Good ol’ Nedroid

Anthony Clark is a talented fellow.  His webcomic, Nedroid, is a basically inoffensive descent into the absurd; it describes the adventures and exploits of Reginald, who is a talking bird, and his rotund friend Beartato.

Consider this recent offering (click to enlarge and clarify):

Check them out; the archives stretch back quite a way, and there are always more being added.

Oh, again

I’ve always thought that one of the most considerate features of Noah’s Ark, when it comes to its status as an historical curiosity, is the incredible frequency with which it has allowed itself to be discovered at last.  The thrill of finally uncovering a missing link with our past is so often confined to only one or two persons, but the Ark will have none of it.

So, it is with great pleasure, but no great surprise, that I can announce that the Ark has finally been discovered – again:

A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers said on Monday they believe they may have found Noah’s Ark – 4000m up a mountain in Turkey.

The team say they recovered wooden specimens from a structure on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey that carbon dating proved was 4800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat.

“It’s not 100 per cent that it is Noah’s Ark but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it,” said Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary filmmaker and member of the 15-strong team from Noah’s Ark Ministries International.

Be sure to read the whole thing.  The second best feature of the Ark’s constant rediscovery is the torrent of basically contentless news stories that attend the revelation.  Click the link above to be taken to what is functionally a short press release from the clearly disinterested Noah’s Ark Ministries International appended to a brief recap of the story from Genesis.  If you want things like footage and photographs of the find, or the commentary of established archaeologists, or hard facts of any kind, well… too bad.

Strange things afoot in Riverdale

It was announced over the weekend that the first “openly gay character” would be making an appearance in the long-running Archie comics universe.  That “openly” has a certain ominous feel to it, but nothing along those lines has been pursued yet.

The character in question, one Kevin Keller, makes his debut by coming out of nowhere to beat Jughead in a hamburger-eating contest.  Is nothing sacred?

Only one page of the story (which will be published in September) has been revealed so far:

As faddish and weird as this decision is, there’s something more interesting at work in the page above, I think.  The final panel is sort of brilliant; sure, Kevin’s gay, but what is the deal with those three?  Their  bizarre decades-long ménage à trois has thwarted scrutiny and censure for the entirety of the comic’s run.  A gay guy seems almost conventional by comparison.

Still, no word on whether anyone else in Riverdale – perhaps even in the established cast – will be coming out to provide a counterpart or romantic interest for the new guy (if he even sticks around).  While Jughead seems to be the most likely candidate, given the manner of Kevin’s introduction, it would be a crying shame if this were to be so.  Jughead has stood as an icon of attainable masculinity for decades, now – not everyone can get the girl, but at least there are always sandwiches – and it would be unfair to see Jughead’s almost celibate devotion to his field undermined by the revelation that his interests lay elsewhere to begin with.

Also, I had forgotten that everyone in Riverdale – even in their thoughts – exclaims everything they say.  It seems like an exciting town.

Lining up

The official line-up (so far) of this year’s Ottawa BluesFest has been released, and it looks mighty tempting across a whole bunch of days.  After not paying attention to it much last year and then being blindsided by the news that Neko Case would be there, I was determined to find out what was what as early as possible this time around.  I’m glad I did.

Highlights include:

- Arcade Fire (July 13th): A sort of glorious hipster orchestra out of Montreal.  I can’t imagine anything beyond the show being sold out stopping me from seeing this performance.

- Basia Bulat (July 10th): A young Canadian singer with two albums to her credit.  I had the privilege of knowing her back when we were at the University of Western Ontario, and her music is remarkably good.

- Dana Fuchs (July 15th): I don’t know much about her background, really, but I do know that she was outstanding as Sadie, the Janis Joplin-type singer, in Across the Universe.  I would like to see what she’s got.

- Great Big Sea (July 16th): Pretty much guaranteed to be a rollicking good time.

- Iron Maiden (July 6th): Will I?  It’s hard to say.  This presents the same sort of cautious temptation as Kiss did last year, but this is slightly more appealing.

- Joan Jett (July 9th): Maybe.

- Kevin Costner and Modern West (July 17th): Really?  Well, alright.  I’ll admit I’m curious.

- Rush (July 11th): I only like half of the songs of theirs that I’ve even heard, but it would be nice to say that I’d seen ‘em live.

- Santana (July 14th): Seems like it would be alright, but I’m oddly uninterested.

- The B-52s (July 8th): WHAT.  Sure, why not.

- The Moody Blues (also July 8th): Neat.

- Weezer (July 18): Also a possibility, but a lot of their stuff just hasn’t grabbed me very much.  We’ll see.

The readily apparent trouble with all of this is that nobody seems to be available on the same day, so this could get a bit expensive.  Arcade Fire on the 13th is a must, but what else?  We’ll see.  In the meantime, I’m also eager to find out just who will be playing for free in the ByWard Market – a program that’s apparently going to be greatly expanded from last year’s successful experiment.

In the meantime:

Two on the Emperor

My strange cross-temporal love-affair with the Monster of Europe has only sometimes been apparent on this blog, so here are two items of note to stoke further prurient speculations.

First, a rather interesting and lengthy review of Dominic Lieven’s new book, Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace.  While the subject matter would necessarily be interesting in itself, Lieven apparently offers some correctives to widespread and long-standing mischaracterizations of the Russian campaign:

Lieven calls “mostly nonsense” the idea, posited by Napoleon and his admirers, that the brutal Russia winter destroyed the French army. The Grandee Armée, exhausted from marching across Europe and living on poor rations, was in bad shape even before the fighting began. Indeed, most of the army had perished by December when the weather became unusually fierce. As Lieven writes: “The basic point, however, is that Russian Novembers are cold, especially for exhausted men who sleep in the open, without even a tent, with very inadequate clothing, and with little food.” What crippled the Grande Armée was a poor supply line.

For the first half of his book, Lieven wages a surreptitious war with Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, which has shaped cultural and historical perceptions of the Russian war against Napoleon. Tolstoy the novelist celebrates the patriotism of the Russian peasant, while heaping scorn on the feeble brains of the professional soldiers. Lieven shows that professionalism and planning — along with patriotism — carried the Russian army through to the end. The Russians stored six months worth of food at strategic points. They made sure that each battalion was properly outfitted. The Russian army that met the Grand Armée wasn’t a rag-tag peasant force, but a rationally-planned fighting machine.

Next up is a fascinating account of the problem posed by the stronghold of Cádiz during Napoleon’s attempted conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (1807-14).  It was a bloody and tiring affair, but, when it came to Cádiz, well…

When the dust settled on the Napoleonic Wars, Cádiz held the distinction of being the only city in continental Europe to survive a siege by Napoleon. It wasn’t for lack of effort by the French. For thirty-one months—from February 5, 1810, to August 25, 1812—the French army cut Cádiz off from the rest of Spain and subjected the town to constant bombardment. And for the past two hundred years, historians and armchair generals have debated what would have happened if the French had captured it. Napoleon might have wondered the same. The “Spanish ulcer,” as he would call the Peninsular War, helped to sow his defeat.

Both articles are eminently worth your time, though they admittedly skew more towards those whose interests are in martial matters.

Things ARE happening

In spite of my earlier complaints concerning the lack of a clear request for certain malfeasant Irish bishops to resign, it seems that the necessary purge is nevertheless taking place, albeit quietly:

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of another Irish bishop implicated in the Irish government’s Murphy Report. Bishop Jim Moriarty, who has officially been relieved of his assignment as Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, expressed his hope that his resignation would honor survivors and create a better future.

[...]

The resignation is the third accepted by the Holy Father from an Irish bishop in the last five months together with those of Bishops Donal Murray of Limerick and John Magee of Cloyne.

Good to know.

Sometimes The Onion says best

…what needs to be said, or at least scathingly insinuated:

Following revelations last week that priests in Wisconsin and Italy were responsible for molesting more than 250 young deaf boys, millions around the country expressed shock and outrage over the very thing they had been endlessly milking as a source of humor for the past 10 years. “I am stunned and disgusted that this incredibly abhorrent thing that I was just joking with a coworker about the other day has actually occurred,” Seattle resident Jess Voigt said. “Even though I have been humorously referring to this particular subject almost nonstop for the past decade, I am absolutely blindsided by this unexpected and disturbing news.” Members of the American populace vowed to shake their heads and drop the subject from their ribald office banter for at least two weeks before drawing on these unfortunate events to make approximately 13 million more jokes about choirboys.

This is a dimension to the ongoing tragedy that outrages me almost as much as the abuse itself, frankly, but people don’t seem to want to give it any serious thought – especially on the Internet, where the suggestion that maybe one ought not to joke about some things is invariably looked upon as at best childish and at worst fascistic.

Accomplished

Well, I passed my awful exam, however long and grievous a process it may have been.  This weekend will see me relax – utterly – for the first time in months.  Monday will see the return of regular posting.

There you go.  Thanks to all for their kind words and helpful advice!

The dangling sword

I had every intention of posting lots of stuff, but, as was also the case roughly four months ago, I have only a week left until the day of my Comprehensive Exam.  In December I had to do two of them – minors in the 18th and 19th centuries – but now I have to do just one: a major in 20th-century British literature.  Apparently they wrote books after 1950.  I’m as surprised as you are.

All of which means that I am freaking the hell out and doing a great deal of reading, almost none of it pleasant.  I do not have time to care about other things, and I’m disinclined to fiddle about even with leisurely pursuits except when I simply can’t take it anymore.

All of which further means that there’ll likely be a hiatus until at least next Wednesday.  If I pass the written portion of the exam then, I’ll be eligible to move on to the oral portion on Friday.  We’ll see.

Prayers, good wishes, anything – all appreciated, at this point.

A new man

Over the Easter weekend, which was naturally as great as it ought to be even on its own, I was privileged to witness (and indeed, to serve as a sponsor for) the Confirmation of friend-of-this blog Godescalc.  He is now a member in good standing of the Church of Rome – signed, sealed, and delivered.

Those among my readers who are pleased by this leveling-up are cordially invited to offer prayers for his continued success.  Those who are distraught at another win for the Whore of Babylon are probably reading the wrong blog :/