Five Turns Around the Sun

Happy Birthday, Amalia!

Victor Borge

I had forgotten how funny Victor Borge was. these clips on Don's site reminded me. I can almost like the piano watching this stuff.

New to the blogroll

This blog, by a leftist friend of mine who is going by the moniker Carson Park Ranger, is very entertaining. If all lefties were as smart as this guy, the world would be in much better shape. He has daft ideas about the Spanish Civil War, but he is a Catholic and a good guy (not to mention a lot of fun to drink with).

Cooking, painting, not writing on the blog...

Sorry, dear readers. I have been busy, what with Amalia turning five and all the celebrations. Also, I have been using my time painting, reading up on Renaissance Italian art, and so forth.

I will post a recipe soon, but not tonight. Too tired.

Thank you for your patience.

Islamo-Fascists

Don Jim, who seems to be a pretty good guy for a Liberal, talks about the silly term "Islamo-fascism."

I am not exactly a fascist. I am not exactly not a fascist either, but I am not a member of any fascist party, and I differ from fascism on the role of the church and on the treatment of archaeological sites. So I see eye-to-eye with bonafide fascists quite a bit.

So, naturally, the offense I take to the "islamo-fascist" term is that it presumes that one is talking about Mohammedans when one is talking about those who practice "islam." As I have argued before, true Islam is the Catholic Church and true Muslims are Catholics.

Those who follow Mohammed are Mohammedans, not Muslims.

Now, since my own differences with fascism tend to be about the role of the Church (my own authoritarianism is really Franquismo), when it comes down to it "Islamo-fascist" is me.

Except, why mix Arabic into it? I have nothing against the Lebanese Falange, nor the Maronites, but my guess is that most Islamo-fascists (real ones, not Mohammedans, who really have nothing to do with fascism at all) are of Latin stock. So why not Romano-fascists? Except that is quite redundant, as there is no fascism without fasces, and they didn't come from Dublin. So we could go with Catholo-fascists.

Or Franquistas.

Or Keilholtzisti.

Anyway, I also agree with Don Jim over this notion that not all leftists are "Commies." I actually miss the days when they were. At least with the reds you can see, sort of, why they have that world view. With the lavenders, it's a whole different ballgame.

And that brings me to Castro, although in his old age he seems to be giving in to the lavenders. I think it is because he has a granddaughter who is into that sort of thing. Alas, the days when the soundest AIDS policy came from Cuba.

I wish Castro the best. Really.

I know, he is a brutal, horrid Commie thug. And for that he will have to pay the price.

But...

I just can't hold a grudge against anyone who dislikes Kennedys as much as I do. Can't do it. And I like a good strongman. I just about wept when Stroessner was kicked out (although he was a complete bastard. The only thing that made him tolerable was his staunch anti-communism, but that is like joining Stalin to fight Hitler. No, I did not like the man Alfredo Stroessner, rather the length of his reign and his tenacity). And, let's face it, Raul is worse, like Fidel, but without the charm.

Of course Raul will not be able to hold it together. So, the end of the Castro days is inevitable, and it will probably happen quickly and peacefully once the old goat kicks it. Hopefully he will repent of his evil and die a faithful Catholic. If Oscar Wilde could do it, Fidel could do it. And if Fidel does it, well, there will even be hope for Ted Kennedy.

Liberalism and its Consequences

I should know better than to read Bill Luse when I have work to do, but I done did it, and it led me here.

Let's have a betting pool: when do you think that this stuff will be considered "normal" and "healthy?" The weenie shrink seems to be pointing the direction.

Also, since I have been watching a lot of Colbert Report clips, I get a giggle out of the faces of the newscasters. Do they ever sprain their eyebrows?

Anyway, back to work. Restaurant review #1 of the week filed. Yippeee! Now to the Fra Angelico handouts.

You are coming to the lecture tomorrow (7:30pm, with a mass at 5:30, at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in North Beach, San Francisco. Free, but we may ask you to join the St. Anthony of Padua Institute), no?

Nineteenth century art restoration folks must have been a fun bunch. I bet they never went to work sober. Why do I say this? Find out tomorrow.

I have to wonder...

In this comment and many others by Mr. E. I have to wonder that if he had been sent to an elite school he perhaps would be able to string together complete sentences. There is nothing more entertaining than reading rants against elitism from people who write almost exclusively in fragments.

Of course he is doing it to sound breezy and cute, which might be even worse than doing it because he really does not know how to write.

I should probably be nice to him, because he might be able to give me some good recipes for regurgitated cud (good non-elitist food, so long as it is bought at Wal?Mart).

Speaking of Fra Angelico...

On August 15th, I will be giving a slide lecture on Fra Angelico: Mary's Painter at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, following mass and a reception.

If you are in the Bay Area, please come.

You will find more information at the St. Anthony of Padua Institute website.

PS: preparing for this lecture accounts for the paucity of posts on the blog these days.

Monet in Normandy

Yesterday we went to the Palace of the Legion of Honor to see the Monet in Normandy show, which was quite good. It was a bit of a madhouse, but not as bad as other shows recently (my elbows definitely got a better workout at the Art Deco show a couple of years back).

Let me give some advice: skip the audio tours. I did not listen to the one for this show (I never do), but I can guarantee that you will not learn anything that you will retain from one of those stupid audio tours. Also, they totally louse up the experience of viewing art, not to mention the traffic snarls they create as they route people to the same paintings without the benefit of a docent to say, "hey, let's talk about this one, as there are already fifty people hanging around that one."

Really the best way to approach Monet is just with the eyes, hooked up to the brain. There is value in learning about the painter and his context, and you can get quite a bit from the wall text, which was remarkably free of babbleshit, and you can read up before or after.

Anyway, the show is pretty straightforward. If you like Monet, you will like this show (unless you are wanting to see specific works that are not there).

If you don't like Monet, well, upstairs you can see some wonderful baroque paintings upstairs in the permanent collection, as well as a Fra Angelico of St. Francis meeting St. Dominic, some outstanding and overlooked gems from the nineteenth century, and can go downstairs to see some good ceramic works.