In which Carruthers doubles back.

Carruthers is hot on the trail in the latest episode of The Riddle of the Sands at Forgotten Classics.

Well, What Do You Know ... the Old Spice Man is Just as Interesting When Clothed.

For the poor fellow who thinks that I would not find the Old Spice Man just as amusing if he were clothed, here is the evidence that, indeed I do. (Wish I could find that photo to post, but can't so just click through on the link.) Of course, I've always been partial to suspenders.

Look at the background for his Twitter page ... and do note the sense of whimsy in the geese flying across the tile.

Much thanks to Tom for this link. He finds the Old Spice Man just as amusing and clever as I do. Of course, he's been in advertising a long time ... and has a sense of perspective.

Can We Get Enough of the Old Spice Man? I Think Not.

Though coming late to the party, I must thank Joi and Rose for pushing me to view more of this brilliant campaign that should stand as a lesson for those who want to fully take advantage of viral marketing.

Having the Old Spice man respond to internet comments about him is thoroughly enjoyable. Especially in this series, begun here, which carried on for several more responses to Alyssa.



See further responses to Alyssa: #2, #3,and #4.

Celebrities are not immune either as we can see from this response to Demi Moore.

Meme Mutation

Ever wonder where those memes come from which seem to whirl around the blogosphere like leaves in a tornado and then suddenly ... disappear?

So was Mac at Mulier Fortis who began a meme and then tracked it, and the rule mutations, as it went its merry way. Very interesting!

Congratulations to The Anchoress!

She has a weekly column at First Things ... and they will be the richer for featuring her work. Not that they are not good already, but The Anchoress, a.k.a. Elizabeth Scalia, has a way of putting her finger on an issue and then talking about it in down-to-earth terms that still inspire us.

Check out her first piece, Love, Limits, and Loss. It is about a subject that I have been pondering for several weeks since I first saw it mentioned at her place. Likely I will eventually write something, but The Anchoress comes at this from a unique point of view with which I completely agree.

Cultivated Randomness ... If Only It Were Cultivated, Instead of Simply Random!

Why didn't you tell me about this wondrous site before. The cultivated randomness (books, art, movies, Arrested Development quotes in the sidebar); the contented and (yes, obviously) happy appreciation of so many thousands of wonderful things Catholic and otherwise.

There is nothing so flattering as receiving an email saying that you have been named blog of the week. Thank you, Margaret!

Equally as wonderful is finding that the "award-er" (is that a word? i have confuzzled myself) is a kindred spirit in both interesting randomness and also in the inability to just have one blog. She has four. Yep. Count' em - four:

1. Ten Thousand Places
2. Empty Jar
3. Little Lamb Books
4. The Magdalen Sisters

Looking through them I find that she and I are surely kindred spirits on  several levels. What a treat to discover these spots. Swing by and take a look for yourself.

Thank you, again Margaret!

Zombie Survival Guide. Starting Your Car.

And anyone who has seen Zombieland knows how important that can be!

Thanks to Tom for the heads up on this; he knows more about running from zombies than most ...

OSV's Catholic Guide to the Internet — Readers' choice edition

This is a wonderful resource.

Also, I am made very happy by The Anchoress's generous recommendation of Happy Catholic.

This is another soul-stirrer. The site is run by a woman who seems to breathe in books and art, and she has a remarkable capacity for zeroing in on one sentence and bringing it to the fore, for the benefit of many. The site has pop culture, jokes, thoughtful meditations, cues to prayer — it is a dynamic portrait of a life lived — Happily Catholic.

I am looking around to see where that woman is she mentioned ...

I am also surprised by the fact that no one mentioned The Anchoress herself. I am not a fan of political considerations but no one presents them with greater clarity or charity than she does. More than that, I find great inspiration in her meditations upon faith and how to live it. Great inspiration indeed.

In which Carruthers shows his skill at riposte.

Episode 129 of Forgotten Classics, featuring The Riddle of the Sands, is ready ... get it while it's hot!

Wait, it's August. It's always hot.

Oh well. Get it now!

Should your man smell like an Old Spice man?

Lord, have mercy, yes!

We saw this commercial in the theater before Inception. Rarely have I laughed so hard or been so appreciative of an ad.

I haven't watched all of them yet, but was reminded of this one when at Scripture study our priest mentioned advertisements that make you want to be one of the beautiful people. Gee, I wonder why this one came to mind? :-D

I will be perusing more at their "awesome smelling website." Yes, they suddenly got a sense of humor.

Just in case mountain climbing isn't thrill enough ...

... Matt Cutts is going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. In the comments, someone pointed to this as his possible next adventure.

Just watching it is adventure enough for me. It is breathtaking and beautiful. (Thanks to Tom for this one.)

40% Off Sale at Aquinas and More

Starting today and going through the rest of the month Aquinas and More is having a 40% off inventory reduction sale.

You know you're from Texas when ...

... a new sidebar feature. Because I realized that I am actually living the statements about hot weather.

Now that it's routinely over 100 degrees.

Routinely meaning: every. single. day.

106 yesterday ... so I'm just sayin' that I now have hit that time of year when I put ice cubes in the "cold" tap water I am using to wash lettuce. Because we don't want it to wilt, do we? Otherwise, it would. Oh, it would.

Of course, there is more to being from Texas than that. But you will all understand why I'm relating to the hot weather stuff.

A Little Bit of Flannery ... and How to See

More from The Habit of Being.

To Ben Griffith
4 May 1955

[...]

Occasionally I see the Georgia Review but not often; however, it would be very agreeable to me to see something written about my work for local consumption by somebody who knows something. Recently I talked in Macon (nobody had ever heard tell of me, of course) and it was announced in the paper the next day that I was a "writer of the realistic school." I presume the lady came to this conclusion from looking at the cover of the drugstore edition of Wise Blood. In a few weeks I am going to talk to some more ladies in Macon and I am going to clear up that detail. I am interested in making up a good case for distortion, as I am coming to believe it is the only way to make people see.

Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being

Oops!

I just discovered that in the conversion to the new template, a large portion of the blogroll didn't come over. I'm fixing that ... my apologies whose blogs got dropped off.

Dog Days of Summer Meme

Ironic Catholic tagged me with this which calls for me to name my five favorite devotions ... hmmm, devotions, let me think. I am not sure if these are all what one would call "devotions" but they are some of my favorite things.

My five favorite devotions:

• The Sacred Heart of Jesus novena
  
• Adoration (or just sitting in front of the tabernacle)
  
• My Guardian Angel
  
• Praying for the souls in Purgatory
  
• The Holy Spirit prayer (Come Holy Spirit ...)
  

And I tag:

• The Paragraph Farmer
• The Curt Jester
• Will Duquette
• Deacon Greg
• Ambrose-a-rama
  

Rosary for Job Seekers

I always am interested in different meditations on the rosary mysteries. They help me stretch my point of view.

These from The Anchoress are particularly appropriate to these trying times.

Emails and Pleasantries and Courtesy. Oh My!

A friend of mine (hi, Rita!) has a very good policy of not answering emails until she can take enough time to truly communicate her thoughts. Just as one would in a letter, you know.

You hear often that there is no way to be pleasant in emails or to communicate tone.

That is not really true, if one thinks about it. It is just an excuse for not spending the few extra minutes to take the trouble to add an extra sentence or phrase to make sure that you are not coming off as curt or rushed. In turn, that makes sure that the person reading your email doesn't feel as if their question is stupid or they are just idiots in general.  For heaven's sakes, people, a lot of the time all you have to do is toss in a smiley face here or there.

I would rather wait for someone to be sure they have taken the time to communicate properly than to be made to feel stupid or needy or as if I shouldn't have written at all. Despite my somewhat famous speed in responding to emails, for certain correspondence I will often wait a day or two for that very reason. I want to pay the writer the courtesy of responding with full attention. I have received such winning emails from podcast listeners or blog readers who manage to make very good points in very nice ways. I always appreciate it. So I try to do the same. I am sure I succeed only part of the time. But I like to try anyway.

Jesus Wants Me to Be Here

Jesus wants me to be here. I had nothing else to say or to feel but gratitude and happiness. He wants me to be here, in his presence, which is something, I’m sorry to say, had not occurred to me in a long time.

This summer, for a number of reasons, has been a distant one for me and God. So many Sunday mornings spent in the little cry booth at our church, which is unventilated and heavily populated. For the first time in my adult life I have considered leaving a Mass. I actually didn’t want to be there, sat in that booth, unable to breastfeed a squeaky baby because of a well-intentioned Dad who was giving his wife a chance to pray in the Sanctuary. The quarters were too close, the baby too likely to lift my shirt of his own accord, and I was grousing through the Eucharistic prayer, and thought I might just leave. What’s the point?

He wants me to be here.

Whether I receive the Eucharist or not, whether I pray well or not, whether I have confessed my sins or not, whether I’m loving the people around me or wanting to wrench them. Just be there—sit it out, and the grace will come—maybe in the shape of a petite gray haired woman who has nothing else on her agenda but to do me a wholly unwarranted kindness.

Go read Betty Duffy's post about going to adoration. It is evocative to me of many things from the Beyond Cana retreat this weekend as we were surrounded by young parents who struggle to find time for prayer amidst the seething that young children can do in church. I also treasure it as a reminder for every one of us. None of us remember it enough no matter what our circumstances. We don't have to have young children to think, "What's the point?" Thanks Betty for reminding me ...  Jesus wants me to be here.

Quick Updates

Beyond Cana Retreat: It went really well and nine couples went home with those glowing faces of renewed love. Thank you so very much to those who prayed for us. Two big challenges were thrown at us over the weekend, both for the same segment of time, interestingly. I believe that Tante Leonie, who was moved to pray the St. Michael prayer several times for us, was being aimed at that segment's particular need. Whatever the source, all went very well. We have now either been the Weekend Facilitators or Spiritual Directors for this retreat nine times running. We'll continue helping out some but definitely will be backing away from so much direct involvement on the weekends. The retreat team is now a wonderful blend of experienced couples and new, enthusiastic couples with some fresh ideas on enhancing what is there without stepping on the solid core of the retreat. It is a treat to see and bodes very well for the future of the retreat at our parish.

Zoe versus the Cone: Or "E-collar" as vets call it. Showing that nature is nothing if not resilient, she now can wrestle with Wash, pick up and chew a rawhide bone, and ... wait for it ... get out of the dog door ... all wearing that crazy clear collar. She can't get back in the dog door with it, for some reason, so every so often someone will be walking by a patio door (there are three in different rooms) and see her standing there waiting to be let in. She is still in the same hip-to-toe bandage that was put on last week (with a little extra taping around the top) and we should get it off ... tomorrow! YAY!