Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sick, and yet
Wow, it just occurred to me that I was horribly ill the week before last, and yet I didn't blog. I didn't even spend that much time on Twitter or Facebook. I may have turned the corner. Though in theory it is the fact that I was ill and didn't blog that is making me blog now. So it could be said that illness is still the primary thing that brings the Alta Californian out of hiding. Ah, I'm true to form after all.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Twitterer
It's not that I don't have anything to say. It's just that I've been swept up in the fascination with Twitter.
Now, mind you, I'm not much for technological fads. In fact I tend to oppose them more often than not. I was buying VHS right up until a couple of years ago. I got my first iPod a few months ago, and only then because it was a second hand gift from a family member. I've never seen an Xbox, and only tried a Wii when on a visit to someone else. I'm still not entirely clear on the mp3 concept. And I've never been on Facebook, and am not sure I see the point in trying it now. On the whole friends and family tell me I'd be a perfect candidate for the Amish, if only they would take converts.
But I do find Twitter interesting. The severe limitation I find almost liberating. There is no need to be verbose (verbosity is in fact prohibited by the design of the application). That nagging need to pursue literary greatness that dogs the heart of every diarist and blogger is almost entirely foiled. Even the brevity of the Gettysburg Address could never be compressed into 140 characters. And so one is free...free to loose one's random thoughts onto a wired civilization that could probably care less. Yes, one could argue many of those random thoughts end up being completely inane. But even inanity is sort of freeing. One could also argue that Twitter is simply a manifestation of the attention-deficient society we have become. I think there is definately something to that critique. Nevertheless, I find it mostly to be playful, not a bad thing to be in times such as these.
It is hard to say I won't abandon The Alta Californian, as in many ways I have abandoned it since January. But I dare say that, for the moment, Twitter will probably take up a bit more of my attention, or I suppose you could say a bit more of my inattention.
Now, mind you, I'm not much for technological fads. In fact I tend to oppose them more often than not. I was buying VHS right up until a couple of years ago. I got my first iPod a few months ago, and only then because it was a second hand gift from a family member. I've never seen an Xbox, and only tried a Wii when on a visit to someone else. I'm still not entirely clear on the mp3 concept. And I've never been on Facebook, and am not sure I see the point in trying it now. On the whole friends and family tell me I'd be a perfect candidate for the Amish, if only they would take converts.
But I do find Twitter interesting. The severe limitation I find almost liberating. There is no need to be verbose (verbosity is in fact prohibited by the design of the application). That nagging need to pursue literary greatness that dogs the heart of every diarist and blogger is almost entirely foiled. Even the brevity of the Gettysburg Address could never be compressed into 140 characters. And so one is free...free to loose one's random thoughts onto a wired civilization that could probably care less. Yes, one could argue many of those random thoughts end up being completely inane. But even inanity is sort of freeing. One could also argue that Twitter is simply a manifestation of the attention-deficient society we have become. I think there is definately something to that critique. Nevertheless, I find it mostly to be playful, not a bad thing to be in times such as these.
It is hard to say I won't abandon The Alta Californian, as in many ways I have abandoned it since January. But I dare say that, for the moment, Twitter will probably take up a bit more of my attention, or I suppose you could say a bit more of my inattention.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
McCain's Question
We heard it over and over, from McCain, Palin, and for a time Hillary and others. At last, an answer to McCain's Question.
Who is Barack Obama?
Answer:
The President of the United States
Who is Barack Obama?
Answer:
The President of the United States
Monday, January 5, 2009
Merry Christmas!
And yes, of course I still mean that.
As I write this it's Twelfth Night, the feast is coming to an end, but the star still shines and the Magi draw near. May we too draw near our Lord, and spend 2009 in His favor.
So Happy Christmas!
And for anyone reading this tomorrow, just pretend you're Orthodox...
As I write this it's Twelfth Night, the feast is coming to an end, but the star still shines and the Magi draw near. May we too draw near our Lord, and spend 2009 in His favor.
So Happy Christmas!
And for anyone reading this tomorrow, just pretend you're Orthodox...
Monday, December 8, 2008
Advent Hymnody
One of the fascinating, and for Anglican sticklers like myself, vexing ways catholic Christianity finds itself in conflict with modern Western culture is over Christmas. Not just the current "War on Christmas" of Fox News fame which is a more recognizable part of the Culture Wars, but the conflict between the commercial secular calendar and the catholic liturgical calendar.
Out on the public square it has been Christmas since well before Thanksgiving. Decorations and carols have been popping up since early November, which is late. I think only the Election kept them from coming out in late October. Last year I saw Christmas candy next to Halloween candy the week before All Hallow's Eve (that year, in a different store, I watched as employees put up a Valentine's Day candy display....on Christmas Eve!). By the time December 25 actually arrives, everyone is so sick of Christmas kitsch that it very quickly gets the boot. As the "Holiday Season" creeps ever earlier, it is also starting to end sooner. I saw neighbors taking down their Christmas ornaments the next morning, and most stores were clear of red and green by the following weekend. It has long irritated me that the Boy Scouts insist on doing their Christmas tree pick-up well before Christmas actually ends. But it makes a great deal of sense to them since most people want the ol' Tanenbaum out of the house well before the champagne corks pop at midnight, January 1.
This vexes catholic (small 'c') sticklers, because the liturgical calendar has things the other way around. The month before the feast of the Incarnation is Advent, and Christmas lasts nearly a fortnight after the 25th. Episcopalians can be so pugnacious about this that December on the Church Pension Group's wall calendar has a humorous depiction of the "Advent Police" citing people for Christmas activity too early. The most obvious example of this obstreperousness is in music. Despite the public's longing for it, despite the radio stations blaring them, and the shopping malls drowning in them, you will not hear Christmas carols in Church until Christmas Eve. And then, we will sing them to our hearts content for nearly two weeks, long after everyone else is sick of them. We get around this in some ways, usually with non-liturgical events, caroling parties, hospital visits, "concerts" and such, but in liturgy we hold the line.
Their are only a few real vestiges of the liturgical seasons remaining. One is the only Advent hymn which has managed to cross over into the Christmas carol world, O Come, O Come Emmanuel (well, it's appropriate for both, but it's primarily an Advent hymn in Church). Another is an entirely secular song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. The latter, with its partridges and pear trees, is of course problematic. Coupled with the continuing popularity of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, it should remind people that Christmas does not end until the eve of the feast of the Epiphany, January 6 (which is to say, on the Twelfth Night after Christmas...Jan. 5...twelve days after Christmas Eve). But as I recall reading in an article last year, polls show a majority of Americans think the "twelve days of Christmas" are the twelve days before Christmas. Argh!
The irony of all of this....Advent has some of the best hymns of the whole year. When I scan my mental lexicon of favorite hymns, probably as much as a third are from Advent. Which brings me to really an essential point...modern American culture, even when it seizes upon certain aspects of its own Christian heritage, completely misses out on the richest parts of the catholic tradition and the Christian faith itself. In some ways we should not complain. It is precisely the commercialization of Christmas that is robbing it of its import to most people, and leading to the Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays Wars we see in the news. That Western capitalism has not capitalized on Advent (or Easter or Pentecost) is probably a blessing. But that does not mean that most people aren't missing out.So when you see me in the store, looking slightly pained at every Jingle-Bell Rock, know that in my heart I'm singing something else. Songs of expectation of the coming of Christ, not just as the babe at Christmas, but in glory at the end of time.
For the record...some of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVjL4tRYrD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw639RcD2YU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lj48lYLIvs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0VuMxp5mUE
I may treat the words of these over the next few days. The words, after all, are the important thing. But for the moment, the music is splendid enough. (They're pretty good arrangements, and make me want to keep an encouraging eye on the nice folks at http://hifihymnbook.com/).
Out on the public square it has been Christmas since well before Thanksgiving. Decorations and carols have been popping up since early November, which is late. I think only the Election kept them from coming out in late October. Last year I saw Christmas candy next to Halloween candy the week before All Hallow's Eve (that year, in a different store, I watched as employees put up a Valentine's Day candy display....on Christmas Eve!). By the time December 25 actually arrives, everyone is so sick of Christmas kitsch that it very quickly gets the boot. As the "Holiday Season" creeps ever earlier, it is also starting to end sooner. I saw neighbors taking down their Christmas ornaments the next morning, and most stores were clear of red and green by the following weekend. It has long irritated me that the Boy Scouts insist on doing their Christmas tree pick-up well before Christmas actually ends. But it makes a great deal of sense to them since most people want the ol' Tanenbaum out of the house well before the champagne corks pop at midnight, January 1.
This vexes catholic (small 'c') sticklers, because the liturgical calendar has things the other way around. The month before the feast of the Incarnation is Advent, and Christmas lasts nearly a fortnight after the 25th. Episcopalians can be so pugnacious about this that December on the Church Pension Group's wall calendar has a humorous depiction of the "Advent Police" citing people for Christmas activity too early. The most obvious example of this obstreperousness is in music. Despite the public's longing for it, despite the radio stations blaring them, and the shopping malls drowning in them, you will not hear Christmas carols in Church until Christmas Eve. And then, we will sing them to our hearts content for nearly two weeks, long after everyone else is sick of them. We get around this in some ways, usually with non-liturgical events, caroling parties, hospital visits, "concerts" and such, but in liturgy we hold the line.
Their are only a few real vestiges of the liturgical seasons remaining. One is the only Advent hymn which has managed to cross over into the Christmas carol world, O Come, O Come Emmanuel (well, it's appropriate for both, but it's primarily an Advent hymn in Church). Another is an entirely secular song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. The latter, with its partridges and pear trees, is of course problematic. Coupled with the continuing popularity of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, it should remind people that Christmas does not end until the eve of the feast of the Epiphany, January 6 (which is to say, on the Twelfth Night after Christmas...Jan. 5...twelve days after Christmas Eve). But as I recall reading in an article last year, polls show a majority of Americans think the "twelve days of Christmas" are the twelve days before Christmas. Argh!
The irony of all of this....Advent has some of the best hymns of the whole year. When I scan my mental lexicon of favorite hymns, probably as much as a third are from Advent. Which brings me to really an essential point...modern American culture, even when it seizes upon certain aspects of its own Christian heritage, completely misses out on the richest parts of the catholic tradition and the Christian faith itself. In some ways we should not complain. It is precisely the commercialization of Christmas that is robbing it of its import to most people, and leading to the Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays Wars we see in the news. That Western capitalism has not capitalized on Advent (or Easter or Pentecost) is probably a blessing. But that does not mean that most people aren't missing out.So when you see me in the store, looking slightly pained at every Jingle-Bell Rock, know that in my heart I'm singing something else. Songs of expectation of the coming of Christ, not just as the babe at Christmas, but in glory at the end of time.
For the record...some of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVjL4tRYrD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw639RcD2YU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lj48lYLIvs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0VuMxp5mUE
I may treat the words of these over the next few days. The words, after all, are the important thing. But for the moment, the music is splendid enough. (They're pretty good arrangements, and make me want to keep an encouraging eye on the nice folks at http://hifihymnbook.com/).
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Thwacked Again
One of my holiday delights was to have that certain reader (who has not even seen fit to leave a comment herself) chastize me once more for only posting when I'm gravely ill. I find it difficult to believe that my comments are so interesting that one would want to read me daily or even weekly. But I can confess that I too am slightly irritated when bloggers I enjoy reading slacken off. One of my particular favorites, Captain Sacrament, has not posted for over a month. I managed to get a blogging priest I know (who shall remain nameless) posting again...once. Then nothing, despite my suggestion that he post the notes from at least one, particularly excellent, sermon I heard him give recently. So I can certainly see why someone would want to thwack me with the Stick of Compassion, to wake me from my semi-meditative slumber. So to that restive reader, I say I will post again very soon...perhaps if this tickle in my throat gets worse.
Ah, I see Kyle has come out of hiding, and has big plans.
Ah, I see Kyle has come out of hiding, and has big plans.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A Sad Correction
It would seem that the Summer of the Thousand Fires has not truly ended, at least for the good people of Southern California. I do wish I had been right that it was over. The Northstate may not be out of the woods yet either. For all our sakes, I do hope it ends soon.
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