Defending the 12th century since the 14th; blogging since the 21st.

Catholicism, Conservatism, the Middle Ages, Opera, and Historical and Literary Objets d'Art blogged by a suburban dad who teaches law and writes stuff.


"Very fun." -- J. Bottum, Editor, FIRST THINGS

"Too modest" -- Elinor Dashwood

"Perhaps the wisest man on the Web" -- Henry Dieterich

"Hat tip: me (but really Cacciaguida)" -- Diana Feygin, Editor, THE YALE FREE PRESS

"You are my sire. You give me confidence to speak. You raise my heart so high that I am no more I." -- Dante

"Fabulous!"-- Warlock D.J. Prod of Didsbury

Who was Cacciaguida? See Dante's PARADISO, Cantos XV, XVI, & XVII.


E-mail me

 

Now burn, new born to the world,
Doubled-naturèd name,
The heaven-flung, heart-fleshed, maiden-furled
Miracle-in-Mary-of-flame,
Mid-numbered He in three of the thunder-throne! -- Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, "The Wreck of the Deutschland," 34

posted by Cacciaguida at 9:07 PM

 
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

-- Hamlet, I i


Saint Francis and Saint Benedight
Bless this house from wicket wight,
From the night-mare and the goblin
That is hight good fellow Robin;
Keep it from all evil spirits,
Fairies, weazles, rats, and ferrets:
From curfew-time
To the next prime.

-- "Cartwright," quoted in Washington Irving, The Sketchbook, "Christmas Eve"

posted by Cacciaguida at 9:20 PM

 
CONVERSATION CHEZ CACCIAGUIDA: improbable effect of a last-minute Land's End sale catalogue

ELINOR (turning last page): I don't think I want any clothes.
CACCIAGUIDA:
ELINOR: That does not go on the blog.
CACCIAGUIDA (trying out lines for the blogpost): Guys! Try this one!
ELINOR: It wouldn't work on normal women. Normal women would go, oh, I'll get one of these, and one of these, and one of those....
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:14 PM

 
Wisdom of Children (hat-tip: JRB)
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:31 PM

 
CONVERSATION CHEZ CACCIAGUIDA: things that go bump in the night

ELINOR: Did you wake up last night and say you bumped your head?
CACCIAGUIDA: No, that was getting up this morning, and it wasn't my head, it was my -- [short pause, but lethally long for vaudeville]
ELINOR: Easily confused.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:00 PM

 
CONVERSATION CHEZ CACCIAGUIDA: oppression

CACCIADELIA (now 13): Can I have the keys to the rental car?
CACCIAGUIDA: Don't drive it anywhere.
CACCIADELIA: Oh may-un!!
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:57 PM

 

He [von Stauffenberg] acted not only out of patriotism but also as a member of an aristocratic caste whose sense of honour had been upset by SS thuggery and the incompetence of Hitler.

The Germans were sure, in advance of the premiere, that Cruise wasn't up to the job.

I doubt my view will be any different. I am Ve. Ry. Par. Tic. U. Lar. about how the German Widerstandbewegung (resistance movement), which I love personally as well as politically, is portrayed. I haven't yet seen Valkyrie; I probably will, just in case she wants to talk about it next time we e-mail.

EDITED TO ADD: I've now seen a trailer and a brief interview. The story, of course, is un-ruinable, but it seems the movie has enough lame lines in it almost to do the job. And I'm talking, of course, about lines that the marketers chose for the trailers as the ones most likely to reel in an audience. Even setting to one side the inexplicable variance of English and American accents among the (of course Germanophone) heros, they seem to talk in hero-movie cliches that would have been embarrassing in the '50s.

Some viewers may enjoy watching David "Mr. Collins" Bamber as Hitler. Terence Stamp (General Zod in Superman, Chancellor Valorum in the first Star Wars prequel) is cast as Ludwig Beck, and Stamp enhances any cast -- but he doesn't look like Beck. And Ambassador von Hassell was, it appears from the IMDB cast list, deemed unnecesssary to this particular retelling.

[Folds arms, breathes in slowly; gaze conveys readiness for an explanation but no expectation of receiving one; ice crystals form around eyes and lips; "tief in des Busens Berge glimmt nur noch lichtlose Glut."]

FURTHER EDITED TO ADD: Take a stand for a non-personal reason? Whatever for? :)
(Sorry, folks, that one was just for Eve, and Snape.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:15 PM

 
"...How you look in the glow of evening
I have dreamed and enjoyed the view..."

A toast -- to my many good "children"!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:49 PM

 


TRISTAN -- with an "A"
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:38 PM

 
Enough politics? Good, because we're in the middle of the Novena of the Immaculate Conception. Here, thanks to a friend in northern Virginia, are some pictures of historic Imm. Conc. cards from France, from the 1930s t0 the 1980s. It's interesting how the images and messages reflect the times, while remaining unchanged in essence.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:18 PM

 
Notwithstanding the post immediately below, and my full-throated participation in Sarahmania this fall, I notice with relief and maintain with delight that conservatism actually has a rather deep "bench" right now, involving none of those losers from this past cycle.

Besides Palin, who is very much in play but doesn't have anything locked up yet imo, there's also Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, and now, Florida's likely next Senator -- Jeb Bush. At a NR-summoned conservative "summit in January of '07, Jeb gave the best speech and got the warmest reception, far outstripping any of the actual candidates. Who knows, maybe that was in part because he wasn't a candidate. But he's smart, he's conservative, and he's popular, at least in his state. Oh and did I mention he's Catholic?

Watch the House too, where new Minority Whip Eric Cantor (VA), Deputy Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA) and Republican Conference Whatever Paul Ryan (WI), are becoming known as the conservative "Young Guns" who may challenge the stodgy and compromised Republican leadership. Party like it's 1978!
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:04 PM

 
Chambliss wins: big boost for conservative morale, for GOP resilience in Senate -- and for Palin Power on the campaign trail.

The newly re-elected Georgia Senator says, according to Fox, that Gov. Palin's campaigning "helped put him over the top." She also helped him "peak on the last day," and "to peak and get our base fired up." After all, "When she walks in a room, folks just explode."

Senator, we either couldn't have said it better, or we could have, depending on just what you were trying to say. Clearly, you were at least trying to say -- the the GOP needs to note it -- that Palin is a "rock star."
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:22 PM