The Catholic Capitulation: Blame the Leadership, Part II

At the heart of Catholic culture must be the parish. Here, members of the faithful, ideally, undergo instruction (The family, of course, ought to supplement this!), either, when possible, through the Catholic schools or, otherwise, through CCD programs. The should share in worship, in celebration, and in community. They should also be inspired — in [...]

My roommate, Vadim, regarding Avril Lavigne: “Now I believe in conspiracy theories.”

I have no idea why he stumbled upon this, but he drew to my attention that Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” has reached NINETY-SIX-POINT-THREE-PLUS BILLION hits. This song is atrocious, the video is about as inspiring as later-years Simpsons, and, well, she looks like hell in this video. Absolute hell. Please, Avril, spare us all: Grow up. [...]

“Counting to four” (I love Leslie Feist.)

Matthew Yglesias has posted the awesome YouTube video of Feist, singing “Counting to Four”, a charming, directed-toward-children self-parody of her “1234″, on Sesame Street. So cool. Check it out, here.
The Sude, posting this video at TAS, linked to me, as well as to Yglesias. The publicity has inflated my blog stats; as long as people [...]

Every-one needs his daily dose of Reihan

From Wikipedia: “Ravi Shankar is a leading Indian instrumentalist of the modern era.” Replace “Ravi Shankar” with “Reihan Salam” and “Indian” with “Bengali-American”, and you get Drunken. Piano. Song. Enjoy!

Music not to be missed

Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Lie Down in the Light. Really, I’ve struggled to keep this one out of the car c.d. player (only a recently renewed affection for the Cure’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me — nice contrast, eh? — has kept Lie Down from playing incessantly), and constantly play tracks from it on iTunes. [...]