December
Finally, November is over. I knew at the start of the month that it would be a busy one, but I did not truly appreciate just how many different ventures I had committed myself to. My full course load at school included two literature course (American Lit I and British Lit I), which resulted in two research papers falling due this week. On top of this, I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo. I also continued rehearsals with my piano ensemble while working on a few solo pieces, namely Bach’s Prelude &Fugue No. 2 in C minor and the first movement from Mozart’s Sonata in B flat Major. Of course, I still had work and all the continual banalities of daily life to attend to.
Somehow–and I really am at a loss as to how–I managed to get it all done. There were a few casualties along the way; there has been no yoga, little sprinting, and very few long walks in the past month. My arch nemeses–sugar, caffeine, and nicotine–have reappeared in my life. I have not read any books that were not on my syllabus, and my poor blog has lain neglected for weeks.
Fratello Metallo
If only I spoke Italian.
If I did, I might have heard of this amazing band, Fratello Metallo (“Brother Metal” in Italian). Unfortunately, I only became aware of their (former) existence through a press release announcing the break-up of the band. Fratello Metallo was formed by an Italian monk named Cesare Bonizzi who fell in love with heavy metal at a Metallica concert fifteen years ago. After releasing several albums and opening at Italy’s largest heavy metal festival, Brother Bonizzi has now announced that he will no longer be performing. In his own words, the monk claims that
The devil has separated me from my managers, risked making me break up with my band colleagues and also risked making me break up with my fellow monks. He lifted me up to the point where I become a celebrity and now I want to kill him.
Lesson learned? Apparently your metal band is ultimately at the mercy of Satan, regardless of how much you growl about God.
There are too many amazing videos of this band to choose just one:
Lenore
While perusing the internet for research for my term paper on “The Raven,” I discovered my new favorite cartoon.
Maybe if I ever get caught up on my word count for NaNoWriMo, I will have time to write a real post.
Nightmare
.
Spilling still past the brim
A distal draught, a bitter brew
Days of malaise and solitude
Tethered thoughts harangue him
Vested horrors, gather round!
A bludgeoned babe with silent scream
Again the nightmare slays the dream
With seraph corpses raining down
What will it takes to draw a breath
‘Til patience grants the victory
His ally e’er my enemy
Sickle shine of cherished death
The Impossible Conception
Keippernicus uses video games to denounce religion. Brilliant!
Annabel Lee Anime
All my time belongs to NaNoWriMo! Here is a video adaptation of the poem upon which my story is based:
Insomnia
Midnight agonies
Rob my store
Of dreams and peace
Through unlocked door
I change the locks
Defense in vain
Shadows mock
The thief remains
Slipping, sliding
Conscience hiding
Fading voices
Forgotten chiding
Thunder cracks
The memory flash
Eyes torn wide
Cardiac thrash
Subtle cackle
From empty room
As restless dawn
On horizon loom
Glenn Beck 2.0
An emergency appendectomy robbed America of the crucial post-election analysis of FoxNews’ shining star. Not one to leave his fellow citizens to blindly wander through the political quagmire, Jon Stewart proudly stepped forth and dared to ask the hard-hitting questions in Beck’s absence.
After failing to find a copy of this video to embed, a link will have to suffice for now because I am exhausted.
Fairyism
Because NaNoWriMo has been absorbing all of my time lately, today I am reposting a comment that I made this morning on the forum at Mark’s Daily Apple. First, I must make it clear that this website does not directly address theological discussions. However, because the site promotes the paleolithic diet of Homo sapiens as a means to achieiving optimal health, the theory of evolution is crucial to the its primary philosophy. The author of the blog, Mark Sisson, recently wrote an excellent piece on evolution. It is an eloquent, intelligent, and objective look at the implications of evolution on mankind’s place in the universe. However, because evolution somehow remains a controversial issue, the resultant comment board erupted in a divisive debate between creationists and Darwinists. Of course, this quickly devolved into a battle of theists versus atheists. I responded to the ensuing debacle with this:
There seems to be a confusion between atheism and anti-theism. (I suppose the latter is sometimes called “militant atheism.”) At its core, atheism represents a rejection of unsubstantiated belief systems, an insistence upon evidence, and a promotion of critical thinking and healthy skepticism. It does not claim that there is no god; rather, atheism simply does not accept the claim that there is a god based upon lack of evidence. Anti-theism, on the other hand, actively states that there is no god.
