On Culture

A trivial subject; a movie, one that I wouldn't normally mention seeing even though it was cute and had quite charming acting and is one I'll watch again. It was "Penelope", and there was a line near the end of it that...how do I put this? This one line was so very telling that it was almost jarring. It should have kicked the whole movie onto a deeper level, but didn't, and was perhaps the more telling because of that. Oh, rubbish. There was just this great line in the movie that really made a point. Not a blog-worthy way to put it, but I can't get it. Yet.

On to another cultural item: Hair trends. There's a hairstyle going around (I never know what these cuts are called; I didn't know a mullet was called a mullet until long, long after it died an exaggerated death) that started out cute, the way most do. (Remember Dorothy Hammill's? She was a doll.) This one is the one that is short at the nape of the neck and is supposed to gracefully graduate to a longer length around the jawline. And it did, for a while.

But it's not enough anymore. No, now if you get this haircut you cannot merely copy, you must surpass. It's at the point now where the back is chopped as close to the scalp as a young boy's and swooped to an almost blunt jawline which leaves the recipient with something very, very akin to doggy ears.

They do; they look like dogs ears to me and they flap as ones when the person walks along. Why do people not see this? Or that they have muffin tops? Or that their delicate nose ring looks like a new zit??

Just call me a sourpuss, I guess.

An Unknown Seed

My husband said something to me at lunch which went through me like a gust of wind. Once again I shake my head in amazement at how you can hear something a hundred times, and, that's all it is; a phrase, until the Holy Spirit takes it and thrusts it in you and shakes you by the shoulders and it comes alive. The words come alive.

I've said it all wrong, I know. But how does one describe living words as opposed to just words with meaning?

The Usual Sins

My, my, writing seems to come in bunches, doesn't it? Two posts in one day!

* * *

I was once given advice about writing mysteries: Write them with a repeat character in mind. In other words, your leading man or lady should be created with the idea that they'll be used again and again, in book after book; a serial character (not unlike the serial killers they will be stalking, eh).

Problem is, when I browse for mysteries, I very often put one back if it has the tell-tale "A Famous Character Mystery". (Exceptions would be Agatha Christie; I've read all of hers regardless. She's the one that started me reading mysteries, I think.) I'm not sure why I every so often do this. Sometimes it's the "oh, I'll be at sea because I don't know this person" or that I hate to start in the middle of the series and our small library usually doesn't carry the first or so, or sometimes it's the repetition I know will be involved.

As in this last one. Yesterday I finished Kate Collins' "Mum's the Word", and after the conclusion was an excerpt from the next book in the series. I read that and was quite annoyed that it started off much the same way the first one did, in that it introduced everybody all over again. I'd just read all that and thought, I don't want to read it over and over again! Especially since I thought she introduced everyone a little too thoroughly all at once in the first book.

I realize that it makes for a better stand-alone if you do start in the middle of someone's series, and that since these books are not read in rapid succession as I was doing but are published years apart, it makes a good refresher, but I tend to skip those parts, or as I said before, pass those books up all together.

I have to say, though, that it was so, so refreshing to read a book like this one from Kate Collins, which contained none of the usual sins which appear to be de rigueur these days (other than, obviously, murder. I am working on correcting this as well--writing a Mysteries-Without-Murder series. MWOMs. Hmm...need a better acronym). I would continue to read her for that reason alone--almost--but fortunately she is for the most part an able writer as well. I only hope that the vein continues.

Falling on Deaf Spirits

"...for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they received them..."

How many times have you tried to tell someone something only to have them dismiss it without further ado? I often keep my mouth shut these days for that reason; I see that the person is not ready to chew on or even listen to whatever it is, whether it be an alternate opinion or something more vital. They won't even consider the words, let alone receive them (e.g. change their mind).

Not that my words are necessary to anyone (hence my holding of my tongue). I give a mild example, one of which I don't doubt everyone has experienced, and I merely use it to point out that listening is not just waiting for the other to stop talking. You hear the words, turn them over, and then decide or perhaps shelve them until understanding may come.

But what a difference that little phrase makes, "and they received them". The words didn't just tumble off the disciples and onto the ground. They received them. It took more than listening.

Note I didn't say "'just' listening".

And it makes me wonder...

Jesus sure cast out a lot of demons during His time on earth. Really makes me wonder: was there a lot more possession going on back then, or is there as much now and just not recognized as such?

again, quote

He did not come to tell us to be holy, but to make us holy...

--Oswald Chambers

Civil Wars

"When Christians on either end of the political spectrum redefine the church as a voting bloc instead of Christ's very body, then we have succumbed to a false wind of doctrine. ...

"The church's mission is not to transform a changing culture but to bear witness to the unchanging truth of God. The church's mission is not to change the world (or our country--addition mine) by using the world's tools. We have been given spiritual tools..."

--Michael Babcock

On a Quest

I think I'm gonna create a food blog.