Swanee and I

For some reason this video has reappeared in 9Raw's RSS feed. So of course I am reposting it.

A taxi driver writes...

Prince Philip speaks for all men.

It is an awkward but little-discussed matrimonial duty which has sorely taxed all but the most dexterous of husbands. Now the Duke of Edinburgh has spoken out about the “infernal” problem of undoing jewellery clasps. Prince Philip voiced the feelings of put-upon spouses everywhere when he complained to an award-winning silversmith over the time-consuming nature of the task – and how it can all so easily go wrong.

Not quite as strange as reading old TV guides

I like to post about the stupidity of the Australian media. David Knox at TV Tonight (a job that seems to require non stop television watching) mentions another example.

As Christmas approaches...

Every Christmas or Easter there is some new book either debunking or calling into question some central aspect of the birth or death of Our Lord. For this Christmas, the Pope has a cunning plan.

Really?

Jerry Seinfeld used the word really a lot, hence this scene from 30 Rock:

Proper Treatment of a Blessed Pope and a Blessed Cardinal

A few weeks ago I mentioned the Breviary Propers for the Diocese of Cologne. Blessed John Paul II has, with the consent of the Holy See, been inserted into the Liturgical Calendar of the United States as an optional memoria. That page has links to the Mass Propers in Latin and English (and Spanish) and to the Breviary Propers ditto, all from the Vatican website. These are all within the pages of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Nevertheless there is no mention of these Propers on the English page. I mention that because in all the other languages of the Vatican site there is a link to all the material pertaining to John Paul II's beatification and liturgical cult: Italian, German, Spanish, French, and Portugese. Even the Latin page has a link to the decree of 2nd April 2011 De cultu liturgico in honorem Beati Ioannis Pauli ii, papae, tribuendo.

The U.S. Presidential election

What I regret is the missed opportunity for the Private Eye front cover:

Four Mormon Years

Bye-bye Barack?

Voters at Last Get to Have Their Say

Not actually true since the USA has early voting, postal voting etc. etc. – all the easily corruptible paraphernalia to make life easier for homo piger.

It will make everyone extremely happy

About a month ago I posted something on a pair of articles by Jeffrey Tucker discussing the baby steps for the (re)introduction of Gregorian chant. At the Chant Café he reviews the Lumen Christi Missal. This is an ambitious missal, including chant settings in English for every Mass of the year (including the Proper of Saints) with the Simple Gradual, various ritual and devitional chants and scarcely a hymn in sight. So far as I can tell there isn't anything not in English. The publishers have posted a preview. It is superb.

Fairfax exclusive: China moves its capital! Australia moves its Parliament!

Australian print media is carved up between Fairfax Media and News Ltd. Some of Australia's oldest newspapers are owned by Fairfax, The Sydney Boring Herald was founded in 1831 The Arrggh in 1854. Local lefties regard Fairfax Media as basically good (like "our" ABC) and News Ltd as utterly evil. Anyway that's enough background for the non Australians.