What I've Been Reading ...

... catching up ... on this list of what I've read this year.

• Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch**** ... the sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora which was like Indiana Jones goes to sci-fi adventure land. The Booklist review of "Lies" describes the series best:

  On a distant world, orphan Locke Lamora is sold into a crew of thieves and con artists. Soon his natural gifts make him an underworld celebrity, leader of the flamboyantly larcenous Gentleman Bandits. But there is someone who covets Locke's talents, his success, his very life, forcing him to put everything on the line to protect himself. With a world so vividly realized that it's positively tactile, and characters so richly drawn that they threaten to walk right off the page, this is one of those novels that reaches out and grabs readers, pulling us into the middle of the action. With this debut novel, Lynch immediately establishes himself as a gifted and fearless storyteller, unafraid of comparisons to Silverberg and Jordan, not to mention David Liss and even Dickens (the parallels to Oliver Twist offer an appealing extra dimension to the story, although the novel is no mere reimagining of that Victorian classic). Fans of lavishly appointed fantasy will be in seventh heaven here, but it will be nearly as popular with readers of literary crime fiction. This is a true genre bender, at home on almost any kind of fiction shelf.

  This is a worthy successor, set in another part of Locke Lamora's world and Lynch pulls it off again. A series to treasure, but be sure to begin with the first one or you will be hopelessly lost.
  
  
• Police Operation by H. Beam Piper, read by Mark Nelson *** ... novella-length story about the agent who is to clean up the problems a criminal caused when he went on the lam to another dimension. I don't think I really like Piper's style as this is the third or fourth of his works I have sampled and found uninspiring in general. However, Mark Nelson does a very good job reading the story.
  
  
• White Night by Jim Butcher***** (reread) ... just as good the second time around. It looks as if a group of magic practitioners is committing suicide one by one but Harry can tell it is actually murder, and possibly being committed by a member of the Council. Naturally, that's just the tip of the iceberg. A good hard-boiled detective novel as usual.
  
  
• Magic Street by Orson Scott Card***** (reread) ... also good the second time around. Probably the most creative connection I've ever seen of Shakespeare to our modern world. My previous quick review is here.
  
  
• St. Dale by Sharon McCrumb*** ... an intriguing concept for looking at modern pop culture, McCrumb's story has a tour bus on a modern day pilgrimage of the "sainted" seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt. It is very clear that McCrumb is not only interested in racing and pop culture but pilgrimages from all times as the priest on the tour can only relate to the entire experience by relating similar pilgrimage experiences from history. Interesting and one certainly learns a lot about racing ...
  
  
• Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely*** - I have enjoyed Neely's previous Blanche mysteries but this one grated on me. As the last book in the series, Blanche's personal issues with her mother and men get sorted out here. However, what I found annoying was her quick and unrelenting charges of racism based simply on a person's appearance, whether black or white. It is tough to meet Blanche's standards and this is the one are where she is apparently blind.
  
  
• Jerome and the Seraph*** - I read a rave review of this somewhere which I am now scratching my head over after having read this book. It is delightful as far as it goes. Brother Jerome dies and then discovers that he is not in heaven or hell but in a midway ground as a sort of a ghost. Advised and guided by the monastery's cat, who has amazing abilities to bend time and space, Jerome goes on to solve an extremely minor mystery (which I figured out very early on in the book). The big mystery is barely touched upon which I found extremely annoying, especially for a $15 price tag. Clearly this is half of an entire book and the second half was later published a year or so later. I don't mind that as a general rule, as witness my extreme fondness for Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy, but at least Dean gave us something of depth and complexity. This book, I find, is lacking in both.
  
  
• Uncle Tom's Cabin--A Reader's Companion to the Novel***** - a wonderful resource that answers various objections, both old and new, to Uncle Tom's Cabin as great literature as well as explicating the novel itself.
  
  
• The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb***** - McCrumb has a series of mysteries set in the Appalachians which are titled after old folk ballads. The book generally follows the idea of the song in some way but this one is superior as it tells the story of Frankie Silver and also gives a parallel in modern times which is being investigated. Recommended both to mystery lovers and those with an appreciation for Appalachian folk culture in modern times.
  
  
• Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan***-fun to read as Corrigan's looks back at the books she's read throughout her life elicits similar reviews from the reader. However, I would have found it more interesting if woman-centric political subjects weren't so much to the forefront all the time.
  
  
  
• Castleview by Gene Wolfe**** - the town of Castleview gets its name from the apparition of a castle that occasionally is sighted by locals. A group of townspeople get caught up in the affairs of Faery on a particular fateful evening and adventure follows. Wolfe tells this story with a minimum of explanation and the reader must be ready to make mental leaps and hold on for dear life as the tale takes up wild momentum. I quite enjoyed it although am going to have to read it multiple times to really understand just what was going on in the middle of the book.
  
  
• Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe*** ... intriguing concept. A soldier, Latros, in ancient Greek times has had a head injury that causes him to have extreme short term memory loss. Every morning he must read what he wrote the night before to know what has happened to him lately. He also can see and interact with local gods and goddesses as he attempts to work his way home, if only he could remember where that was. A good book but not intriguing enough to make me want to read the sequels.
  
  
• Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10)***** - ten books into the series and Jim Butcher is still coming up with fresh and interesting challenges for Harry Dresden, hard-boiled Chicago detective and wizard. It begins with underworld boss Johnny Marcone being kidnapped, ostensibly to gain control of him as he is a member of the Accords (trust me, start at the beginning of the series if you're a newcomer to these books). Harry is dragooned into tracking him down by Mab as one of the two remaining favors he owes her. As with most Dresden books, just when you think you know where you're going, the plot takes an abrupt left turn into new territory. Most interesting to me is Nicodemus' interest in recruiting Harry and Harry's new revelations about relationship with God.

Read reviews of food-ish books here.

What Happens When Parents Neglect a Proper Education in the Classics?

This is so, so very sad.

Worth a Thousand Words

Flowers and Moleskines

Shown by permission
For more from one of my favorite artists, visit Edward B. Gordon.

Superhero Highlight: Ramen Girl

Continuing the stories of superheroes devised by Hannah and Jenny (more about that can be found here as well as the first description)

Ramen Girl

Power: Ability to instantly cook instant ramen

Back-story: Ramen Girl was a typical college student in that her diet consisted mostly of ramen noodles. She was less typical in that she had not yet learned not to put seven ramen cups in the microwave at once. Ramen Girl learned this lesson the hard way, when she overfilled her microwave and it EXPLODED. She instantly became the least popular resident of the dormitory because the fire alarms were set off and it was 3 am. However, she came away from the experience with a new power, a gift seemingly bestowed upon her by the microwave gods. Ramen Girl now had the power to INSTANTLY cook instant ramen. At first, she simply used her powers to more efficiently cook ramen for herself, but after playing a hilarious joke on her friends, in which she scalded them with ramen, she realized that her selfish behavior was a waste of her potential. So she began her life of fighting crime.

Cover: Mild-mannered hair stylist (and a gorgeous hair stylist at that)

Cover name: Harriet Hildenbrook

Partners: The Klutz, H2Whoa

Introduction to partners: Ramen Girl, like the extreme fan-girl she is, one day decided to throw caution to the wind, sneak onto the a movie studio, and finally meet her idol, inspiration, and own personal heroine. Ever since she first saw the classic film The Brunette’s Revenge and its sequel My Neighbor is a Unicorn she has dreamt of the day that she would get the chance to stand in the same room as the beautiful, talented Mildred McEntire. She ducked, she dived, and she dipped to evade the security guards, but just as she was approaching that starred dressing room, the Po-pos caught sight of her. She fled the scene as fast as she could and seemed to be losing her pursuers, until Ramen Girl tripped on a large object that turned out to be famed heroine, The Klutz, who had recently thrown herself to the ground in an attempt to foil this trespasser’s scheme. Ramen Girl, stunned that she was so easily thwarted, began to examine the cause of her downfall, only to find that The Klutz and Mildred McEntire were one in the same. It was a dream come true. After explaining to The Klutz her situation, no charges were pressed, but instead, they decided to form a crime fighting duo. At this point, however, The Klutz already had a partner in justice, but Ramen Girl and H2Whoa! were able to get along with each other just fine, and they went on to be one of the most powerful trios of our day.

Arch-nemesis: The makers of Smooth shampoo, for making all her customers’ hair fall out
==========
Next superhero feature coming: The String

Worth a Thousand Words

Via Art Knowledge News.
Click through to see a larger version and learn more about the show.

Dollhouse - Joss Whedon

This clip is much better than the one I saw before. Now, I'm interested! Via Scott Danielson.

Worth a Thousand Words

Ural Owl

Shown by permission.
To see this larger and for more fantastic photography, visit pildiblog.

Ted Kennedy, the Our Father, and Me

A friend confessed to me that her dithering about praying for Kennedy has forced some introspection - the good old Catholic notion of “examining the conscience” forced her to look at where she was lacking. But of course, taking the time to make that examination, and to locate her fault, helped her to move past it and to find herself both willing and able to pray for Kennedy and for his family. It is funny how locating our own beams make it easier to look past other’s splinters.

The Anchoress and I were exchanging emails this morning and, while I may not have been the only one, my email is well represented by her in the above excerpt. She has a very good piece examining the reactions she has heard to Kennedy's illness and you should go read the whole thing.

I was shocked (shocked!) at myself this morning when realizing that my reaction upon reading about Ted Kennedy's brain tumor was a distinct disinclination to pray for him. Certainly not publicly! Why people might think that I agree with him politically. How startling to realize that this man's personal tragedy was solely looked at from the context of me, Me, ME!

How humbling. Or it should have been. I merely was ashamed and then went to pray. Did I remember to pray for Teddy? Nope. I had forgotten about it. (Ahem ... I mentioned it's all about me, didn't I?)

I must pause here to add an aside that Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life has been living up to my hopes and expectations. I have not been allowing myself to read it at any other time than as a sort of lectio divina (sacred reading) in the morning. As a result, where I once dutifully went to prayer time, I now eagerly "take up and read" a section and then ponder it with the intention of letting God guide me.

Appropriately, this morning, I was finishing up the commentary on Matthew 6:9-15, the Our Father, or Lord's Prayer. Specifically, the bit on forgiveness.

12 and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. If read outside of the context of the Lord's Prayer, the language of this petition sounds like something we might say in court to a bankruptcy judge: please forgive all that I owe, as I am forgiving what is owed me. But in Aramaic, the word debts was also used for sins; our sins create, as it were, a debt we owe God--damages owed to him. We pray that God will forgive us what we owe him, just as we forgive those who have harmed us and owe us recompense....

14 In order to emphasize the importance of one of the petitions in the prayer Jesus has taught his followers, Jesus expands upon it: If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. To receive the forgiveness we need from God we must forgive those who have harmed us.

15 To refuse to forgive others blocks out our being forgiven: But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. Jesus will later put God's forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others in perspective (18:21-35), making it clear that God extends his forgiveness first, and that the forgiveness we receive from God far outweigh all the forgiveness we will ever grant. Here Jesus is content to emphasize that we cannot expect God to forgiven us if we refuse to forgive others. Two centuries earlier Sirach had linked receiving God's forgiveness with our forgiving others (Sirach 28:1-5), and Jesus upholds this view.

Forgive your neighbor's injustice;
then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
Should a man nourish anger against his fellow
and expect healing from the LORD?
Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows,
yet seek pardon for his own sins?

Sirach 28:2-4

For reflection: Who do I find it most difficult to truly forgive? What step might I take to extend forgiveness to that person?

I didn't connect this with my self-realization earlier but it came back to me when reading this comment from The Anchoress.

But then I thought - how awful it must be to live out all of your mistakes and sins in public - to go through life with people presuming to know the state of your mind and soul, when all of our minds and souls are sometimes quite mucked up?

Suddenly, in my mind, Teddy Kennedy went from being a political figure with whom I vehemently disagree and became a living, breathing, human being. A person. For whom I could easily pray, despite my feelings one way or the other about him.

I had brought Matthew's Gospel with me to work so I could begin sharing some highlights with y'all and I dug through it to my morning readings. They became a finger shaken at me by Jesus as I read over them again. Another tiny step toward my trying to live my faith and not just give it lip service.

This brought me again to the hard truth that the Christian faith, truly lived out, is no easy road. John C. Wright said it quite well.

Have you ever had one of those days, where you are exasperated by the opinions and bad personal habits of well-respected artisans in your particular craft, and you find that you are an opinionated blow-hard who enjoys complaining and bellyaching about other people's shortcomings, and you also have a live-journal where you can express your most private thoughts of contempt and disdain for the yammerheads whose idiocy so richly merits insult ---- but then you remember you are a Christian, and so you are under orders not merely not to complain (for even the Gentiles are well-bred) but to love and pray for such people? Worse yet, you cannot pray for them in an ungenerous spirit, because Our Boss who art in Heaven does not accept sacrifices offered unwillingly.

What a difficult, annoying religion!

To those of you who think religion is a self-delusion based on wish-fulfillment, all I can remark is that this religion does not fulfill my wishes. My wishes, if we are being honest, would run to polygamy, self-righteousness, vengeance and violence: a Viking religion would suit me better, or maybe something along Aztec lines. The Hall of Valhalla, where you feast all night and battle all day, or the paradise of the Mohammedans, where you have seventy-two dark-eyed virgins to abuse, fulfills more wishes of base creatures like me than any place where they neither marry nor are given in marriage. This turn-the-other cheek jazz might be based any number of psychological appeals or spiritual insights, but one thing it is not based on is wish-fulfillment.

An absurd and difficult religion! If it were not true, no one would bother with it....

Lord have mercy on me and bless Teddy Kennedy and his family in this dark time for them.

As an apology for no LOST posts for every so long ...

... please accept this link to a post leading to the most comprehensive LOST theory ever.

And, yes, we're now about 10 episodes behind so I may never catch up. But I'm not quitting ...

Worth a Thousand Words

The Lookout
Used by permission.
Go to A Painting Today to see more of Karin Jurick's art.

Helping Us Through the Catechism

Church Speak

Catholic and catholic (with a lowercase "c") mean two different things. The first refers to someone who is a particular type of Christian who adheres to three basic things: (1) the tenets of a faith started by Jesus and continued by the apostles and their successors in the college of bishops, (2) forms of worship that date from the apostolic age, and (3) a particular system of governance. The second definition, the one used in the Nicene Creed, refers to "universality." The Church is "catholic" in that it is on a mission from Christ to bring salvation to all of humanity. The Eastern Orthodox Church, in its nearly identical creed, also uses the term "catholic," even though members are not in communion with the Catholic Church, and Protestants who pray the creeds also understand "catholic" with a small "c."

I have to admit that I'm a real sucker for "the basics" books. I like the little call-out boxes (where the above info came from) with extra information. I like the outlines. I like the lists of things to remember. What can I say? I'm obviously the target these books were designed for. Especially when they come with an nihil obstat and imprimatur (meaning that an expert has looked it over and found nothing against Catholic teachings in the book) ... like this book does. Quite often, between reading a "basics" book and reading the real thing (in this case, the Catechism), I will get a more complete understanding than I would have with simply one reference alone.

I really enjoyed reading this book and also enjoyed the author's true enthusiasm for her subject. Mary DeTurris Poust writes with clarity about the catechism and demystifies it for anyone who might be intimidated by cracking open "the Catholic rule book" as some might think it. Reading through her book reminded me that the Catechism is so much more than merely a rule book, however. It has not only guidelines to what Church teachings are but also guidelines to prayer life for example. I was reminded that I once heard Cardinal Arinze say in a podcast that he read some of the Catechism each day as a prompt to contemplative prayer.

The only problem I found with the book was when I turned to it for clarification on a question brought to me by someone. Just why was it that Protestants couldn't partake of the Eucharist with Catholics? I knew the basics but was curious to see how this book worded it.

Turns out the book didn't mention that at all that I could find. And I scoured it. Completely. Several times. (If someone does see where I missed it, be sure to let me know).

Now, I found this quite surprising. This is always a sore subject when my Protestant friends bring it up. And when not-so-friendly Protestants bring it up. Or how about when choose-your-own-menu Catholics pop it at me? In an election year, after the Pope visited our country, we have seen these questions come up time and again as to who can have Communion and why or why not.

So I went to the source to see where it was listed. Sure enough, it is very clearly spelled out, down to the last detail. I was especially pleased to read 1401 which allows for charity in emergencies in this matter.

1398 The Eucharist and the unity of Christians. Before the greatness of this mystery St. Augustine exclaims, "O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!" The more painful the experience of the divisions in the Church which break the common participation in the table of the Lord, the more urgent are our prayers to the Lord that the time of complete unity among all who believe in him may return.

1399 The Eastern churches that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church celebrate the Eucharist with great love. "These Churches, although separated from us, yet possess true sacraments, above all - by apostolic succession - the priesthood and the Eucharist, whereby they are still joined to us in closest intimacy." A certain communion in sacris, and so in the Eucharist, "given suitable circumstances and the approval of Church authority, is not merely possible but is encouraged."

1400 Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders." It is for this reason that, for the Catholic Church, Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible. However these ecclesial communities, "when they commemorate the Lord's death and resurrection in the Holy Supper . . . profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his coming in glory."

1401 When, in the Ordinary's judgment, a grave necessity arises, Catholic ministers may give the sacraments of Eucharist, Penance, and Anointing of the Sick to other Christians not in full communion with the Catholic Church, who ask for them of their own will, provided they give evidence of holding the Catholic faith regarding these sacraments and possess the required dispositions.

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church

The book covers the Catechism section before this and the section after this but completely ignored this part. Which is puzzling and also rather troubling. I did not see any other omissions of this sort, however, one must remember that I wouldn't have found this had I not had a specific question. One hopes that this is an inadvertent omission or unfortunate cut mad by an editor one of those things that is corrected in the next edition.

This also illustrates the reason to always go check the source, even when dealing with a very good "basics" book. One gets much needed access to original information without the interpretation that another book adds. I often tend to gloss over this step and this is a good reminder to me that skipping the original is just cheating myself.

All that said, there is much to like in this book. It gives a good overview of main points and continually points back to the Catechism as the authority. I think that it will do much to help people understand that the Catechism isn't as daunting as they may believe.

I recommend it as an overview but with caution to be used to check the Catechism for complete teachings. Which is the point of the book in the first place, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Some Quick Revelations ...

Half-Price Books: is there anything better than going to the used book store and watching Hannah buy $44 worth of old science fiction that she first read from your book shelves? Talk about the ultimate flattery. Meanwhile, Rose and I continue to scour the shelves for old Georgette Heyer books to begin her collection. No luck there. People just don't wanna let those books go and I understand why.

Guys & Dolls: I never was that interested in this but Rose recently watched it. She liked it so much she asked for it for her birthday ... and then insisted we all watch last night. She was right. It is great ... and Marlon Brando was amazing in it. Says the Marlon Brando hater. Clearly I hadn't watched him in the right movie. As Tom said, he added that dangerous edge needed for the part. According to IMDB, Frank Sinatra threw a hissy fit because he wanted the main part. He was wrong. The casting was just right.

Rose Would Survive ....

She and her gang are going on an extended camping trip to celebrate graduating.

As they will be some distance from civilization, Tom required a plan before approving this venture, which the two Eagle scouts running the trip provided. All was well and we approved.

However, thanks to our modern day and age, I have seen trailers for too many horror movies where the innocent band of campers is set upon by monsters/zombies/aliens ... or my worst fear ... a crazed person ... and mayhem ensues.

Worse still, some time ago Tom told me all about a book by a Texas ranger in which that sort of thing actually happened.

Now, intellectually I know that these sorts of incidents are as scarce as hens' teeth. However, as a mother I have this nagging worry.

I try to relax. I try to let it go. I pray and turn it over to God ... and then find myself with that nagging worry again.

So I told Rose about it. She began laughing and said, "Well if it makes you feel better, I would be the person who survives."

I asked how she thought that would be.

She said, "Well, I have the bad back and so would have the most difficult time getting away. That would make the most interesting story line and so I would survive."

We both laughed merrily. I said, "If only real life happened like movie plots."

"Oh it does," she said. "Debbie is blonde so she'd go first ... Thomas might also survive because he's so smart that he'd do some McGyver-like thing to stop the killer. Unless he felt he needed to sacrifice himself to save the rest of us."

"And I like that he would sacrifice himself if that was absolutely needed to save the others," I said.

"Oh, he would," she replied.

Funny. But now I do feel better.

Postscript
Speaking of Thomas, he is a brilliant kid. Not only did he do award-winning research on nuons when he was a sophomore, but he then went on to do further research and will have a paper published on it next month. Harvard came asking him to attend their school. He turned down Stanford because they have a strict policy on not letting undergrads do research. I think they'll be sorry later. Notre Dame is quite happy to let Thomas into their labs when he gets there later this fall. He'll be majoring in Latin and physics.

The thing I like about Thomas is his ability to evaluate facts and make up his own mind. He turned down Cal-Tech and chose Notre Dame because he felt a broad education was wiser. He has been evaluating political policies on some of the issues that are most important to him (nuclear energy, etc.) and recently did an about-face on long-held political allegiances based on his findings. That shows the true scientific spirit, I believe, and I honor him for it.

He was the valedictorian of Rose's class and, as is the tradition, he selected his favorite teacher to speak about him. He chose Sister Cecilia who is a brilliant and honored scientist in her own right. It is from her speech that I got many of the details I just mentioned. Thomas is a frequent visitor with all of Rose's friends, but he doesn't talk about himself. She mentioned that he met Stephen Hawking a few weeks ago. Naturally Thomas was quite honored to meet the most famous scientist of our day. Sister reflected that her thought was that it was perhaps an unknown honor for Hawking as well to meet someone who may well become his successor in scientific achievement. Sister does not give out praise lightly and that added to the impact of her comments. I agree.

For Tom ...

Cafe Romantico

... on our 24th anniversary.

It seems like no time at all ... and then thinking back to what we were like then (and no Hannah and Rose!) it seems like forever ago.

But what a wonderful time we've been having so far on the way.

Congratulations to Rose!

Rose graduated from high school yesterday. She was in the top 10 of her class.

We are so very proud of all that she has accomplished. Of course, we are even prouder of the young woman she has become ... but that goes without saying doesn't it?

I think I would have done much better with the whole thing if I had not had a dream the night before about little, 3-year-old, adorable, toddler Rose ... which left me rather weepy throughout the day (and, yes, lasting into today, truth to be told). You know, loving the young woman who is here now and who I can talk about books and movies with ... but still missing that little one from long ago.

Onward and upward, Rose will be interning for a post-production studio this summer and then off to Columbia College in Chicago this fall to begin studying film editing.

City of Ember Trailer

Now this also looks interesting ... kind of a family movie set in an environment that feels like an old-time sci-fi movie set. Also, it's the last place I'd expect to see Bill Murray.

Check out the trailer at Ain't It Cool.

There's Many a Slip Twixt the Book and the Movie

Lars at Brandywine Books points out a major flaw he noticed in the adaptation of Prince Caspian for the movie world ... and why it matters.

[...] What set me off was a statement that director Andrew Adamson decided to make Susan Pevensey a warrior in the battle (in the film), though Lewis had made it a point to keep her out of it (in the book).

The more I think about this, the more it bothers me. I understand that I’m touchy and obsessive on the subject, but there are times when madmen (like me) can see the truth that sane people can’t, because we look where nobody else is looking. If it’s true that the truths that are most important to defend in any age are precisely those that are most despised, then madmen are sometimes the bloodhounds who smell out what the truth-hunters don’t see.

The decision to kick aside a plot point that mattered to Lewis, just because it’s unfashionable, is not a minor matter (or so it seems to me). In this situation it’s a declaration that there is no special calling for a man to be warrior and protector in the world. Nobody seems to see this, but to me it’s obvious—such a view has dangerous, catastrophic consequences, not only for boys and men but for society as a whole. It’s an assertion (one at which Lewis would have snorted in contempt) that there is no essential difference between men and women; that there are only interchangeable hominid units. [...]

Read it all here.

Superhero Highlight: Halfsies

Continuing the stories of superheroes devised by Hannah and Jenny (more about that can be found here as well as the first description)

Halfsies

Power: Ability to walk half way into a wall

Back-story: As a matter transistor repair man, Halfsies spent much of his time repairing matter transistors. As a result, his days were usually quite mundane. Little did he know, however, that once he entered THIS matter transistor, he would never be the same again. Halfsies began his day, like so many others, with a visit to a mad scientist’s humble, unstable technology-filled abode. He began his routine inspection of machine, screwing in this, unscrewing that, etc. When he entered the matter transistor to investigate its inner workings, however, he heard an ominous humming begin to emanate from the machine. He whirled around to see the mad scientist cackling maniacally and pulling numerous sinister levers. Realizing that the transistor was not broken at all and that the scientist merely wanted a test subject, Halfsies leapt heroically out of the transistor, but not before being struck with its power. Because he was not fully exposed to its influences, Halfsies was only partially affected, leaving him with the ability to walk into walls, but only halfway. Realizing the amount of crazy wackjobs that infested his fair city, Halfsies dedicated himself to the defense of repairmen everywhere.

Cover: Mild-mannered matter transistor repairman (and a handsome matter transistor repairman at that)

Cover name: Malachai Montgomery

Partners: The Scrabbler, The Lincolnator

Introduction to partners: After a successful day of foiling mad scientists, Halfsies decided to relax at a local soda shoppe. He was sitting at the counter, enjoying his strawberry malt, and thoroughly minding his own business, when he felt a shower of copper raining down on him. He turned to see a young lass with a crazed look in her eyes pelting him with pennies for no reason he could discern. Halfsies leapt into action, and did what he did best: ran into the walls to hide. This tactic was more effective when the person being hid from was not already staring at him, though, so it didn’t help a lot. If anything, it lessened his mobility and retreat options, cornering him halfway in the wall. Luckily, the young lady eventually realized her mistake and ceased her attempts to knock Halfsies unconscious with pennies. The two laughed about the hilarious misunderstanding for quite some time, and Halfsies readily joined The Lincolnator, as he learned the young miss was called, and her partner, The Scrabbler, to become a fabulous trio, defending all that is just and right. Upon meeting The Scrabbler, Halfsies discovered that they had served jury duty together some months ago. As the only jurors dedicated to justice and not spellbound by room service, Halfsies and The Scrabbler formed a firm friendship, after they went jogging. So it was a pleasant surprise to both that they were now partners in fighting crime.

Arch-nemesis: Mad scientists
==========
Next superhero feature coming: Ramen Girl

Worth a Thousand Words

Two Headed Toffee Coo

Found at Flickr Scotland.
Check out the fantastic photos they have there.

Worth a Thousand Words

Sir Joshua Reynolds. Lucy, Lady Strange. 1755.
From Olga's Art Gallery.