David Ancell / Thursday, February 27, 2003 / Comments(0)
I learned that Mr. Rogers died today of cancer at the age of 74. I found some posts on the HMS blog about this. I watched him daily as a child. I never knew that he was the voice and designer of all those puppets.
I’m glad that the Washington Post gave us a nice article on him. The people who knew him loved him. He was the same off camera as on it. He dedicated 30 years to a quality show for children and stuck to it despite the popularity of other kinds of shows. He even had a sense of humor towards a parody of his show.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Wednesday, February 26, 2003 / Comments(0)
I guess you thought I was going to write about Vanilla Ice. Nope, you’re wrong. I’m going to write about the ridiculous weather we’ve had here in Memphis. I have been here three and a half years, and I’ve never seen a winter like this. We usually have one day of snow per year that is going by the next day.
Well, now we have had several days of snow. Most days it hasn’t stuck. Yesterday, it was all over the place as caked-on ice. This morning, my car had so much ice on it I couldn’t clean it off in time for Mass. Fortunately, it wasn’t on the road. More frozen dihydrogen monoxide is expected to fall today.
So much for global warming. Oh well, summer will get here, and I’ll be complaining that it is as hot as Gehenna. This reminds me of a story about a lady who moved here from North Dakota. She can handle the below zero temperatures fine, but here in Memphis she is cold because of the way people run their air-conditioners down here.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Wednesday, February 26, 2003 / Comments(0)
I had someone ask on a comment what music I have been buying if not secular. Well, I’ve bought some hymn CDs, one Gregorian chant CD, but most of what I’ve bought has been praise music. Although I don’t think these songs belong at Mass, they aren’t bad for private listening. Being at a Steubenville conference got me into it despite the fact that I didn’t like their music when I had to sing it up there.
Some of the songs are kind of quiet and reflective, and they are good for prayer. The masculine language in these songs, mainly written by Protestants, seems odd to a Catholic. I prefer the actual praise music to other Christian music that might not even mention God in it.
Yet, I must admit that it was a big disappointment to hear only this kind of music when I was in Steubenville. I expected to see the ultimate in Liturgy and liturgical music, and instead it was the same praise music one would expect to hear at a youth rally. Like I said, I enjoy listening to that kind of music, but singing it is very difficult for me.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Monday, February 24, 2003 / Comments(0)
Being the electronics nut that I am, I buy some DVDs now and then. One thing I really found aggravating is the way the darn things are taped shut. There is cellophane over the whole thing. Once that is opened, the top, bottom, and side are taped shut, usually with a tape that says “security device enclosed.” Yes, it’s so secure that even the person who purchased it can hardly get the @#$#@# thing open. I bought UHF starring Weird Al Yankovic, and I ended up tearing the entire cover off the sleeve while trying to get the tape off.
CDs are a little better. They have some tape on the top containing the title and artist, and it is a pain to get it off. Maybe that is why CD sales are declining.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Sunday, February 23, 2003 / Comments(0)
The New York Times has an interesting article today on the CD. Sales are declining. I never know if this really means that an industry is in danger or if someone is only going to make $800 million instead of $1 billion.
It’s true that some people are illegally copying music. No matter what the excuse, this is immoral. I’ve heard people complain about CD prices and about how they only want one song and don’t want to buy a CD for it. However, it is stealing.
Then again, I think there is another problem that was omitted in the article. Look at the quality of the acts these days. I went through Target’s music section a couple of days ago, and most of the stuff I saw on their feature rack was either explicit lyric trash or trash-dressed people whose names I do not recognize. There is just so much trash, and the industry keeps holding on to the lie that trash sells. It does, but only for a while. The article mentioned that artists like Brittney Spears (the epitome of trashy acts) generally have short careers.
It’s been several months since I have bought music by a secular act because I can’t find anything that I really like.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Saturday, February 22, 2003 / Comments(0)
From Jeanetta’s site, I found a link to this article on the existence of Hell. It’s amazing how people will say that we shouldn’t teach about Hell as though our simple unbelief will abolish it.
This is as silly as saying that, if there is a sniper outside your door ready to shoot us, I can just make him/her not exist by saying I don’t believe in him/her. Hmmmm. . . . what if someone doesn’t believe in my blog. Will it cease to be?
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Saturday, February 22, 2003 / Comments(0)
I had a very strange dream last night. I remember it quite vividly. I was going to an 8:15 AM Mass in another parish. There was food available for after Mass, but I accidentally took a bit right before Mass was about to start. I had known the priest there to be long-winded, so I was hoping it would take an hour before Communion.
No luck, the priest preached a short homily. However, when we got to the consecration. The priest made up his own prayer about a meal and how some would eat too much. He had us stand around the altar. Then, he quickly grabbed the bread and wine and said “This is my body . . . . . this is my blood” instead of saying the actual prayers of consecration. A lady next to me knew I was very irritated and said to me “Let it go.” All I could say was that this priest may have just done an invalid consecration (I don’t know for sure.). I woke up before time to receive.
I was relieved to find out that I was having a dream. I hope that never happens anywhere, but especially not here in Memphis. Memphian Catholics tolerate bad music; we just don’t sing along. However, it is unlikely that a congregation here would tolerate a total mutilation of the consecration.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Thursday, February 20, 2003 / Comments(0)
Happy birthday, Dad and Kristin!
Both my dad and my sister have the same birthday, and it is today.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Thursday, February 20, 2003 / Comments(0)
A Reuters article suggests that, in Oregon, more people are opting to end their lives by assisted suicide than in years past. I wonder how we will ever expect better palliative care to be developed if we just take the easy way out. I also wonder how many of these people were convinced to do this by slothful family members who didn’t want their inheritance spent or their time taken on caring for their dying family members.
Worse yet, how many people will have to deal with extended purgatory (if they don’t go to Hell) because they cut their lives short. We who are Christian should never forget that this decision has implications in the next life. This is true for both caregiver and the terminally ill. The caregiver loses the grace from caring for the dying; the terminally ill loses their time of penitence. Of course, given that this is a mortal sin, whoever makes this decision may very well suffer the loss of his or her soul and have to account for any souls that he/she sent with him/her. This would be much more painful than any suffering on this planet could possibly be.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Wednesday, February 19, 2003 / Comments(0)
Here in Memphis, I’m seeing a growing number of places that have tip jars. Go to almost any restaurant, coffee shop, doughnut shop, or ice cream place, and they will have a little jar for you to drop money in. I’m just waiting for fast food places to start having them.
The only place where I don’t see a tip jar is a pharmacy. As a pharmacist, I think I deserve a tip if these people who make sandwiches do. After all, a sandwich made the wrong way will taste bad. I could kill someone if I make a mistake. Hmmm . . . if I ever work retail . . . .
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized