Hugo Project, #5

The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick (Hugo winner, 1963)

One of the more literary, self-consciously literary sci-fi novels I've read. It even contains a reference to itself in a conversation between three characters about whether alt-history works can rightfully claim the name "science fiction." I've not read a lot of alt-history other than K. S. Harrison's Years of Rice and Salt, but this particular instance of the genre was chilling at first (the Japanese and the Nazis won WWII).

The novel has three mirrored and interrelated subplots, and there's an alt-history novel that figures in each of those subplots. The ending of the novel is "indeterminate," let's say.

This will please some of my friends

and cause others to be grouchy:

Jackson will produce The Hobbit, after all.

Hugo Project #4

Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein (1962 Hugo Winner)

I loved the first half--inventive, and a bit mysterious (i.e., what are these Martians like, exactly? What could happen to a perfectly innocent and perfectly powerful man who doesn't really understand what "man" is?).

Second half gets increasingly dull, mainly because H spends so much time describing "Mike's" quasi-religious adoption of human sexuality.

His skill in writing dialogue is quite enjoyable throughout, however.

Jubal Harshaw, however, is an awesome character. He's the curmudgeon I can only dream of being.

Piers has left the building

grading done, calculating done, posting done.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

And may you get few grade complaints. heh

Props to Papa

...who came to town yesterday, helped W purchase and install a new range, then left this morning early. 

Piers, put away that sharp object

In addition to grading end-of-term mountains of paper, I am having to endure the constant prattle of an extremely self-satisfied student (evidently graduating in the spring) talking to a professor across the hall. She is speaking glibly of "getting into" grad school at Michigan or Maryland or UNC in a wide variety of disciplines (I've heard poli-sci, ILS, economics, sociology), even applying to Princeton "just for kicks," using several state institutions as "safety-valve" schools where she can slingshot to a better program.

I'm jolted back about a decade, when I was also speaking glibly about "getting in" at an ivy-league school or U of Chicago--and actively resisting the urge to walk over there, sit the young woman down, and thoroughly puncture that balloon-cloud she's riding on (preferably in the calm, slightly weary tones of a John McGowan or James Thompson). I got into school at UNC by Providence--and on this end, I'm humbled and grateful that I even got a second look. Having a swelled head about my own abilities did me no favors.

Sweeet!

My Christmas is complete already!

So I'm reading this book by Frederick Buechner

called Secrets in the Dark, and let me tell you, it has been a long time since I've heard God whispering in my ear like He is through this man's writing. It is food for the soul at a time when (as you've probably noticed) I've really needed it.

Holiday Cheer Update

New oven needed: 1

Meals cooked using toaster oven: 3

Presents wrapped: 3

Christmas bric-a-brac broken by boy: 3

Items on homemade advent calendar for little boy: 6

Days left in semester: 1

Assignments left to grade: 150 (give or take a few)

Rasselas, Chapter 27

He that has much to do will do something wrong, and of that wrong must suffer the consequences; and, if it were possible that he should always act rightly, yet when such numbers are to judge of his conduct, the bad will censure and obstruct him by malevolence, and the good sometimes by mistake.

--Samuel Johnson (1759)

Grinchy Grinch.

I love this song

Sermon Stupidity

Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting in the choir behind a professor from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary while he preached on Philippians 4:6-7. His basic message: We should not worry, because worry is a sin. So to keep from the sin of worry, one should first remember that God said not to, and then one should pray using the three modes listed in the verse and making sure of course that you're praying God's will. That way, we avoid missing out on salvation ("there are some people in Hell who are there because they couldn't respond to the Word because they were worried about a roast burning at home"), and we avoid the worst damage a Christian can do to the Church's witness (his exact words).

This is a school of preaching that makes one wonder if the preacher has actually lived with human beings, or understands that there is more than one mode in Scripture than command, or is to dense to understand that telling a congregation that they could end up in Hell for worrying is hardly the way to encourage them not to worry!

I could go on, but suffice it to say that it was undoubtedly the worst sermon I've sat through in years. W's comment: and this is a man teaching others at a seminary. Geez.

Yay for MB

. . . who's going to be a mommy in May of next year. K has a new job, her takeover of NCSU continues apace, and now a little one! What a year! Needless to say, we here in West Tennessee approve mightily of little ones. Health and happiness to all three!