tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-181028952011-11-24T17:37:15.959-05:00"And you that sit by the fire are young, <br> And true love waits for you; <br> But the king and I grow old, grow old, <br> And hate alone is true."Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.comBlogger8131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-22956390251214167212008-06-01T23:52:00.003-04:002008-06-02T00:00:48.148-04:00

The time of the gentle fuss is ended. As of this post, this blog will no longer be updated.But this one will

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-40491833711315703862008-05-19T05:10:00.003-04:002008-05-19T05:46:19.761-04:00

It does! Not a word of a lie.The Wordpress blog is up and running (link to follow once I've got it tweaked properly in all of its particulars), and I'm just now in the process of transcribing film reviews into the new archive I've set up over there for such things. I hope to have the place more or less presentable within the next few days, and then something of a new phase can begin.At present

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-34520075425082303362008-05-14T01:25:00.003-04:002008-05-14T01:32:33.990-04:00

Maureen O'Brien of Maria Lectrix has devised a simple and excellent tune to which Chesterton's matchless epic, "Lepanto," may be sung, and sings it commendably in a downloadable mp3. It's apparently been out there for almost two years, now, judging by the date on which it seems to have been posted, so I'm sort of ashamed not to have discovered it 'til now (thanks to the ACS blog).The recording

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-72102293101741496072008-05-14T00:57:00.002-04:002008-05-14T01:08:37.929-04:00

I've started work on the Wordpress blog, as promised. I even have a name picked out and everything. Hurrah. It should be up and ready to go in fairly short order (later this week, possibly), but I'm still back and forth on whether or not I should import this blog's contents to that one in an attempt to keep a sort of continuity to the thing. It's likely that I'll just keep the old stuff here,

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-2700588614227821992008-05-12T00:03:00.003-04:002008-05-12T00:45:43.523-04:00

So, the summer being here and the bulk of my work being completed, some return to regular posting is in order. I'm not yet entirely sure what that will entail, but it will entail something.I'll get back into the swing of it soon enough, but for the time being there are a number of things that should be happening in the next week or two.1. New name, look, host, addressI was sick of the name of

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-15614655111598230052008-04-22T21:21:00.003-04:002008-04-22T21:22:28.993-04:00

Or, well, not literally this space. The blog in general. Once I'm finished with my class work for the year (within the next two weeks), I'm planning to start something new here. Further bulletins as time permits, but for the moment I have to continue writing so that I can finish writing on time to start writing again.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-8444240554003623722008-01-26T16:38:00.000-05:002008-01-26T16:43:00.867-05:00

Easily.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-87712515888468401352007-12-04T21:42:00.000-05:002007-12-04T21:45:25.908-05:00

Due to loads of freaking work still to be done, my planned return to regularly-scheduled blogging will continue to be put off for a little while yet. Tomorrow will see me conduct a three-hour seminar on Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, a book of unspeakable excellence, and next week demands the completion of two papers for classes that are concluding; one on Alejo

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-28622672028387285902007-12-04T21:20:00.000-05:002007-12-04T21:39:06.610-05:00

The first teaser poster for The Dark Knight, hitting theaters in July of 2008, is now available for viewing as had previously been announced. Behold:(Click for larger version)That's the ticket. That's very much the ticket.The first trailer, which is said to be more of a lengthy excerpt (like five or six minutes), is scheduled to be attached to I Am Legend, opening in just over a week. A

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-16855861403606545652007-12-03T21:04:00.000-05:002007-12-03T21:08:20.695-05:00

Part and parcel of my gradual return to blogging is my return to weekly posting at Chesterton and Friends.This week's post regards a brief and pleasant moment of interaction between a poem by G.K. Chesterton and a passage from the Holy Father's latest encyclical, Spe Salvi. You'll have to click through to see what that sudden alignment entails.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-1353366233073425732007-12-03T13:03:00.000-05:002007-12-03T13:08:06.745-05:00

As promised (threatened), I have compiled a list of anything in the film that could even dubiously be tied to religion in some way. It has proven to be of some use at Insight Scoop. Hopefully others will be able to find some merit to it as well.What follows is a summary of the religious and/or spiritual content of the film. It contains what some might consider spoilers, and is presented mostly

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-12396171743147730992007-12-03T12:48:00.001-05:002007-12-03T12:49:15.096-05:00

Gillian Gibbons pardoned and set free.Alright then.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-67610717371451945032007-12-01T22:34:00.000-05:002007-12-03T13:18:45.576-05:00

UPDATE: A point-by-point look at specifically religious elements of the film is available here.Further update: Welcome to those coming from The Daily Eudemon.An advanced screening of the film was available in town today. It's not often that I can beat the mainstream, particularly with a film (even one I didn't especially want to see), so here we are.The following contains spoilers.Inasmuch as I

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-1542593748237225132007-11-30T13:09:00.000-05:002007-11-30T13:10:18.030-05:00

Benedict XVI's second encyclical, Spe Salvi, has just been released. Check it out here.Looks like I've got something to do this evening after all.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-12158934491108822672007-11-30T12:14:00.000-05:002007-11-30T12:42:36.719-05:00

Recent days have seen a spate of magazine appearances and internet events gradually bringing more of the Clown Prince of Crime to light. First he graced the cover of the UK's Empire Magazine...And, just now, we may see him glowering forth from the front of Wizard...Looking good so far. It remains but to see him "in action," as it were. If Michael Caine is satisfied with his performance, anyhow

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-43012763003031996352007-11-30T11:28:00.000-05:002007-11-30T12:13:59.785-05:00

A timeline of events, without dates included because I don't know how long they would actually take if properly pursued (they will of course be improperly pursued and will take all the time in the world):1. Protests lodged with local MPs.2. MPs appeal to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.3. Prime Minister appeals to Governor General Michaëlle Jean.4. Governor General appeals to Her Majesty, Elizabeth

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-5129978174634815132007-11-29T08:19:00.000-05:002007-11-29T08:32:19.046-05:00

The peerless Christiane Amanpour - who so recently brought us God's Warriors, in which it was definitively proven that all Abrahamic religions are basically the same and that a moral equivalency exists between their practicioners - is next tackling the rather more substantial issue of the mounting problems in Russia. And rightly so! Vladimir Putin is monstrous, and the things he is doing should

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-87653891081850186892007-11-29T07:42:00.000-05:002007-11-29T07:46:23.871-05:00

Clive Staples Lewis, born Nov. 29, 1898.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-1257257483146100622007-11-27T20:59:00.001-05:002007-11-29T07:48:42.089-05:00

An Agatha Christie play - of all things! - is at the center of a recent row dredging up old racial wounds and doing people out of a pleasant theatrical experience.A widely performed school play has been canceled by Lakota officials after a recent meeting with a local NAACP official.The internationally acclaimed play - Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" - was to be performed by students at

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-89032450661282774752007-11-20T20:35:00.000-05:002007-11-20T20:39:55.557-05:00

The American Chesterton Society is celebrating, at this very hour (perhaps you can hear them), a decade of web presence. That is, their excellent website is ten years old today. This is a considerable achievement, in terms of the Internet, especially taking the subject matter into account. Good on them!Also: Such readers as receive the ACS magazine, Gilbert, should be on the look-out for my

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-36747746116480748312007-11-20T20:14:00.000-05:002007-11-20T20:25:52.313-05:00

When you see the headline, "SEX SCANDAL: Archbishop Admits Sleeping With Brother's Wife," what denomination do you assume is being discussed, and, pursuant to that, what recent cavalcade of infamy seems to be being evoked?If you answer "some evangelical megachurch" and "the usual boring stuff rather than The Scandal," you're a smarter man than I. This is indeed the case, of course, though it is

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-75825033782891797462007-11-19T20:22:00.000-05:002007-11-19T20:24:48.054-05:00

Will resume shortly (and gradually).But shortly.==At the Hallowe'en party I saw a guy dressed in a greatcoat and a clerical collar; he had a staff with a cross on the end in one hand, and a broadsword in the other. I asked him what he was supposed to be. "The future," he said. I had another drink.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-54111658927245617402007-09-18T20:55:00.000-04:002007-09-18T20:58:31.707-04:00

Due to the high volume of work I have to get done in the next few weeks, this blog will be officially going on hiatus until such time as I can actually stop to breath. Grant applications are big enough, but I have loads of other things to do in the meantime and not really enough time to do them as well as I'd like as it is.So, sorry. Still, two new posts at Chesterton and Friends for such

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-80909925487013876702007-09-11T21:08:00.000-04:002007-09-11T21:25:44.535-04:00

All of this has proven to be much more time-consuming than I had anticipated, and though there are lengty periods - sometimes several hours - during each day on campus where I have little or nothing official to do, the desire to use those hours idly is small even as the desire to use them productively is almost non-existent. Complaining about the Gazette on a daily basis will almost certainly

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-75395327228879914362007-09-10T08:49:00.000-04:002007-09-10T15:57:20.046-04:00

I have to have some breakfast and get some reading done before the first undergrad tutorials of the year, so further posting should hopefully resume some time after noon.Assuming I survive.UPDATE: Things are busier than I had wanted, so posting will have to wait until quite a bit later. Everything went well, though.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-42759950810753311282007-09-07T14:48:00.001-04:002007-09-07T14:52:37.694-04:00

I have to get some stuff done before the English Department's party thing at 4PM, so I'll just post this and be off.That's more like it. The Masculator was good, but this is classic PBF.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-15474563428261529522007-09-07T12:06:00.000-04:002007-09-07T14:43:18.727-04:00

This is the inaugural post in a series that will likely prove very extensive indeed. Attentive readers will remember previous beefs I've had with our wonderful student-run daily here at Western (etc.), but until now I've been more or less content to just let things slide. That was until I discovered that a portion of the money I pay to the school for the privelege of studying here is given to

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-25952593478244809312007-09-06T21:12:00.000-04:002007-09-06T21:15:14.866-04:00

Attention:A new blog with considerable promise is now on the air. Notes from the Scriptorium combines philosophy and art in some excellent ways; the writer likes philosophy and can actually produce art. The most recent post, about stoicism, is particularly wonderful.Check it out!

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-51062365995672597212007-09-06T20:38:00.000-04:002007-09-06T20:42:22.433-04:00

Checking through the stats on who's been coming to this blog, and from where, I discovered the highly curious fact that my entry on the phrase "Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence" is the first result returned when one sends a query to Google for the phrase's common acronym, "ECREE."Rejoice!Also, I'll take this moment to announce that a friend of mine took issue with that post a

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-39788263188059701042007-09-06T16:50:00.000-04:002007-09-06T19:37:30.417-04:00

Have you ever seen Pirates of Silicon Valley? No? Well, you should. It's a made-for-TV movie about the early years of Apple and Microsoft, and about the rise of the two men who made 'em happen: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.I said "made-for-TV movie" just there and a lot of you probably tuned out. Don't. It's very good. Almost too good, in fact; you not only forget that it was made for TV, but

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-44818541633131139282007-09-06T16:28:00.000-04:002007-09-06T16:32:06.706-04:00

A tribute to his greatness: "Nessun Dorma," from Puccini's Turandot, the way it was meant to be and forevermore shall be:Thanks, maestro..-noscript-blocked { -moz-outline-color: red !important; -moz-outline-style: solid !important; -moz-outline-width: 1px !important; background: white url("chrome://noscript/skin/icon32.png") no-repeat left top !important; opacity: 0.6 !important; cursor: pointer

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-25696120630114937362007-09-06T15:45:00.000-04:002007-09-06T16:02:31.849-04:00

Luciano Pavarotti, the greatest living tenor and a mainstay of Real Opera (not that barbaric Eurotrash Regietheatre stuff), has died. He was 71. The papers say he died as a result of his battle with pancreatic cancer, but I know the truth. He was murdered, though quite by accident. The identity of his killer is known to us, too: it was me.I confess.I have a long-standing and horrifying power

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-26125904972084430322007-09-06T08:17:00.000-04:002007-09-06T11:17:10.417-04:00

Late last year, on the occasions when I found myself on the King's College campus (it's an affiliate college, separate from the main campus but sort of under the same umbrella; kind of), I noticed now and then a curious green neon sign that had been affixed to one of the larger buildings. It looked like the sort of thing a "tagger" would normally do in spraypaint. I guess this time he (or she,

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-45161634086160746232007-09-05T23:07:00.000-04:002007-09-05T23:18:16.113-04:00

Good intentions and first enthusiasms frequently run up against a great wall of apathy. The wall, built by slaves thirteen centuries ago, is the only manmade object capable of keeping people from seeing the world as if from space.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-56903508910765457792007-09-05T22:14:00.000-04:002007-09-05T22:41:45.347-04:00

It is being reported, with perfect seriousness and a weary sort of bemusement, that Nepal's state-run airline has sacrificed two goats in a bid to stave off the excited wrath of Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god. Such activities, the article informs us drily, are common in that neck of the woods.No commentary here, really; I just wanted to use that post title.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-41048628359539386872007-09-04T23:01:00.000-04:002007-09-05T01:07:02.420-04:00

[On hearing a recording from the film The Mission]The tribe sang Ave MariaAnd a dolce Maria was sheTall striding forth on the moonlightWith a jaguar at her kneeWith veil so blue like the moonlightWith feet that were bare in the clayWith face that was fair in the moonlightWith eyes that were solemn and grayFor she is the bane of the snake-kindWho crawl and who feast on the dustWho slide like a

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-51031063403624949872007-09-04T21:32:00.000-04:002007-09-06T16:39:37.529-04:00

First published in 1986, but having been written on and off for many, many years, Johnny Cash's only novel, Man in White, is a surprisingly effective look at the life of Saul of Tarsus. I use "life" casually, of course, for the book takes up its subject halfway through his mortal span, starting some time before the incident on the road to Damascus and concluding, appropriately enough, many years

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-4878521793682768142007-09-04T21:30:00.003-04:002007-09-04T21:30:50.833-04:00

My brother turns 20 today. Many happy returns!

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-33837716130069147932007-09-03T16:47:00.001-04:002007-09-03T17:13:12.190-04:00

It is a rare man who can govern in himself that which he despises in others. We are all of us hypocrites. And so: none of us are.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-24765145929386554182007-09-03T16:46:00.000-04:002007-09-03T16:47:15.640-04:00

Typical post at Chesterton and Friends announcing my upcoming research project. Shocker: it's Chesterton-related!

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-83190276851333811442007-09-03T16:23:00.000-04:002007-09-03T16:36:53.145-04:00

Today has seen me spend three hours so far doing nothing but reading (2.25 on Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits; 0.75 on Johnny Cash's Man in White), another hour working on the novel, a few more for ablutions, breakfast, noontime walk, etc., and the rest spent in finally getting the last of the junk that was lying around after the move put away. Tomorrow, bright and early, I begin work as a

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-91319817072444595092007-09-01T21:00:00.000-04:002007-09-01T21:03:53.230-04:00

The ideal philosopher is the man who runs into a mime convention, throws his arms in the air, and screams "LET'S MAKE SOME NOISE," drawing out the final syllable and concluding with a whoop of delight. He has established something.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-7351349131663689642007-09-01T18:22:00.000-04:002007-09-02T21:49:26.446-04:00

Aurora Consurgens is a curious text of unknown provenance, dating to the fifteenth century at least, that was initially attributed to Thomas Aquinas (by Carl Jung, among others), but now boasts the authorship of an anonymous gentleman referred to as "Pseudo-Aquinas." The substance of the text is mostly concerned with alchemy and theological approaches to love, and, what is more, how the two can

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-83999830649985958482007-09-01T18:01:00.000-04:002007-09-01T18:21:52.268-04:00

Lying is a strong word, and probably imprudent in the case I'm about to describe, but it's also a succinct, powerful and generally accurate one. I could offer up endless qualification, using words like "suggestion" and "tiptoeing" and "implication" and whatnot, but then I'd be no better than them.So, who's "them?"The Milk people, that's who. A sinister cabal.The use of flavour-of-the-month

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-16367896838507877102007-09-01T01:31:00.000-04:002007-09-06T16:50:50.737-04:00

UPDATE: Changed to new version of article, edited, updated, less weird deference.==The following is a partial rebuttal of the article "Judging Harry Potter," of August 29th in the National Catholic Register. It has been duly submitted through the appropriate channels, but only time will tell if anything comes of it. Very likely not.And yes, it contains SPOILERS related to Harry Potter and the

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-72320196821360592572007-08-27T16:36:00.000-04:002007-08-27T16:55:59.837-04:00

Writing this from the lab at school, so it will be the only one for now.I am now happily ensconced in London, and she's pretty much just how I left her. Upscale downtown with low-rent types wandering around and loitering; bookstores run by people alternately merely quirky and slightly unsettling; a generally quiet neighbourhood but for some imbecile playing "I Come From a Land Down Under" on

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-31905874691428009252007-08-25T00:33:00.000-04:002007-08-25T00:39:56.699-04:00

A wretched age: our factories are larger than our palaces.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-4157794199135900692007-08-25T00:00:00.000-04:002007-08-25T00:07:34.469-04:00

A beautiful meditation on change and death from Anthony Esolen at Mere Comments. The first paragraph alone made me catch me breath, and the rest did not disappoint:The end of summer has always been bittersweet to me, with all my accumulated memories of last trips to the lake, last ballgames in the morning, and then the early walks to school, with all its small indignities and smaller pleasures,

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-54463010655394663672007-08-24T22:52:00.000-04:002007-08-24T22:56:44.483-04:00

While I had more or less hoped to return to form earlier this week with posting, the last two days have seen me packing and generally getting myself into a quiet frenzy about everything. I move back to London and my real life tomorrow morning, and I'm pretty happy about it. There's more waiting for me there than there was before - even than there was expected to be when I got myself into this

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-90364979101770309402007-08-22T01:38:00.000-04:002007-08-22T01:45:24.383-04:00

Russian choral music has a profound beauty to it, and even when it purports to be joyful it is palpably sad. It is the music, perhaps, of a nation that believes in God but does not believe He will save them.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-58221068476182558792007-08-21T21:38:00.001-04:002007-08-21T23:04:33.362-04:00

Michael Shermer is a good egg. He's a skeptic and an agnostic and a long-standing member of the "Brights," but he's a good egg. Read his editorials; they're uniformly pleasant. Listen to his speaking engagements; he's a clever and affable man. Consider, even, his agnosticism; it is motivated more by a general and honest skepticism rather (as is so often the case) than by a sneering hatred of

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-10667764460101003752007-08-21T20:55:00.000-04:002007-08-21T21:18:52.613-04:00

Some terribly clever people have finally figured out just what message is being transmitted by the enormous semaphore array on top of the Adobe building in San Jose. There was some speculation that the thing was a simple message that was altered slightly every now and then to keep people guessing, but this theory has been exploded quite spectacularly.The programmers behind the array, themselves

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-89022677661143286382007-08-21T00:02:00.000-04:002007-08-21T01:01:43.583-04:00

In a post at Blazing Cat Fur linking to my own post on the subject of the Israeli Academic boycott, the mission statement of the Queen's Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Diversity is cited, and it go a lil' somethin' like this:"Fostering an anti-racist perspective and motivation in an environment where subtle and covert everyday racism rather than overt malicious racism contributes to a broader

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-6056396543630874462007-08-20T10:53:00.000-04:002007-08-21T00:01:08.683-04:00

How baffling it all is.In a rambling essay that qualifies everything while explaining nothing, noted vampire authoress Anne Rice, who in recent years has returned to her Christian (specifically Catholic, it seems) faith and started writing books in this vein, has declared that she is entirely pro-life and yet, somehow, personally endorses Hillary Clinton for the office of President of the United

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-80668897685034270562007-08-20T10:16:00.000-04:002007-08-20T10:53:48.539-04:00

I have in the past lambasted certain special-interest political parties for their single-minded devotion to only a few issues within the scope of their founding philosophy (the Canadian Sex Party, the Swedish Feminist Initiative and the Dutch pedophile party were all robustly asked to outline their foreign and fiscal policies; I received no answer, so clearly they're running scared), so it is

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-63950352572233761552007-08-16T02:19:00.000-04:002007-08-16T03:31:01.837-04:00

A vital component of Christian thought is the proposition that every sin we commit matters, in whatever magnitude. There is no privacy in sin; even within in our own heads we are not free to indulge. It had been said that to commit adultery with a woman was a sin; very well, said Christ, but that's not all: to look upon another man's wife with lust in your heart was also bad. Tantamount, even,

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-111501985737902312007-08-16T00:20:00.000-04:002007-08-16T00:37:10.604-04:00

1. Finish off the summer job2. Go to Toronto to see a certain garden and the remains of certain buildings important to my ancestors. Cf. Two Noble Kinsmen 2.2.36: "Remember what your fathers were, and conquer."3. Engage in pseudo-film-festival with brother and his friend4. Finally move back to London5. Get settled into new apartment (on Queens Ave. near Adelaide; it's very nice), building

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-51156104475283362462007-08-15T23:44:00.000-04:002007-08-16T00:19:59.466-04:00

The dean of Queen's University in Kingston On. - a fine school, whatever my UWO-based readers may have to say about it between hisses and expletives - is coming under fire from her own subordinates for refusing to take part in the childish boycott of Israeli academics proposed by a group in the U.K.Principal and vice-chancellor Karen Hitchcock was told her anti-boycott position, matched by

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-15514306925060782422007-08-15T23:42:00.000-04:002007-08-15T23:44:42.531-04:00

Go!

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-87160626649495729502007-08-09T03:31:00.000-04:002007-08-09T03:38:27.761-04:00

I will be slowly ramping up activity here to get back into the swing of things for the school year. There will be a brief period of silence (probably) while I get my net connection set up in the new apartment in a few weeks' time, but hopefully that will be very brief indeed.In the meantime, I'm happy to announce that Sean P. Dailey, the editor of the American Chesterton Society's magazine, now

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-36449314198405733762007-07-30T13:52:00.000-04:002007-07-30T14:14:19.992-04:00

One of the Great Lords of Film has left us. Bergman, auteur of such masterpieces as The Seventh Seal, Persona and Fanny & Alexander, died today at the age of 89.A useful, clip-filled tribute may be found here. More news-based reportage, here.Still, we may rejoice that other Great Lords of Film continue to abide with us, if only for a time. Werner Herzog persists. Sidney Lumet still lingers.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-13966164084122873782007-07-26T00:55:00.000-04:002007-07-26T01:01:28.684-04:00

Got myself an apartment in London at long last; a nice one one-bedroom number on Queens Ave near Adelaide. Hardwood floors, high ceilings, and a small private deck. I'm looking forward to it quite a bit.And, to reiterate for those who might be coming here from unusual places and aren't aware of the situation: blogging will resume in a regular and possibly even voluminous capacity (look through

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-53230107552201980112007-07-16T23:01:00.000-04:002007-07-16T23:12:46.081-04:00

Not much to say, really; still working at Grand & Toy, an office supply shop in downtown Barrie. Still reading, writing, watching films. Just not blogging about anything, though there are times when I'm tempted. I'm just not in the proper mindset to be doing it, at the moment, when everything is so pleasantly idle. Once I'm back into the rough-rumbling world of the Fightin' Academians, though

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-66734797165031555322007-07-09T01:33:00.000-04:002007-07-09T01:35:18.823-04:00

Today's post at Chesterton and Friends concerns an article in the New York Times, in which many monstrous things were proposed and many innocent people sentenced to death. What could it all mean?You'll have to click through to find out.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-83930524594411425802007-07-02T00:46:00.001-04:002007-07-02T00:52:06.280-04:00

Today's post at Chesterton and Friends is something of a Special Event. What it is, in fact, is a transcription of a letter written by Albino Luciani, who would become Pope John Paul I, to G.K. Chesterton. Now, Chesterton had been dead for thirty-five years at the time of the letter's writing (Luciani made a habit of this sort of thing, actually), but the value of such a missive remains

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-64600853001256788812007-06-28T20:42:00.000-04:002007-06-28T20:45:34.226-04:00

Alright. Clearly me updating this thing during the summer with any regularity isn't going to happen. Sorry.It will return in earnest once I return to school, which will happen in September. No doubt finally getting to teach some first-years will provide all sorts of interesting fodder.For the time being, though, updates will be sporadic and light. Eheu! But: the regular work at Chesterton &

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-32609115945120858472007-06-25T14:03:00.000-04:002007-06-25T14:04:57.929-04:00

New post at Chesterton & Friends providing a round-up of coverage of the recent 2007 Chesterton Conference. Normally I'd provide a pithy excerpt here to motivate your clicking-through, but there aren't any, I'm afraid. The post is all about what other people are saying, not me; I wasn't there.So, check it out.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-74177481310847446662007-06-19T11:55:00.000-04:002007-06-19T12:08:54.746-04:00

Most of you will have already heard that noted author Salman Rushdie has received a knighthood for "services to literature." The award was announced on Sunday.Predictably, this has provoked the usual Islamic breast-beating around the world. In a sign that things are likely only beginning (once such people - who are only the extremists, clearly, not really indicative of Islam as a whole, isolated

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-48039977360985890652007-06-18T16:04:00.000-04:002007-06-18T16:38:05.214-04:00

Three images to report, one of them a few weeks old, one of them a few days old, one of them just recently released. The first is the new face of terror, being Heath Ledger's Joker:I like it. It strikes the right tone between haphazard clown and Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The sunken, corpselike eyes and surprisingly unsmiling mouth just bleed menace, and the use of

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-63973390130546570262007-06-18T06:10:00.000-04:002007-06-18T06:35:38.988-04:00

The full (if abstract) report of my graduation from the University of Western Ontario may be found here. I am now a proud inititiate into the baccalaureate of arts, or so it was said, and I am apparently entitled to put the letters "BA" after my name, now, if I so choose. They will join the "UE" already allowed, the MA and PhD coming down the pike, and the KCBE that will surely be due to me

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-68879499230059589382007-06-04T14:49:00.001-04:002007-06-04T15:43:48.786-04:00

So says Seb Coe, organizing chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Committee, and he says it of the London Olympics' official logo, which was revealed to the public today. We might more accurately say that it was "inflicted upon" the public, however, so monstrously poor is the design:Th, then, is their vision. This, then, is their brand. I don't expect much from the Olympics these days, but I

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-34584605163619922242007-06-04T02:16:00.001-04:002007-06-04T02:20:53.741-04:00

Vernunft at The New Skeptic has a short, positive review of the Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy. I'm recommending the review both because the author is a friend of mine and because the blog's title is a hideous lie.Also, for this pleasant gem:It was all "This is what current scholarship thinks" and "On the whole" and "But others think that perhaps" and it was impossible to get

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-54683819962180708002007-06-04T01:44:00.001-04:002008-08-30T02:03:35.152-04:00

As some of you may know, over the course of the most recent season of the excellent reboot of Battlestar Galactica, a major plot point has been the ongoing uncertainty over whether or not Dr. Gaius Baltar, the infamous traitor, was a Cylon.For the uninitiated, the Cylons are a race of robots, originally created by man, who rebelled against humanity and brought considerable destruction to our

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-17963888136991902402007-06-04T01:41:00.000-04:002007-06-04T01:44:34.047-04:00

New post at Chesterton and Friends concerning authors who write about everything rather than just sticking to a certain niche. During the course of producing the article I had cause to look at the official website of Oxford professor and noted dingus A.C. Grayling, and in so doing discovered something shocking that I will presently reveal to the world.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-67390253772892053272007-05-28T01:59:00.000-04:002007-05-28T03:24:11.927-04:00

As with all my reviews, there are spoilers to be found in what follows.This may not be a short review, though it could hardly be as long as the movie, which is extravagantly long, and, I am sad to say, sometimes seems it.I've seen it twice (I typically see movies twice, if not more), and my opinion of it remains substantially the same as it was upon the conclusion of the first viewing. A string

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-71459564070893642862007-05-28T01:40:00.000-04:002007-05-28T01:58:53.277-04:00

This week's installment at Chesterton and Friends concerns a passage from Jorge Luis Borges' article "Modes of G.K. Chesterton," a sort of memorial produced at the time of the English author's death.I will say without hesitation that, were it not for Chesterton, Borges would be the light of my literary life, if not philosophically. I have read lines in his prose that have made me cry out to

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-11408875079443194592007-05-23T11:38:00.000-04:002007-05-23T11:48:29.334-04:00

It's not that I'm not updating this blog anymore. It's just hard, as I said before, to focus on issues of politics or philosophy or metaphysics or literature when you have to spend a good portion of your day thinking very hard about staplers or different sizes of paper. If they let us read during the (frequent) silent, empty periods there, it would likely be alright, but as it is... nothing.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-91263392916031824172007-05-17T17:18:00.000-04:002007-05-17T18:27:08.573-04:00

The Dark Knight, sequel to the wildly and justly successful Batman Begins, began shooting a while back and is proceeding apace. Warner Bros. is being very judicious about what they release for public consumption, and for the most part, other than a few fake images, we've seen nothing to fire us up. Rumours of a teaser being attached to Transformers (sometime in July) persist, so we'll see what

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-76323696679445092732007-05-17T12:47:00.000-04:002007-05-17T13:12:07.743-04:00

I'm currently reading Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels, an account of the battle of Gettysburg that's simultaneously elaborate tactically and heavily character-driven. About a third of the way through, and enjoying it immensely at that. One thing I like to do with books like these that have been around for a while and esteemed by many is to see what the talking heads on the internet have to say

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-76882776182016089812007-05-16T12:06:00.000-04:002007-05-16T12:09:24.872-04:00

It's hard to find the fire for good (or any) blogging when you have to spend a good portion of your day actively considering the matter of office supplies to the exclusion of all else. I've got three days off coming up, so I may put together a bunch of stuff to spread out over the week. We'll see. In the meantime, though, please exercise your legendary patience.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-33132792137557431512007-05-14T01:39:00.000-04:002007-05-14T01:43:48.752-04:00

A bunch of general stuff over at Chesterton & Friends, mostly some links of interest, but also a bit of a meditation/question on/about a clip from the 1943 movie Stormy Weather, in which the Nicholas Brothers, in collaboration with Cab Calloway, provide one of the better dance sequences of an era that was surfeit with the form.This is the sort of thing that I could picture happening in one of

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-67159864068825118032007-05-10T20:08:00.000-04:002007-05-10T20:20:49.334-04:00

Remember:Becket, the classic Burton/O'Toole joint concerning the eponymous saint and his clash with an infuriated Henry II, will be available on exquisitely-remastered DVD on May 15th. I wrote about this film briefly and previously here, and I'm using the same image again because the image is great.Buy it. Watch it. Then get The Lion in Winter and watch that too.There's not much more to say than

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-14762910305699270042007-05-10T01:37:00.000-04:002007-05-10T01:59:56.240-04:00

But it's not my fault! I got hit by a sudden summer cold and didn't feel like reading anything for a while, let alone commenting on it. I didn't even have the energy to watch the tweedle-dee/tweedle-dum debate on ABC, though I imagine that footage thereof will persist forever and I'll get to check it out sometime.Anyway, I'm beat and I'm going to bed. Tomorrow will be better, I hope.And good

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-27797167476844598072007-05-09T09:04:00.000-04:002007-05-09T09:06:56.717-04:00

I'm working part-time at an office supply shop downtown, so scheduling will be different here though output will likely not. I'll post some stuff when I get home this afternoon.In the meantime, though, an hilarious and titanic gaffe:RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-90661675007898428762007-05-08T14:14:00.000-04:002007-05-08T16:14:55.675-04:00

Yesterday I mentioned a debate between English journalist/professor/jerk Christopher Hitchens and American race-baiter Al Sharpton that was to have taken place at the New York Public Library last night at 7PM. Clearly I couldn't attend the thing myself, but I have been following the responses to it with interest, and, it can only be said, with a certain amount of surprise. Sharpton... won? I

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-42931061823988038432007-05-08T12:57:00.000-04:002007-05-08T13:29:43.087-04:00

The annual Chesterton Conference is upon us, and, once again, I won't be able to go. Last year it was a question of money; this year it's a question of timing. I have to graduate instead. The events are on different days, but are so close that I can not reasonably do both, unfortunately. I have obligations to people here and around, anyway. Which is unfortunate, because it sounds like a fine

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-68180020979804820962007-05-07T14:21:00.000-04:002007-05-07T16:01:12.724-04:00

There is a trend, and it is a poor one, currently sweeping through the world of religious discourse. I am at a loss to describe the meaning or purpose behind it; all I know is that the consequences frankly suck for everyone.The trend in question is that of media institutions sponsoring "debates" on religious matters in which the anti side gets the likes of Dawkins or Harris and the pro side is

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-58131034958031985622007-05-07T13:53:00.000-04:002007-05-07T14:19:07.789-04:00

Though it sounds like the sort of quackery that once afflicted the world (Better Living Through Magnets!), researchers have apparently discovered something rather novel:Scientists have found a way to turn on deep sleep at will using a machine that magnetically stimulates the brain.A device worn on the head could in squeeze the benefit of eight hours' sleep into just two or three hours.Scientists

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-90362000483651339172007-05-07T13:50:00.000-04:002007-05-07T13:53:04.203-04:00

A brief look at a lesser-known poem (his work is so broad that this describes rather a lot of his poems, though) over at Chesterton & Friends today. The poem begins thus:Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe decreaseBy cautious birth-control and die in peace)...How can you not read on? Get going.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-20375189016931266072007-05-04T12:42:00.000-04:002007-05-04T13:22:52.794-04:00

I'm torn.On the one hand, Elizabeth I's angry Protestant hand produced infamies in excess of even the worst furies of her Catholic sister. On the other hand, she was pretty awesome.The Golden Age, a sequel of sorts to the earlier Elizabeth, comes out in November. It is broadly concerned with Walter Raleigh, and assassination, and the Armada, and any number of other intriguing or exotic things. It

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-34617315201801276522007-05-04T03:32:00.000-04:002007-05-04T04:29:01.331-04:00

There are any number of reasons that a man should dance. Because he has a song in his heart. Because he's in love. Because he just can't help himself. There are many reasons that a man should dance. Revenge is not one of them.It is my bewildered duty to report that Spiderman 3 contains more dancing-for-revenge than any superhero movie yet produced. Whether it marks the beginning of a trend

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-46073485716693265132007-05-03T21:44:00.000-04:002007-05-03T22:07:59.429-04:00

At the mall today I decided to engage in some people watching, having grown accustomed to what London mallgoers are like but having largely forgotten how it is with those in Barrie. I saw the usual things; high school girls dressed beyond their years, old ladies walking around with their daughters, poorly-dressed men walking around in a hurry, security guards looming ineffectually,

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-49171595694773871882007-05-03T17:45:00.000-04:002007-05-03T18:43:12.960-04:00

In an event that on paper looks like A Glorious Example Of Democracy In Action but is in actual a preposterous infamy, some internet rapscallions have tricked (there is no other word) the users of the monstrously popular social bookmarking site Digg.com into calling up Nancy Pelosi's (American speaker of the house) office to take part in a "poll" gauging the public's interest in the possibility

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-59916964972886354622007-05-02T11:53:00.000-04:002007-05-02T12:38:51.053-04:00

For four months!But there will be a number of trips to London for a number of reasons. There's a reception for grant recipients on May 31st, and convocation June 11th. I'll also have to go down to do some apartment-hunting at some point, and maybe once more just for general hobnobbery. In the meantime, anyway, I will (hopefully) be working part time at an office supply store downtown here, and

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-14396116548973486572007-04-30T00:50:00.000-04:002007-04-30T00:53:15.588-04:00

No posts now; final studying for final exam of final year of undergrad - an introduction to Shakespeare, the exam for which has been complicated by my not having become a fan of Shakespeare's until three weeks before the end of the course.Same deal at Chesterton and Friends. More to come, when time is more kind. All of my stuff is back in Barrie, now, and my last night in this house will be

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-32414187481485632492007-04-26T13:23:00.000-04:002007-04-26T13:26:46.751-04:00

Some nice thunderstorms rolling across just now, so I intend to spend the day doing non-computer stuff so far as that's possible. First, however, I have to go send off those grant forms. Blogging was light yesterday, and it will be light today, I'm in the home stretch now; five days to go until I'm done everything and back in Barrie, and I've got lots to do in the meantime.

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-19418075518039637142007-04-25T00:49:00.000-04:002007-04-26T21:27:55.722-04:00

First, an announcement: I'm going to be doing more movie reviews from now on. There are a number of reasons for this, primary among them that I love film almost more than I love literature, I watch a hell of a lot of the things, etc. It seems like the thing to do. Luckily for you, however, the reviews will not just be (and, likely, will only rarely be) concerned with first-run, contemporary

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-91047887977208660272007-04-24T18:22:00.000-04:002007-04-24T18:58:28.704-04:00

A bunch of developments to alternately tickle your fancy and clutch at your throat...Item: Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front has been optioned for a film once again, having already been adapted to the silver screen (quite creditably) in 1930, and to television (also fairly well) in 1979. The latest kick at the can, due in 2009, apparently only takes Remarque's shattering tale

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-16779870065693073012007-04-24T18:03:00.000-04:002007-04-24T18:11:20.494-04:00

New and frequent commenter Histor the Wise has much to say at Est Puzzlementem, which is itself concerned with many of the same things that I am. Check it out.David Stefanini runs American Legends, concerned with baseball in particular and sports journalism in general. I don't know much about sports, but it's a pleasure to read anyhow. Take the advice given at the end of the first part up

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18102895.post-38912896778156034922007-04-24T16:27:00.000-04:002007-04-24T18:13:27.816-04:00

There is a saying in some epistemological circles, many of them petulant, to the effect that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," and most of the saying's merit can be found in its symmetry and apparent simplicity. Obviously AX requires AY; reciprocity must be maintained! Look at it in other lights. Enormous dogs require enormous collars. Tiny feet need tiny shoes. There is

Nick Milnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com4