Category: Curios & Humor

Caroline’s Christmas: or, The Inexplicable Infant

Rhonda-watson-all-is-calm-all-is-bright-christmas-homestead One of my favorite humorists is the early 20th century Canadian economics professor Stephen Leacock. No, really! A professor of "the dismal science" who had a really great sense of humor!

One of my favorite Leacock books is Nonsense Novels, which came out in 1911. In it, each chapter is a parody of a popular genre of fiction (chapter 1 is a parody of Sherlock Holmes, there's a rags-to-riches story, a ghost story, a science fiction story, a Russian tragedy, a seafaring/pirate tale, etc.).

There's also a Christmas story melodrama. 

Here's . . .

An oldfashioned text version if you like, you know, want to read with your eyes or something.

And a homemade audiobook.

And a Librivox volunteer recording.

BTW, I can't help but imagining this story unfolding in my family's ranch house in Deep East Texas, where my grandmother lives (talked to her for most of an hour today!), though it virtually never snows there.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You Know What the Most Unfair Thing in the World Is?

It's when you're totally exhausted and you're lying in bed trying to fall asleep but you're suffering from a bout of insomnia and you want to fall asleep more than anything and you don't realize it but you actually are asleep, having a nightmare about experiencing insomnia.

GAH!

I've had insomnia ever since I was a boy, but it's really awful when it follows you into your dreams.

UN! FAIR!

And how do I know I was dreaming and not just lying awake, trying to fall asleep?

Well, it's either that or I suddenly teleported from an alternate universe where I was sleeping in Alternate Arkansas in one of the bunk beds my brother and I had when we were boys, even though we never had them in the configuration that was in the "dream" about trying to fall asleep. 

This has to be the worst kind of nightmare. Being chased by an axe murderer? No sweat. Being naked in public? No problem. Realizing you haven't been to a class in college all semester and now it's finals time? I can deal.

But dreaming about not being able to fall asleep?

AAAARGH!

So what's your worst nightmare?

I’m Not Sure That I Approve of This Post

History_channel_logo But it's brilliant.

And hilarious.

And disturbing.

And ironic.

And it definitely awakened my inner TV plot-analyzer instincts.

And the author is right. The History Channel really should try to "add artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative."

GET THE STORY.

(CHT: Instapundit.)

I also agree with what the author says about Babylon 5 and Doctor Who (mostly).

Alien Robots Worship Jesus!

It’s true!!!

Because they were programmed to!

Okay, I know that I normally blog about heavier subjects, but please indulge me in a moment of whimsy.

Recently on my personal blog I did an entry featuring a bit of computer animation I had discovered that offers a fascinating presentation of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (it’s really cool).

But this was not the only animation in the series. There are a lot of them, and one that caught my eye was titled “Bach, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, from Cantata 147 (sung by alien robots).”

Alien robots singing a favorite like Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”? That’s worth checking out.

BTW, here is what the alien robots are singing in German:

Jesus bleibet meine Freude,
meines Herzens Trost und Saft,
Jesus wehret allem Leide,
er ist meines Lebens Kraft,
meiner Augen Lust und Sonne,
meiner Seele Schatz und Wonne;
darum laß’ ich Jesum nicht
aus dem Herzen und Gesicht.
—from BWV 147, Chorale movement no. 10

The usual English translation of this does not correspond with the German text, but here is a more literal translation (source (see no. 10)):

Jesus shall remain my gladness,
Essence of my heart, its hope;
Jesus from all grief protecteth,
He is of my life its strength,
Of mine eyes the sun and pleasure,
Of my soul the joy and treasure;
Therefore I will Jesus not
From my heart and sight allow.

So with no further ado, alien robots sing “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”!