Still Alive

I've been very busy lately; hence, my low output. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive. As a way of getting back into things, I've decided to do a meme that I got tagged for by Netters. (By the way, I'm flattered, Jeanetta)

7 People I Admire:
1. Saint Joseph
2. Ven. J.H. Card. Newman
3. G.K. Chesterton
4. Joe Esposito
5. My sister, Laina
6. Benedict XVI
7. Bishop Edward P. Cullen

7 Things I Plan to Do within the Next Year:
1. Blog more.
2. Pass Third College.
3. Become a Staff Sergeant.
4. Pay off my credit card debt.
5. Become an uncle a third time.
6. Learn more about wine.
7. Begin praying an breviary hour in Latin each day.

7 Places I Want to Visit:
1. Ireland
2. Rome
3. England
4. Russia
5. Alaska
6. Australia
7. The Moon

7 Places I've Already Been:
1. Texas
2. Florida
3-6. *classified*
7. Alabama

7 Books I Love:
1. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
5. That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
6. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
7. The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton

7 Movies I Love:
1. Life is Beautiful
2. The Truman Show
3. The Return of the King
4. Braveheart
5. The Mission
6. The Passion of the Christ
7. Citizen Kane

7 Websites I Love:
1. www.catholic.com
2. www.google.com
3. ebaumsworld *blush*
4. www.ucomics.com
5. www.comics.com
6. myway.news.com
7. www.ewtn.com (Document Library, woot)

7 People to Tag:
I grant an indulgence... no tags this time.

A Note On Commenting

After deleting several stupid ad-generated comments over the past few weeks, I've taken advantage of a blogger feature that enables a word-identification step in the commenting process that aims to render such ad-bots ineffective. It makes commenting more of a pain, but it saves me the trouble (and scandal) of having these things appear on my site.

Better Late Than Never

My nephew Ethan has been born almost a month now, and is being baptized tomorrow, but here's a picture of my nephew Benjamin holding him the week after his birth. Ain't they cute?

New CD

I bought Switchfoot's new album, Nothing Is Sound today.


All in all, I'd say it's what one could expect from Switchfoot. I stand by The Beautiful Letdown as their best album so far. The lyrics on this new one are a bit too ephemeral for me. Some of the songs are clouded in terms of their message, and I'm not entirely sure where they're going. It seems they're upset with the war in Iraq, but not in a bandwagon sort of way, and they hide it behind the poetical (perhaps too poetical) lyrics. The freshness and edge seems to have dulled a bit since their last album as they try to approach things perhaps more "artfully". This seems to be a trend among Christian musicians when they find a wider following. I chalk the shortcomings of this present collection to this mysterious tendency, and hope that they find an equilibrium by the next time they hit the studio. Mind, this is not to say that the new CD isn't groovy. The music is great, and many of the songs capture the old magic (notably "Happy is a Yuppie Word" and "The Blues"). I recommend the purchase, just don't be surprised to find a little bit lyrically of what happened to the Beatles after they met and were awed by Bob Dylan.

Weekend Home

I'm home for a weekend, and thought I could use the time for some contributions to the blogosphere. I found a funny little piece over at Jeff Miller's blog about PETA's excitement over the Pope's comments about factory farming. I think it would upset PETA and Paul McCartney to know that the reason the Church speaks about animal cruelty in any case is because of its concern with human dignity, i.e. when a human abuses an animal he acts in a way unbecoming the dignity of his own human nature. Lest the wacky left take this one and run with it, I'm proposing a bumper sticker idea using some good old fashioned Catholic language: Meat Is Meet. If I get ambitious, I might actually photoshop something later.

In other news, I thank Jeff again for a link to this review of the upcoming Narnia film. The fact that I've been suffering weakened bladder control since the film's inception seems utterly justified by Barbara's review. December 9th can't come soon enough... except for the whole final exams thing, which'll be quite the bummer.