via dilbert

via dilbert

i think if we fully realized the magnitude of God's constant interest in every molecule of this universe our heads would explode. God continually speaks every molecule of ink in every word on every page of every grocery store novel? the snow that randomly fell down the back of my neck friday went there because He was continually speaking water molecules in the icey-snow mode in the key of sliding-due-to-gravity. awesome doesn't begin to describe it.

It is important to break away from the modern notion that an artist should strive for originality and that a creator has a kind of monopoly on his own designs. A medieval artist was expected to work according to a specific formula, and this must have often meant using designs and compositions with a familiar precedent. In fact, the genius of a medieval illuminator is reflected in the skill with which he could execute an established subject.

christopher de hamel, history of illuminated manuscripts, pgs.194-195

Ecce autem elapsus Pyrrhi de caede Polites,

unus natorum Priami, per tela, per hostis

porticibus longis fugit, et uacua atria lustrat

saucius: illum ardens infesto volnere Pyrrhus

insequitur, iam iamque manu tenet et premit hasta.

Ut tandem ante oculos evasit et ora parentum,

concidit, ac multo vitam cum sanguine fudit.

Hic Priamus, quamquam in media iam morte tenetur,

non tamen abstinuit, nec voci iraeque pepercit:

'At tibi pro scelere,' exclamat, 'pro talibus ausis,

di, si qua est caelo pietas, quae talia curet,

persolvant grates dignas et praemia reddant

debita, qui nati coram me cernere letum

fecisti et patrios foedasti funere voltus.

At non ille, satum quo te mentiris, Achilles

talis in hoste fuit Priamo; sed iura fidemque

supplicis erubuit, corpusque exsangue sepulchro

reddidit Hectoreum, meque in mea regna remisit.'

Sic fatus senior, telumque imbelle sine ictu

coniecit, rauco quod protinus aere repulsum

e summo clipei nequiquam umbone pependit.

Cui Pyrrhus: 'Referes ergo haec et nuntius ibis

Pelidae genitori; illi mea tristia facta

degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento.

Nunc morere.' Hoc dicens altaria ad ipsa trementem

traxit et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati,

implicuitque comam laeua, dextraque coruscum

extulit, ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem.

Haec finis Priami fatorum; hic exitus illum

sorte tulit, Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem

Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum

regnatorem Asiae. Iacet ingens litore truncus,

avolsumque umeris caput, et sine nomine corpus.

virgil's aeneid, 2.526-558, the mors priami.

call me blasphemous, but the fact that a human being wrote this is proof that we are made in the image of God.

the suspension of saucius until the fourth line, past even the third, makes eliot himself (the master of suspension) look amateurish.

"nunc morere" may be the first time anyone in literature conveys this idea this succinctly. bruce willis has no clue what he's doing compared to virgil.

550-553 are arguably the crowning glory, with an image mary flannery could only dream of creating: the father slipping in his son's blood as he's dragged to the altar by his hair. capulo, in addition to hilt, also means coffin. the resulting double meaning ought to have made every poet since tear his hear in frustration.

if all of philosophy is a footnote to plato, all western poetry is a footnote to virgil. not that i really grant either, but if you grant the first i'd call you names if you didn't admit to the second.

The answer must be this: their love for truth takes the form that they love something else and want this object of their love to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be deceived, they do not wish to be persuaded that they are mistaken. And so they hate the truth for the sake of the object which they love instead of the truth. They love truth for the light it sheds, but hate it when it shows them up as being wrong (John 3:20, 5:35).

augustine, confessions, x.34

again, the eastern church comes to mind, or at least the Orthodox i've had contact with. but God help me, that last sentence is true of my heart more than anyone i know.

But now the goods I sought were no longer in the external realm, nor did I seek for them with bodily eyes in the light of this sun. In desiring to find their delight in externals, they easily become empty and expend their energies on 'the things which are seen and temporal' (2 Cor. 4:18). With starving minds they can only lick the images of these things (Plotinus 1.6.8.8).

augustine, confessions, ix.10

sadly enough, this picture reminds me as much of the eastern Orthodox church as of the pagans. Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believe!

Christians standing guard during a church service in lahore province, pakistan. sobering to think that our brothers and sisters still need guns to protect them. and relieving to realize that these men are only protecting the real warriors, and that the real fight is going on behind them in that compound. and it is a fight that we have already won. even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.

to continue on a theme...

where, indeed. apparently not anywhere near the Bouffant Galaxy.

via mostly forbidden, an almost entirely wonderful site.

well, that about sums it up.

via vintage_ads

taken on Pensacola Beach. and we think our oil is important.

hats off to JGib10.

"you fancy me mad. could a madman have outsmarted the greatest electronica/techno artists of our generation? next to fall will be Roderick Usher's house/trance band. "

via xkcd

this makes me think of just about all of my male friends. mostly rtn, rMcG, wss, tk, ta, ch. a lot of ch.

via xkcd

via stillbeating

via vicerag

an invention patented in 1979 which catches birds and dispenses them into a cage which allows cats to eat them at their leisure.

via forbes

GQ recently did a slideshow of the 50 most stylish cars in the last 50 years. with a few of their choices i quibble. most of them, not so much.

but these cars ... these cars. absolutely gorgeous. i make no apologies for this list. it is obviously my taste, disirregardless of what time period they come from. and so it probably reveals some character flaw that three of the five are from the

last 15 years.

the ferrari 308 GTB

the jaguar XKE (1969), called by Enzo Ferrari "the most beautiful car ever made."

the bmw z8 (1999 - 2005)

the audi a5/s5 (2008 - present)

the aston martin db9 -- perhaps my favorite car of all time

via MoonFace

via Behold the Moon Face

The river was a snake looking for someone new to tempt, You were the apple of my eye, I saw you everywhere I went.




Samuel Dickison

lyrics via Moon Face

from the fall, directed by tarsem