More Snow

So, what is it that is causing the DC area to get more snow this year than usual? A lot more?

Probably global warming. Odd as that might seem.

The change in weather patterns is what one expects. Just watch what happens to the air around an ice cube as it melts, and you will get the gist of what happens when the big ice cubes at the north melt.

Thinking with the Inklings

Now available (on CreateSpace) and soon to be available on Amazon.com:

Thinking With the Inklings

As a Catholic scholar who is also a fan of the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield and their friends, I have, through the years, written several essays which reflect upon their writings. Some of them have been traditional in form — critical essays looking to present their beliefs. Others, however, have gone beyond mere exploration of their beliefs; in them, I seek to think along with the Inklings, that is, to see how some of their ideas might impact my own religious and philosophical views.

In this collection, you will find examples of both.

Section I: Essays on the Inklings

4 Introduction

10 Should John Wain Be Considered An Inkling?

17 The Allegory of the Cave

29 J.R.R. Tolkien: A Catholicized William Morris?

57 The Significance of Adam Fox

Section II: Thinking with the Inklings

66 Overcoming the Great Divorce

107 C.S. Lewis and the Mind-Only Prison

115 On Three Representations of the Antichrist

129 Love and Lust

135 How Much is Too Much?

140 On Multiple Worlds and Multiple Incarnations

155 We Are Technological Magi

174 Context Is Everything

Section III: Reviews

180 Doctor Faustus

187 The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún

190 Till We Have Faces

196 Eager Spring: The Coda of the Inklings

Thumbnails of the Fantastic: Print Edition

It’s now live — one can order, at least from CreateSpace, my collection of short stories, Thumbnails of the Fantastic.

Soon, it should be listed on Amazon (CreateSpace is related to Amazon), and when I can find it there, I will let people know. I do not know if ordering it directly from CreateSpace or from Amazon will change things or not — though I would expect, if you order it from Amazon, they might put its shipping with everything else you order from them (so I would hope).

The collection is of twelve stories — some science fiction, some fantasy, some horror, but all of them have elements of myself and my thoughts on life, the universe, and everything in them.

Thumbnails of the Fantastic Update

I’ve chosen, for now, CreateSpace for the print edition of the book. They do not offer a hardback edition, but for a collection of short stories, I do not think a hardback is necessary. At least, at this stage.

The cost right now will be $12 + S/H. The size of the book will be similar to a Verso book, and so I used Verso’s pricing to determine my own.

Just Say No To Polemics

I decided to bring three short essays I’ve written on Islam and put them together for a cheap e-book edition. The longest essay is available elsewhere online for free, explaining why Christians and Muslims can be said to share the same God, and raising the issue of whether or not Christians can even consider Muhammad to be a prophet.  The other two essays complement each other; one is on the early Islamic philosopher Al-Farabi, and the second is on Al-Ghazali. They represent two radically different Islamic takes on philosophy and reason.

You can order it here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8176

Thumbnails of the Fantastic: E-Book Edition

Through the years, I’ve been writing short stories and novels. Most of them remain unedited and so have not been submitted to any place for publication. A few of my stories have been edited (to various degrees), and I decided to collect them together, and offer them to anyone who might be interested in what I have written.

The texts have been collected, and I am ready to share them with the world.

I have first released them as an e-book. This is because this process was easier and quicker to do than trying to put them together for a hard copy edition. I am working on finding a place for such an edition;  if you are not wanting to order an e-book edition, but want a printed edition of my book,  you will have to wait. I hope the wait will not be too long (I am finalizing my decision as to where I will have them published, then I will edit it for the book format I choose, and then I will have to wait to see a proof of the book before it is finalized — I expect this will take roughly a month, if not less time).

You can order the e-book in smashwords, here:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8099 .

I called my book Thumbnails of the Fantastic to represent the fact it is a collection of short stories from the horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres. I have also included a brief introductory essay to indicate the value of these genres to a religious scholar as well as a concluding epilogue to point out the value of fantastic literature and why such tales should be studied by academics.

The table of contents reads:

Introduction

How Peter Lombard’s Sentences Saved the World

Fermi’s Pair of Ducks

The Innkeeper’s Secret

What St. Jerome Did Not Know

Death Awaits Him

He and She

The Test Subject

The Zombies

The Curious Case of the Missing Tea

What Dreams Are Made Of

The Vampire

The Puppeteer

Epilogue: On Fantastic Literature

Because of how e-books function, there is no page numbers in the title page for the electronic version of this book. I have linked to the previously released online versions of two of the stories (they have changed slightly for the e-book).

I am putting myself out on a limb with this publication. I hope people find the stories worthwhile and will recommend them to their friends.

When Pigs Fly

When the bird flew, I thought nothing of it; now, it’s been said, swine flew — the world will never be the same again.

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth Part 1

The direction and pacing of the episode is slightly off, and the first episode seemed to be one padded storyline, preparing the audience for the touted trip to earth. There is a sense of mystery to the story in that we don’t know who the new hologram really is, but beyond that, I also got a season 1 vibe to the whole story. This is probably because the budget, like the first season, is low (though CGI helps make it look much higher than it is), and with low budgets, characterization instead of special-effects slapstick works best.

3/5.

Busy Easter Weekend

It’s going to be quite busy. Not only will I be celebrating the resurrection of Christ, I will have new Doctor Who and Red Dwarf episodes to watch

The Doctor Who story is called, Planet of the Dead, and doesn’t sound or look as interesting as some of the stories which will come out later this year. But I’m hoping it is better than it looks.

Now Red Dwarf apparently is three episodes, starting with one on Good Friday. It celebrates the 25th anniversary of the show, and brings the crew… Back to Earth.

That looks like classic Red Dwarf!

Cherry Blossoms Are Out

It’s cherry blossom time again in DC; the festival opened this weekend, with rain showers on Saturday making it less than ideal for the festivities, although I am sure the sun we got on Sunday afternoon allowed some people to get a good look at the blossoms at the mall.

There are a few cherry blossoms around where I live, and I thought I would try to capture it with my new camera. Alas, when I went out, we got a cloud, and a quick rain shower pass through, so the pictures I got were quick, and not with the proper lighting to show them off. Here’s a sample of what I got.

Glad that is done

Well, it’s one of the things expected of us in academia. We go and present papers. We go and listen to the papers of others. I admit, it’s not my favorite thing at all. I prefer reading papers myself, and talking about the implications with the author.  But, it’s the way things are, and I have to do it.  The best part of conferences are interactions between papers; and this time I got to meet many young scholars like myself, and get some connections, though it is hard to keep long-term connections, except by talking to them at other conferences, unless one runs across someone else interested in the same research and decides to work together with you. Still, I think was able to get to meet more this time than at the national conference, so that should help in the future.

I just hope I don’t get sick

For the past few months, our weather pattern has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster. 70 one do, 30 the next. It’s no wonder people get sick. And it seems right now, people are.

Now would not be the best time for me to get sick. I want to be as healthy as possible as I deliver my paper on Tolkien and Morris next week at the regional AAR meeting.

That saying, while my throat feels rough this morning, it might just be nothing. I hope it is.

Sleep, what is it?

Egads, I woke a little after 1 this morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep afterwards. I just hope I get an adrenaline rush to keep me through the day.

Because of the Watchmen Movie, This Crater on Mars Has Become Popular

Get On Your Boots

The video for the new U2 song is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOwH6IqwRqM — it cannot be embeded, so one has to click on the link to watch it).

While I like the new U2 cd, I just can’t help but think this was the wrong song to use as the first single from the cd. The title song, No Line on the Horizon, would have been best. As it is, I think people will get a false impression of this album.

Do certain words or thoughts have the power to wake us up?

I don’t know. But I have often noticed that when I am dreaming, certain words or thoughts, when I have them in the dream, suddenly bring me out of the dream and wakes me up. I don’t know if it is dream specific, if it is a one time event (since I don’t remember all my dreams), or if there are specific words which will always wake me up. This morning, the word was redemption. I don’t remember how that word came across in the dream, but I remember thinking the word, then finding myself awake thinking of the word. If dreams have the power to tell us something, what about the words which are used to wake us up?

Time Change, Never A Good Thing

Well, it happened quicker this year than ever before. Our clocks have changed again. Strange thing is, I expected to be able to “sleep in”, but I woke up early, making it around the same “time” as normal. But with less sleep.

It will take a couple days to adjust I think.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

Many, many people. That is who. But, for those unitiated to the story, they need to realize: this film is vulgar, it is violent, it portrays heroes whose personal qualities make them to be more like villians than heroes, and much of the story is morally questionable. This is not to say there are not elements of true beauty and grace within it; there are, but they are hidden in a residue of filth that it would be difficult for one to find it without aid.

Despite being a “superhero” film, it’s not for kids. Rape is treated here, and is a significant thread throughout the film. How it deals with rape is complex, and disturbing.  But worst of all is its image of humanity, which is dark and sinister; the image of God within is nearly wiped out and lost, turning everyone into animals of one sort or another. Not very uplifting, is it?

As the Snow Melts, The Animals Come Out To Play

Snow in DC

Yesterday morning, I woke up to a great surprise. But it looked like it was over. It wasn’t. 

Overnight Snow

It’s still coming down, but will warm up and probably melt by the afternoon.

Some Have To Fly To Get To Church on Time

 

My Window Often Shows Me The Most Beautiful of Sites

Tonight is no expection.

 

Whenever I Set Out On The Road, I’m Always Amazed At The Number of Birds Living in the Bushes

It’s always cute and funny to see the birds react when someone walks by. Either they take off in a flock, and move to another bush, or they jump down inside the bush, thinking we can’t find them.

Why do people do this to their dogs?

This upset me — I’ve never understood why people, when they went out, felt the need to take their dogs with them and leave them in the car. I can understand if one is on a trip, one might take them with. But what trip leads one to a library (where I took this picture)? And with four dogs?

No Ashes For Me

The Byzantine tradition, having already led us into Lent, does not use ashes, but rather, follows what Jesus said one is to do during fasts: anoints the faster right before the fast begins.

For those beginning Lent: I hope it is a good, spiritual time for you. We can now journey upon it together.

If Man Was Not Supposed To Photograph Airplanes, He Wouldn’t Have Been Able To Invent The Zoom

The Great Fast

As the first day of the Great Fast begins, I found myself waking up early, making it clear it is going to be a long first day of the Great Fast. Thankfully, I went to Forgiveness Vespers, and partook of the annointing; hopefully the graces involved will help me make it through the day.

I do find it ironically interesting that the Great Fast begins this year on the feast of St Polycarp (i.e, his name sounds like it means many fish, though it really means much fruit).

Thy name was verified by thy works, O wise Hieromartyr Polycarp. Thou wast a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord, and dost nourish the Church with the spiritual bounty of thy words and deeds. Thou dost intercede for our souls, O hierarch and steadfast Prize-winner. (Troparion of St Polycarp).

Slumdog Will Probably Win Best Picture Tonight

Of the films nominated, it’s clearly the best choice. It’s innovative and unique in its presentation, and, like any classic film, it highlights elements of both the best and the worst in humanity.

This clip, I think, shows the relationship Slumdog has with the Oscars… the film isn’t the one in the hotseat, the Oscars is. If it doesn’t win, everyone will know something is up.

These Are So Well Done. Always Funny If One Knows The Comics