

Jim Geraghty on the crass reactions by many liberals to Andrew Breitbart's death:

"Really, holding one’s tongue, offering even disingenuous expressions of sympathy, typing the letters “RIP,” when did that get so hard? When did that bar become too high? We have these cultural traditions for a reason. (A quite conservative sentiment, I suppose.) We have them for many reasons, high among them, avoiding mourners’ registering their objections across the noses of the snide and obnoxious. (It’s one of the reasons I strongly suspect that if some grieving parent were to machine-gun a whole flock of the Fred Phelps funeral protesters, every witness would suddenly get struck blind and every jury would remain stubbornly unconvinced.) We shouldn’t suggest that mocking the dead in front of those mourning a loved one is an invitation to violent retribution; the American people are a kind and patient people. But even the most kind and patient people have their limits.

"I had observed, yesterday, that there were not merely a handful of folks on the left sneering about how happy they were that Breitbart had suddenly died. There were gobs and gobs of them, all over Twitter and the web at large.

[...]

"You can call this whatever you like — the Daily-Kos-ification of the Left, perhaps — but it confirms what many of us suspected and/or feared. I didn’t want to believe it, really. I personally know too many people I’d identify as Democrats, if not liberals, who are too decent to ever express such raw hate and cruelty. But a large chunk of the rank and file of the Left — way more than a small percentage — really don’t believe that their opponents deserve anything resembling basic human dignity or respect.

"We’re not really people to them. It’s not an accident that a New York Times columnist referred to his critics on Twitter as 'right-wing lice.' They’re not good, decent Americans who just have some different ideas about how to make the world a better place. They run on hate. It appears their entire sense of self-worth is driven by demonizing those who disagree with them and celebrating their political viewpoints as the cardinal measurements of virtue and good character. They are positively energized by the thought of lashing out at those of us who have the audacity to think differently than they. They really do project and accuse the opposition of all their worst traits: rage, closed-mindedness, cruelty, intolerance, bigotry, and an inability to empathize with others. And they completely lack self-awareness. They are blind to the irony of their actions. As someone said on Twitter today (I can’t find the comment now), 'How many of the people celebrating Andrew’s death have a ‘NO H8′ icon on their avatar?'

"If, in their minds, we’re not deserving of that respect they clamor for endlessly — if their instinct, upon seeing us mourn is to “get in our faces” (a phrase that our president once strangely used) — they really cannot be entrusted with any power. They really would do away with us if given the chance.Does our side have jerks? Sure. Someday, some prominent liberal will unexpectedly pass away, and someone will make some horrid, snide comment. I doubt it will be in the same volume, though I’m sure much of this is in the eye of the beholder. But I do think that if some righty says some variation of 'Hooray, that lefty died suddenly! I’m so glad his wife’s now a widow and his children are fatherless,' you will see other righties denouncing that. Even if the liberal you detest most keels over tomorrow, that’s not right. No liberal voice in America deserves to have his death celebrated the way we righteously celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden. Don’t take pleasure in others’ grieving.

"We want them to grieve the political loss of the presidency, not the loss of their loved ones." ◙

In the meantime...

Fishin' in Minnesota in March? Well, not exactly, even though it's supposed to hit the 50s this week. But I will be taking the next couple of weeks off to take care of some other business. In the meantime, I'm leaving the blog in the capable hands of Drew, who's agreed to come out of semi-permanent retirement to fill in, and Bobby. And maybe a guest post or two. I'll be back in case anything breathtaking happens, but in the meantime you can still catch me over at It's About TV, where I'll have some pre-written pieces up over the next couple of weeks, including the popular "This Week in TV Guide" feature. See you soon! ◙

Opera Wednesday

How old is Gioachino Rossini? 220 years, unless you take his Leap Day birthday into account, which makes him - what, 56? This article does a wonderful job of explaining to us what we already suspected - why Rossini is so funny.

And if that didn't answer your question, maybe this will - Rossini's famous Cat Duet. ◙

Leaping Digest!

Leaping Ahead . . .

Why do we pay $750,000 for (gasp!) a football pitch that detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base's jail for Al Qaeda terrorists use?

Dennis Prager leaps over what is now taught in school -- and he is dead-on.

John Hawkins finds liberals forget five things children know:

Rush Limbaugh believes the President is diving the nation on social issues, not Messrs. Santorum or Gingrich.

Robert Zubrin describes how rejecting Keystone XL has supported the enemies of the nation.

This is PGA Tour FedEx Cup golfer Gerry (Bubba) Watson's car in question, from the Waste Management Phoenix Open, that has been barred from pre-race ceremonies for Sunday's Subway Fresh Fit 500km (Sunday, 2:30 PM ET, Fox). It is from a 1978-85 television programme from Warner Bros. Television that became a cult hit, and one of the first used on the show is now owned by the golfer. ◙

Retro TV Friday

I've introduced a new feature over at the It's About TV! website called "This Week in TV Guide."  Every Saturday (because that's when the week started in a classic TV Guide program listing), I'll feature the week as seen in a TV Guide of the past.*  Sometimes the focus will be on the programs themselves; other times I'll take a closer look at a story or event that appeared in the features section - you know, the part with the glossy paper.

*Which means, come to think of it, there'll be a new one up tomorrow.  I'd better get started.

I think you'll find it not only an interesting look at television of the 50s through the mid 70s, but also a glimpse into a world that, for better or worse, no longer exists.  Nostalgia, yes, but undeniably with insight into the things, places and people that shaped our culture in the later part of the 20th Century.  I hope you'll check it out every week!  ◙

Idiot's delight

Just in case you thought politicans had cornered the market on idiotic behavior, here are a couple of stories that show the world of sports is no piker when it comes to leaving your brains behind.

First is this ridiculous story courtesy of the fantastic uniform site Uni Watch, where we find out that Major League Baseball is effectively preventing the Houston Astros from offering a historicaly accurate redition of the uniforms they wore at the outset of the franchise, when they were known as the Houston Colt .45s.  The reason?  We don't want, heaven forbid, to have an image of a gun on the front of the uniform.  Because, you know, nothing insites violence in the hearts of rebellious youth quite like seeing a Colt .45 on a jersey.  The image at left shows how the uniform should look; at Uni Watch there's an artist's conception of what the throwback jersey will probably wind up being.

Of course, baseball fans might be willing to chalk that up to Bud Selig; after all, when did the man ever make a good decision?  But, once again, if you thought that, you'd be wrong.  The next one comes from NASCAR, which seems to have some troubles with the General Lee (the car from Dukes of Hazzard) making appearances at races this season.  The reason - well, I probably don't have to tell you.  It's the presence of the Confederate flag on the car's rooftop.

This idea of airbrushing history to eliminate the things we find objectionable is profoundly offensive, not to mention an absolute falsehood.  Imagine, for example, the famous scene from Gone With the Wind in which we see the tattered Confederate flag flying over the battlefield hospital.  Now suppose we Photoshopped the flag out, so that only the injured soldiers remain.  Artistically, would the scene still have the impact that it has in the original?  More important, is the scene more or less historically accurate?  I don't think anyone would argue that elimniating the flag makes the scene look better; moreover, try to imagine a military camp that didn't fly its army's flag.
 
Abraham Lincoln contended that states could not seced; ergo, there never was a nation called the Confederate States of America.  As such, the Stars and Bars are a part of this nation's history.  You can't airbrush it out, no matter how hard you might try.  And you shouldn't be able to outlaw it, either - it is, odious as some might see it, a form of protected speech.

Likewise, there was indeed a baseball team that was called the Houston Colt .45s.  We can't go back and retroactively name them the Astros, especially since it wouldn't explain why the team was called Astros two years before the construction of the stadium after which they were named.  And if you're not going to acknowledge the team's roots in an accurate manner, why bother at all?

We used to chide the Communists for airbrushing out the images of figures who had fallen into disgrace.  You can't change history, we said.  Apparently the message never reached some people.  And a public which is already too stupid when it comes to American history is even more the poorer for it.  ◙

On the 8-Olympiad Anniversary of a famous moment . . .

This should be a Classic Sports column, but considering the importance of the former video and the importance of the latter, they are coinciding with each other.

February 22, 1980, at Olympic Center, now known as Herb Brooks Arena. We've heard the famous finish, but have rarely hard the crucial moment of Al Michaels' famous call, which was edited for broadcast.



In 2006, Disney (by then the parent company of American Broadcasting) traded Mr. Michaels to Universal (owned by General Electric and Vivendi; in 2011, it is now in control of Comcast and General Electric) for Walt Disney's first character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which was owned by Universal. ◙

Opera Wednesday

OK, so this isn't strictly speaking an opera post. Nonetheless, it does have a connection to opera. Therefore, it's good enough for me. And since I'm the editor, that's really all that matters, anyway.

Actually, it reads more like one of Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story" pieces.  It concerns the composer Leonard Kastle, who died last year.  As seen on the left, Kastle was the composer of the opera Deseret, about which we wrote a couple of years ago.  The producer of that telecast, Warren Steibel, was better known as the producer of William F. Buckley's Firing Line.  (The fact that Buckley was a conservative and Steibel a liberal is a great story in and of itself).

When Steibel was given $150,000 by a friend in order to make a movie, he turned to his friend Kastle for ideas.  Together, they came up with The Honeymoon Killers, based on the story of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, known as the Lonely Hearts Killers.  So far, so good.  Kastle wrote the scrpit.  The director that Steibel hired, a a newcomer named Martin Scorsese (!  Yes, that Marty Scorsese), didn't work out so well - Steibel accused him of taking an entire afternoon to film a beer can, and fired him. Eventually, unlikely as it may seem, Kastle ended up directing the picture, his only work as a movie director.  Even more unlikely, the movie wound up a cult classic.

Kastle remains best known as a composer and director of musical productions.  The Honeymoon Killers, however, remains his best-known work.  And you can't tell its story without tying in William F. Buckley Jr. and Martin Scorsese.  And now you know the rest of the story.   ◙

Charles Anthony, R.I.P.

New Orleans native Charles Anthony Caruso (he did not use his last name on stage), who sang in 2,928 performances of the Metropolitan Opera in a career of over six decades as a tenor (including a role at 80) in mostly minor roles, died Wednesday at his home in Tampa, Florida, of kidney failure at 82. His career included over one hundred parts in various operas, mostly minor but one as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La boheme" in 1959. To prevent comparisions with another tenor with the same surname, he dropped his surname in performance. He is survived by his wife Eleanor, a sister, three children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.  ◙

Wish I'd written that

He did every job that came his way, including going home once the job was done. The French poet Chateaubriand put it well: ‘Search the forests where Washington’s sword shone: What do you find there? Tombs? No — a world.’”

Richard Brookhiser on George Washington ◙

Opinions and more

Religious Persecution.  Here we go again. Another round of liberal legislators ramming down “redefinition of marriage” laws to eliminate “man and woman” and “husband and wife,” and replacing them with “Spouse A” and “Spouse B”. A group of religious leaders noted marriage counselors cannot be accredited without recognising these false “relationships,” and special benefits for properly married employees must also be given to sexual deviants. Furthermore, there have been cases where people were fired for violations of moral character when an employer fired an employee for having an illegal marriage that, in South Carolina, violate Sections 20-1-10, 20-1-15 of state law and Article XVII, Section 15 of the state constitution. Churches cannot block their venues from sexual deviant activists who want to hold their ceremonies, and churches cannot sponsor adoption agencies because of their Biblical teachings violate the humanism as the state religion standard.  Various ministers speak out here.  Here are comments from the Archdiocese of New York.

So let me see here. We have schools promoting holidays for Harvey Milk, César Chávez, Vladimir I. Lenin, and other figures of the Left (if you don't be careful, we'll see a birthday celebration for this esteemed Thug in Chief before long), but guess whose birthday is not even observed in schools this weekend, as should be the case? That's right, George Washington, the father of the country. Have we fallen to this low of a standard?

Dress Properly! Controversy at CPAC erupted over a Hotair video when a reporter (Tina Korbe) was found wearing a skirt extremely short that she was shown pulling it down during an interview. When being at an event, please dress professionally!

Debra Saunders on Occupy Oakland's stupidity. ◙

Retro TV Friday

Last week was the 50th anniversary of one of the landmark events in "early" television - Jackie Kennedy's tour of the White House.  It was such a big deal that CBS and NBC aired it simultaneously, and ABC planned to before cancelling for budgetary reasons.

Television Obscurities has a very good writeup on this famous program, in which many Americans got to see the people's house for the first time.  (I know that Charles Collingwood refers to it as the president's house, but we should always remember that it belongs to us - the president merely rents it for four years at a time.)

And I'm reminded once again that I never have understood the appeal of Jackie Kennedy - but, different strokes for different folks.   ◙
 

Retro TV Friday

This week, It's About TV takes a look at an unusual program -  a football game televised on November 23, 1963.  That's right - the day after JFK's death.  Check it out. ◙

Opera Wednesday

Lego Tosca. Need I say anything more? Although, given the quality of productions from the last few years (yes, that means you, Met Opera), this is actually pretty good. ◙

Ben Gazzara, R.I.P.

About Ben Gazzara, three memories:

First, of course, was Run For Your Life.  Now, I don't have clear memories of it - I was, after all, only five or six when it was on.  But I remember him running, always running.  And lying in the back of an ambulance.  And sitting next to someone lying in the back of an ambulance.  And that he was supposed to be dying, but he never seemed to look any different.  And that his dying didn't have anything to do with him having been in the back of the ambulance.*  But I do recall that I liked the show, even at five or six.

*And an opening title scene that looked as if it had been shot on the Bonneville Salt Flats.  But that may also have had something to do with Craig Breedlove, who was breaking the land speed record at the time, and who I watched on Wide World of Sports. 

Then there was a two-part TV movie, The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald.  This was a movie that speculated on what would have happened had Oswald not been shot by Jack Ruby but lived to stand trial.  Gazzara was the prosecuting attorney, and Lorne Greene the defense attorney.  (John Pleshette, in his pre-Knots Landing days, was Oswald, for what it's worth.)  At the time, back in 1978, I was inclined to buy into the JFK assassination conspiracies - it seemed like an exciting thing to believe in.  And that was the crux of the movie, that Oswald had been part of a conspiracy, that Gazzara was relentless in his efforts to prove Oswald's guilt, and that Greene was desperate to get his client off - without, as it happened, Oswald's cooperation.  I also remembered that Oswald was kept in a glass booth in the courtroom, ala Adolf Eichmann.  A nice historical touch, I thought, since Eichmann's trial occurred in 1961, and would have been a strong influence on an Oswald trial in 1964. 

No further comment required

H/T CatholicVote.org

The Gipper at 101

Another mangled one!

The recent buzz over Steven Tyler's entry into The Daly Planet Star Mangled Banner of the Year, the first entrant in the 2012 contest, reminded me that we have seen it before with him, as we remember at the 2001 Indianapolis 500 when he did an equally pathetic rendition that sent the Indy 500 people screaming for the exits, INDYCAR teams befuddled, and Coca-Cola 600 media at Lowe's laughing at this no-talent. Obviously, when names such as Rich, Briggs, and LaRoche are gold standards, there is no way I could even stoop to this level.

CBS, which aired the AFC Championship Game in question, buys more daytime programming from Idol producer Radio Television Luxembourg than even Fox, and the majority of their non-news daytime programming is controlled by the German television network, as their two hours of current versions of classic game shows is greater than the hour and a half of daytime dramas from Sony (the only network with two daytime dramas). The bigger scare I thought was because Mr. Tyler is involved with RTL Group, it could affect the network considering both The Price Is Right (1972 - RTL acquired the show when it acquired Pearson plc's television arm in 2000) and Let's Make a Deal (2009; RTL, long a holder of foreign licences, acquired the franchise earlier that year) are from RTL, and both game shows are five days a week, 39 weeks a year of original programming.

These rockers cannot sing and with the Budweiser Shootout just two weeks away, need to be called for a visit to the Oval Office. There's a consultation flag waving for Mr. Tyler, and Dr. LaRoche is glad to have him in her office. I write this hours from XLVI -- hoping that we don't have another idiot performance! ◙

Retro TV Friday

This could just as well be Classic Sports Thursday, for that matter, although the game itself is no classic. This is perhaps one of the oldest extant college football television broadcasts: from September 29, 1951.



A few notes: it's the opening game of the season (on September 29! They only played 10 games at this point), which Notre Dame wins 48-6 (Indiana is bad as usual; rare enough that the Fighting Irish get off to a good start nowadays). According to one of the YouTube comments, the game "was actually a broadcast done by something called the Theater Television Network, which didn't do traditional broadcast to homes, but to theaters, where patrons bought tickets to watch the game on the big screen. TTN began in 1951 by televising Truman's State of the Union address and followed with college basketball games that winter and this Sept. 29 game from South Bend, Indiana. TTN died two years later."  Hmm, sounds like an idea for a future article.


And the announcer? None other than the future anchor of ABC World News Tonight, Frank Reynolds!  Who knew? ◙

Government regulations at it again: the wimping of America

In 2000, a day after leading all 300 laps at a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Loudon, New Hampshire, Jeff Burton was scheduled to make a speaking engagement in Atlanta when between the airport and the speaking venue, a tyre failed and the party was stranded. With an option to call a taxi or a representative of the firm organising the appearance, Mr. Burton refused, telling his group that he was riding, "We're not going to call ahead to get picked up. We can change this." It took eighteen minutes, but the entire traveling group followed the race driver's orders. He responded, "We had the best eighteen-minute pit stop you can imagine. We went in first and came out 843rd."

Now, with the fuel economy standards imposed by years of liberal activism, situations such as Mr. Burton's are disappearing. The American Automobile Association warned with new fuel economy standards requiring greater fuel efficiency, the next thing to go is the spare tyre, jack, and wrench, which can be 15kg or greater of weight savings to reach new federal standards. Some have just an air pump, while others have nothing.

This report warns that if there was a situation such as Mr. Burton's in many modern cars, the only thing left is to call a wrecker with a tyre ordered from random to do the job. Government created wimps who cannot do what is needed is the goal. ◙

Opera Wednesday: Brava, Ashley!

On an Opera Thursday column last year, we used her rendition of "Let the Bright Seraphim" from Händel's Samson at Governess Haley's to reference the opera aria. I've attended a few of her opera performances, and had the chance (Beethoven's Mass in C Major, 2010) to perform with her. I received wonderful news over the weekend that Ashley Briggs had won the South Carolina Regional Qualifier for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and is advancing to the Southeast Regional in Winnipeg, Manitoba!

I've been honoured to have sung with her in Mass in C Major, and express my congratulations!

Brava, Ashley! On to WPG! ◙

Opera Wednesday

In a 2010 Greenville Light Opera Works performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury, set in a South Carolina courtroom, one of the Gentlemen of the Jury was wearing a 2008 Hendrick Motorsports tee-shirt with the #5 team. Now that may sound innocent considering I had seen this performance and discussed it in a previous column on this blog. When seeing the full show, you will understand more of this comedy when news came from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour.

Wednesday's events included a stop at Hendrick Motorsports, with three of the team's four drivers at the event. The fourth, Kasey Kahne, the 2012 driver of the Hendrick #5, was absent. What was his excuse for not being at the "required" event?

Mr. Kahne was on Jury Duty.

Hopefully he won't be called "Juror Number Five" in any of his cases. But this was life imitating art! A juror in a Hendrick shirt, and now the current driver is on jury duty. Things do think alike! ◙

Life report: 15 years of life!

Our South Carolina Citizens for Life's Life Weekend 2012 (my 15th that I've attended) was busy, but worth every minute of the action. Friday night, the ceremonies began (it's become a frequent event for a Friday event to precede the March for Life, as I remember attending the ones in 2006 (Suzanne Vitadamo) and 2011 (Rick Santorum). This year's "Proudly Pro-Life Dinner" was scheduled to hold 200 people at Our Lady of the Hills Catholic Church, but with over 250 attended, someone forgot and dinner wasn't served to a considerable number of those in attendance, including the children of our keynote speaker! How could that have happened, I can't remember, but a local restaurant was called to finish supplies for those (and the speaker noted that!) deprived. If that wasn't enough, the union airline attendants lost the luggage of our Saturday keynote speaker and she arrived in town without it . . . and the worst part of it was she was shabbily dressed when the contingent were in business suits (and I never appear at major events without a suit)! Oh to think of the old days when people were dressed to the nines for airline flights!

Classic Sports Thursday

Dan Martin at the fine site Sports Man Dan sends us this fascinating detail: an infographic that shows us the pricetag for the "business of football."  Of course, we all know that football, or any sport for that matter, long since ceased being a sport.  And, in fact, the business of sports is often more interesting than the competition itself, at least for me.  Even so, this is still a startling visual breakdown of what it's really all about.

Wish I'd Written That

The great fallacy is that the game is first and foremost about winning. It's nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It's about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.

- Danny Blanchflower

Blanchflower, a former soccer great and later commentator, was speaking about sports. But it applies equally well to other walks of life, don't you think? Like politics, perhaps? ◙

Life Weekend

Photos from Life Weekend 2012, as part of the South Carolina March for Life XXXIX. A further report will be written this week.

At the Friday Night Proudly Pro-Life Dinner, three of the 19 Duggar children play "Be Thou My Vision" on the violin.

Me with the three daughters

A crowd of over 2,000 appeared at the South Carolina March for Life XXXIX.

Numerous organisations at the March for Life, 2012

Abby Johnson speaks of the gruesome stories from her penthouse offices at Planned Parenthood when she worked there.

Me, Abby Johnson (author, Unplanned), Holly Gatling (executive director, South Carolina Citizens for Life), Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar.

◙

For your consideration...

Our last, best hope for president, apparently.

See here for more details.  ◙

Retro TV Friday

This week's look back - as soon as I can get to it - is another goofy retrospective on covers of TV theme songs, reminiscent of our Sammy Davis Jr. essay from a while back.

UPDATED: And here it is - better late than never!  ◙

The chase is on!

Last year, Rick Santorum appeared at the South Carolina March for Life, and everyone seemingly ignored him until Iowa's caucus led to what Mike Joy calls a "Where did he come from" moment, where the caucus came down to a resounding photofinish.

This year, Mr. Santorum has a press conference with Abby Johnson (the 2012 keynote at our March for Life Saturday) scheduled, according to her note. Next Wednesday, Mr. Santorum has an appearance smack in the middle of the hometown, reminding me that in 2000 what happened when a candidate came to speak at the Fairgrounds.

Meanwhile, Rick Perry is scheduled for a Thursday luncheon at a barbecue restaurant, which will likely be the type of venues that we'll see the remaining candidates for this battle (Romney, Paul, Huntsman, Santorum, Perry, Gingrich) find themselves in the ten day war that ends next Saturday. Of course, in the Palmetto State, it has to be one of the three forms of "Palmetto 'Cue," which is considerably different than barbeque from any other part of the country. There won't be Kansas City, Memphis, or Texas style, and tomatoes are not the primary source of the sauce. This showdown will involve copious amounts of Midlands' German mustard-based sauces, the Lowcountry Scottish vinegar and pepper, and the variant in the Upstate and Savannah River, tomato with Scottish vinegar and pepper (similar to the North Carolina Piedmont). As a long-time Midlands resident, I am biased towards the mustard, although in some parts here, the mustard is mixed with a little tomato, the golden mustard is still the evident colour.

Start the barbecue pits, roast the hogs, and cue the candidates! Perry hopes to start his charge, Huntsman is showing life after New Hampshire, Gingrich is on the recovery attempt, Santorum is gaining ground, and Romney is the leader. The next ten days of barbecue, meetings, marches, and rallies will create one exciting showdown that ends next Saturday and will end at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. ◙

Classic Sports Thursday

Have you ever noticed how many times people use the phrase, “I could care less,” when what they really mean to say is, “I couldn’t care less”?

Think about it. If it is true that, as Rush Limbaugh often says, “words mean things,” then it’s only fair that we look at how these words are used. To say “I could care less” in essence means that there are indeed things that would be even less important to you than that in question. Now, if someone told me I’d just won a million dollars, I doubt that my first reaction would be to say “I could care less!” but it would be true – there would be many things that I suddenly cared much less about than having won one million dollars. My job, for instance.

So when I say that I could not have cared less about the election returns Tuesday night, I may be guilty of a slight hyperbole; no doubt the New Hampshire primary carries more interest to me than, say, the latest episode of “American Idol.” Nevertheless, the foregone result of Tuesday's vote was far from the most important thing in mind – not when one had the option of watching Thierry Henry’s return to Arsenal.

Henry is probably one of the greatest soccer players ever, and likely the greatest ever to play for Arsenal, so given the choice – well, there was no choice, really, between watching Fox News’ election returns and Fox Soccer’s replay of Monday’s FA Cup match between Arsenal and Leeds United at London’s Emirates Stadium. (Especially when I hadn't seen the live broadcast Monday.) It was a triumphant, and storybook, homecoming for Henry, who came on as a substitute for the last 25 minutes and ten minutes later scored the only goal in the Gunners’ 1-0 victory over Leeds, advancing them to the fourth round of the FA Cup.





It was also a rare opportunity to see an all-time great return to the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, even more rare if those previous moments occurred beyond your memory. Being a relative latecomer to the world’s most popular soccer league, England’s Premier League (sorry, MLS), I knew of Henry’s exploits in Arsenal only through highlights on retrospective shows: the three FA Cups, the two Premier League titles, the undefeated season in 2003-2004. No, the Henry I was familiar with was the one from Gillette commercials, from his time with Barcelona , from the disastrous French play at the 2010 World Cup, and his late-career move to the New York Red Bulls.

A very good, perhaps exceptionally good, player – but not the great Henry. The one voted greatest Arsenal player of all time. The one memorialized with a bronze statue outside the Emirates. The one who would sit in the stands during MLS’ off season, wearing his red-and-white striped Arsenal scarf.

The prospect of Henry’s return to Arsenal, even if for only a couple of months while on loan from New York (whose season doesn’t start until March), was something akin to what the younger generation must have felt when Schumacher came out of retirement to race again in F1. But with that anticipation also came concern: would Henry wind up the same way as Schumacher, not even very good (relatively speaking) but only good enough to not embarrass himself, which would in itself be embarrassing? Would the crowd's roar as Henry prepared to enter the match be the highlight of the evening?

Well, as it turns out, it was more than a night for nostalgia. As Steve Rushin pointed out in this terrific article, Henry's match-winning goal, coming as it did, was a reminder of why we watch sports on TV. Because for just a moment it was as if time had stood still, and for someone who had never appreciated the Arsenal years, that was time enough. ◙

Wish I'd Written That

I don't thank you for coming," [Wolfe] said. "I'm not disposed to thank you for anything. I have reason to believe that you are withholding information that would be of value. Indeed, I think you have lied. Don't bother to deny it. I tell you that only to establish the temper of the conversation. I'll be trying to find support for my opinion. What will you be doing?"

She would be staring. She was staring. "I know what I ought to be doing," she said. "Leaving. I ought to be on my way out."

"But you're not. You wouldn't, even if I'm wrong, because you want to know why. That's what makes us the unique animal, we want to know why and try to find out. We even try to discover why we want to know why, though of course we never will."

- Rex Stout, Please Pass the Guilt ◙

Retro TV Friday

It seems odd with the AT&T Cotton Bowl tonight that it's the only New Year's postseason game left that's on broadcast network television (Fox) when it stayed on network television when the major games all switched to pay television. But that leads to the bigger story of today's column.

To think about it, if it's an SEC matchup, then you'd expect to hear the Super Bowl XXI theme for a major game -- that's right, twenty-five years ago, at the Rose Bowl. CBS decided it would not be used for NFL coverage, but for college football (College Football Association) games at the time, and by 1995 it would be used for the network's Southeastern Conference coverage, a gamble considering CBS was by that time a minor network and wasn't available in suburban areas of some major markets (Detroit and Milwaukee most notably) because of their low-powered affiliates, and two SEC markets were in trouble, as in Georgia, CBS lost its affiliate to Fox and the former Fox affiliate chose to join the WB, so CBS came close to the weakest station in the market (channel 69) before independent channel 46 agreed to join CBS (ratings are still worse than the Spanish language station and independent stations in the area), and in South Carolina, the local CBS affiliate took a partial United Paramount affiliation, and was contemplating joining Paramount full-time if the NFL had not returned to CBS in 1998, leaving cable companies in their metropolitan area ready for backup from the Augusta, Florence (similar to NBC, which had no Florence/Myrtle Beach affiliate until 2008), Charlotte, or Charleston affiliates had WLTX bolted to Paramount full-time in order to boost the Star Trek franchise (which was the main reason they took a partial Paramount affilation). The CBS/SEC gamble worked, as by 2001 the CBS/SEC deal became one where the CBS game would become the only guaranteed national Game of the Week, which has the ESPN-affiliated conferences crying foul, since their games are regional while the SEC's game was national.

I do think the first Louisiana State-Alabama game, however, will have drawn more viewers than the rematch for the BCS title, because of the CBS/SEC tie-in instead of ESPN. ◙

Poetry Wednesday: Journey of the Magi

A special return of Poetry Wednesday is here as we celebrate the Epiphany tomorrow, while today marks Day Eleven of Christmastide, and those eleven pipers piping represent the eleven faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Journey of The Magi

T.S. Elliot

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped in away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death?
There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death. ◙

Opening Night

Well, after months and months and years of anticipation (not to mention debates), the Republican presidential race finally began in earnest tonight, with the caucuses in our neighbor to the south.* At this point we don't know for sure who the winner is, although it looks as if Santorum is having a good night. The pundits are suggesting that Romney is not breaking through his ceiling of support, and Paul may be unable to expand beyond his core.

* Sample Iowa joke: A man from Iowa runs up to the border with Minnesota, holding a stick of dynamite. "I've had it with Minnesota! I'm not going to take it anymore!" With that, he threw the dynamite across the border. It landed at the foot of a Minnesotan who bent down and picked it up, lit the fuse, and threw it back.

The big winner tonight just might be "none of the above." Should the winner wind up with less than 25%, it suggests to me that none of these candidates is really turning on the voters. What this means for the fall election, who knows. As for what the true influence of Iowa is, your guess is as good as mine. Whatever the influence is, it's probably more than it deserves.** Bachmann is probably out, Gingrich and Perry have been hurt but will likely stay in until South Carolina at least, and we won't know about Huntsman until New Hampshire.

** Another Iowa joke: The Universities of Iowa and Minnesota are playing football. A train running past the field blows its horn. Minnesota, thinking it means halftime, runs off the field. Iowa scores four plays later.

It's often said that the campaign is a marathon, not a sprint. Prepare for a long grind. Prepare also to ask yourself, more than once, "Is this the way to pick a president?" ◙

Has New Year's lost its luster thanks to Pay TV having the Bowls?

Does it seem that New Year's Day is no longer the “major” television event it was years ago? The big college football games are no longer staples for local television affiliates, as pay-television has acquired the entire kit and kaboodle, and the major New Year's Day sporting event on network television is the NHL Winter Classic, which thanks to its NBC deal (a new ten-year deal starting today) while the college bowls have moved to pay-television means the only “New Year's Day” bowl left on network television is the AT&T Cotton Bowl, which is not even played at the said stadium, but in Arlington at Jerry Jones' billion-dollar edifice on a Friday night. CBS is left with just their regular daytime programming on New Year's (the game shows and dramas have original programming today).

With the bowls likely moving to pay-per-view in the future, it seems the lustre of the big games has been lost. We learned the first year of the pay-television revolution the ratings dropped considerably, and when the BCS Championship rematch draws less than the same two teams on broadcast network television in November, we've seen that pay television is worse. What we're seeing now is the same thing Britons will see when F1 moves to pay television this year with a price of over $500 for the season (for F1 races only; this subscription for F1 must be ordered to have F1) so the Beeb could save coverage of The Open Championship and Wimbledon – two events that in the US have moved to pay-television exclusively.

With no New Year's programming left on broadcast television, what does this say about the quality of television when raunchy programming is the “standard” of quality? ◙

Notable Quotables: Best of 2011

It seems the mocking of faith has become clearer each and every day, and Albert Herlong's Communist Goals of 1963 keep marching towards the goals of the CCCP in that bad "art," this time mocking God, is acceptable in the eyes of the modern Left. Pushing such bad art is helping towards the goals of demolishing the church while anything insulting to God is acceptable, as we saw in the last Congress." -- in light of the "Crash the Super Bowl" promotion with a sacrilegious advertisement from a Life Enhancement Centre.

"In the mid-90's, Charleston radio station WTMA (a news-talk radio station that is receivable in the day here) hostess Nancy Wolf ranted on her afternoon-drive show about abusive spending in the Charleston County School District where she called the newly built Calhoun Street building ताज महल , a mausoleum in Agra, India." -- on the bad educational system of today, where many schools in Charleston County were listed on the nation's 100 worst schools list.

"Whatever happened to civility with a former KTUU anchorwoman? It's clear we have uncivilised liberals who attack any conservative at any time, and with both Mr. Morgan's and the Missoula Children's and Community Theater's attacks of this woman." -- on a Mikado and a Saturday Night Live attack each on Sarah Palin.

"We have seen secularism run rampant when the odds of Poulenc's Gloria are more to be heard in the symphony hall than in the church, which is dead-set on rock or karaoke settings of 'The Climb,' 'It's My Life,' or the latest hit from a Sony television series (Granger had their congregation vote on which tune from Glee to perform there) in today's Warrenist Life Enhancement Centre every church wants to become. " -- after a Dawn Marie Wolski concert.

"There was a little irony in watching the Keselowski Brothers draft their way to Daytona and it came as I saw a YouTube video of Rich Mullins and Mitch McVicker performing 'Brother's Keeper' in that Brad was Brian's keeper in making him a Daytona 500 bound driver. I remember Darrell presented an award to Mullins (who had died 18 months prior to his presentation) and McVicker for a song that won a major award at Bridgestone Arena ('My Deliverer') and thought of the irony that 'Brother's Keeper' was the perfect theme for this race." -- to Mike Joy, on a Rich Mullins song that came to me when watching Daytona qualifying. The top two non-exempt drivers in each "heat" race (Brian was not exempt) advanced to the feature by racing their way in.

"Sorry men, you are the weaker sex and women deserve clubs where No Boys Allowed is the rule, but it doesn't work the other way." -- could federal authorities make men's sports illegal in schools in the future?
 "After checking (a video with friends), I am starting to feel depressed about not (participating) with the team that I want to take my life by jumping off the Ponte Vecchio into the Arno. That's how distraught I am about it. " -- After an event. How bad have you got it for opera?

"Humanism, especially Gaia worship, is now recognised by Washington but not the Resurrection of the Saviour. " -- after learning the government won't celebrate Holy Week but instead observed Lenin's Birthday in official statements. Just this week we learned Christmas was ignored, while the White House celebrated Kwanzaa, a Communist-influenced racist event.

"Why has it come to the point where dance, not singing, is the effective mandate of church music? " -- after a choral event at church for youth."That's it. Maybe my truck had a National Guard sticker!" -- on my frustration on attempting to make it to a concert. Failed both times. The National Guard reference was to Memorial Day, when J. R. Hildebrand goes into the wall with just 1,800 feet from the 500-mile point at Indianapolis, and Dale Earnhardt Jnr runs out of E15 just 1,000 feet from the 603-mile point at Charlotte. As Mike Joy said it in the last 1,000 feet at Charlotte, "And as at Indy, the leader at Turn Four does not get to the flag!"

"Is the Humanist Manifesto the official standard, as we see governments persecute churches on the request of sexual deviants?" -- problems with churches today.

"Isn't this the problem with society today, with welfare, freeloaders, and people who want something for nothing, and would discourage those who work the hardest to provide the wanted product? " -- on illegal streaming, welfare, and other major issues today.

"(I)t's clear (Occupiers) want a utopia reminiscent of the CCCP that will fail." -- on Occupy. ◙