Maybe you should have asked for a real internet connection for the holidays.
Some of us don't live in major metropolitan areas where such things are readily available.
Nothing says Christmas like bitching over minutiae with a dollop of sarcasm and a few shavings of Helpful Suggestions. It's bringing a tear to my eye, and reminds me of the old multigenerational gatherings in Iowa.
That's some damn expensive internet right there.
Virgin Legacies ...Poputonian of Hullaballo discusses Henry Adams
"They felt a railway train as power, yet they, and all other artists, constantly complained that the power embodied in a railway train could never be embodied in art. All the steam in the world could not, like the Virgin, build Chartres." ...HA
P not only is too magnaminmous about religion for his readers, but also seems to hovering about some possibly sexist tropes here. Or at least quoting them.
Christmas, Faith, and Economics ...and Cactus of Angry Bear defends his lack of faith. I comment here, spiritually. I am led to thoughts of Kotsko and his crew.
Spackerman has a title too long to embed:Someday I'd like to see a cross set up for a real live human being who bled to death to maintain the sanctity of Mary and Child
Dude, if I understand what you are saying, and I probably don't, there are millions of such crosses. Chartres testifies to need and hope and possibilities.
People aren't bad because of religion, and aren't good despite religion.
Those question marks (caused by Firefox? Who knows...) make the post unreadable.
Re: 1, 2, 3, etc.: It's not purely a question of technology. I'm usually here on a high-speed connection, and I almost never watch the videos. It's partly self-defense, but mostly just that I find video (and audio) often a pretty tedious way to absorb information. Even entertaining information.
Christmas got a lot better for my dad once I realized that he doesn't absorb things well through text, and I started giving him books on tape/CD.
Even entertaining information
But what about informative entertainment?
Allow me to post, for the delight and betterment of Teofilo, Witt, and any others among you who are averse to multimedia and prefer to absorb your information through the medium of text, a link to this essay, "Alas for Tiny Tim, He Became a Christmas Cliché", by Harriet McBryde Johnson, on the op-ed page of today's New York Times -- it is good reading and I think some discussion could come of it among this crowd.
(First sentence: "December at the Crippled Children's School got tedious.")
Elisabeth Edwards showed up at Ezra's this afternoon, mediating a knockdown bareknuckle bloodsplattering cagematch between E and ttaM rellotS.
I may have watch my language if Thrones and Principalities are observing..
Dear Santa,
Thank you for my compleat Amazon wish list and various other gifts left under the tree. I am truly grateful. I even appreciated the Crossing Jordan marathon today, as medical examining is a welcome change from all the Rudolph and Santa-Must-Get-Married movies that have been taking up screen time all weekend [and all that talk of ligature lulled me to sleep for a long winter's nap. despite the ambient temperature of about 90.]
However, I must protest: Once again, my simplest request has gone unheeded. Why is a new body so hard for you to come up with, year after year? It's clear that you've perfected the art of cloning, as you must need an increasing number of elves, what with the population increase, and never have I seen a portrayal of a female elf outside of an EOE shopping mall photo booth. I bet you've had cloning technology for years. I mean, really, I could ask for body parts piecemeal - a knee here, a tendon there, a new rotator cuff - but wouldn't it be easier just to give me the whole package? You wouldn't even have to include chocolate!
I would, in fact, been more than happy to leave you several dozen of my chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, now that I've perfected the recipe to Chewy Chocolate Goodness, rather than the paltry plateful I leave out. Hell, I'll even throw in something for the reindeer and a box of Shout wipes [good for removing soot].
But please, Santa, could we get on the same page? A nice new body, about 25 - is that too much to ask? And I promise I'll be good [cursing whilst on the freeway doesn't count, right? I mean, it's Los Angeles, for pete's sake...]
D.
We're really killing the holiday cheer around here.
But it's FUN!
m, after we've killed holiday cheer, we can roast it with some good booze
15: There are times that I want to have Elizabeth Edwards' babies.
My family had a very low-key, happy Christmas. We spent the afternoon of Christmas Eve eating lunch and exchanging gifts (I liked everything I got, as did everyone else, in part because we have abandoned extravagance and in part because we have given up pretense and switched to pre-selecting our own gifts and being honest when a request is outside what we'd hoped to spend, etc.). That evening we went over to my sister's house and watched "A Christmas Story" and my awesome brother-in-law made food and we sat around and played with their dogs.
The strange thing this year was that my mother bought presents for my cats and my sister's dogs. The kittens got some cat treats and two little cat dolls (which say DO NOT GIVE TO PETS on them, so they're going high up on a bookshelf, but they're adorable). My sister's dogs got these weird, Disney-themed rain jackets. It is very strange to watch a pug run around with Mickey Mouse ears on its head.
The frickin' awesome thing this year was coming hom to find, tucked in the entertainment center by Rah, six movies of my two favorite horror genres (vampires and zombies) wrapped and almost hidden from view. I really hope they were meant for me, because I am watching the hell out of at least two of them tonight.
18 - Before the 2008 elections are over, we have to get Elizabeth Edwards to show up in our comments section at least once. That should be the site's New Year's Resolution. Bonus points if we make her a regular.
16:
Dear Santa,
When you get around to giving out 25-year-old female bodies, could you give me one too?
Thx,
MAE
25-year-old female bodies
Human, or?
p.s. In the meantime, I could probably make do with a Real Doll.
Bodies, male or female, are the easy part. What I'd need from Santa would be the alibi.
Human, or?
Could I see the menu?
19: This was supposed to be the year of our "scaled-back" Christmas, which in terms of present volume was pretty much indistinguishable from all other Christmases. I fear the year when the first grandkid makes the scene. (If he or she is still incubating at the time, I'm certain the child will receive an avalanche of presents in utero.)
And y'all call these comments "cheer?" I DEMAND MORE COCK JOKES.
I'm certain the child will receive an avalanche of presents in utero
Delivered via injection?
26: My parents try to be the super-fun grandparents to my nephews, in part because they enjoy it and in part because the other side of the nephews' family is so universally horrible and in part because of our own family history and a million other reasons. Watching this rather abruptly extend to the grandpets tells me my parents are waiting on pins and needles for my nephews to have loinfruit of their own so that they can have babies around the house again. They will be spoiled to their very cores. My cats each got a jar of cat treats from my mother, who hates cats, and she signed the gift tags with her grandmotherly monicker used by my nephews. It's so very strange.
27: For the sake of the mother, I sure as hell hope not. Ow.
Could be worse (for the father anyways) -- the grandchildren could be given their presents while yet homunculi.