Saturday, November 5, 2016
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Getting the Hell outta Dodge
Dodge City being Philadelphia. Am very excited. Haven't left the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in about a year and a half. Am on my way to Texas (it aint so bad) to visit family for about a month. Planning to help in my Mother's yard/garden. It's a beautiful space on the Lake. Plus I get to see not only my Mother but the siblings, which is always fun. Plus I'll spend some time with Winnie, the family dog. I like her and she likes me. (of course I'm always giving her dinner scraps so maybe that is where the affection comes from. Ha!) But there is one bummer, SEPTA (public transportation) is currently on strike so that makes getting to the airport that much more difficult. I support them, the drivers, but it is a royal pain in the *ss getting from one place to another now. Strange, we curse them a lot but they really make life easier for the average citizen.
Monday, October 24, 2016
yippee!! good news from Doctors today...
saw 2 doctors today and both agreed no more diabetes pain meds for awhile due to all the weight Ive lost since Nov'15. Over 60 lbs. Am very relieved :-) Sorta looking good too!
Friday, October 7, 2016
Philip Guston - "The Ocean" @ San Antonio Museum of Art
This is a personal favorite painting. If I had to "guesstimate" the dimensions, it would roughly be 8'x10'. It's not Guston's "Greatest" Painting just a fan f*ckintastic "Transition" Painting from his "Abstract" Works to his "Figurative Cartoon" Paintings *PLUS* it's hidden away at a "Satellite Museum" not one of the Major Tx. Museums in either Houston or Dallas. Bonus Points.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Sunday, October 2, 2016
FLP - Recent Music Checkouts
(*) Gang of Four - Entertainment!
(*) The Fall - Eratz GB
(*) Joey Ramone - ... Ya Know?
(*) Radiohead - In Rainbows
(*) Apples in Stereo - #1 Hits Explosion
(*) David Bowie - Nothing Has Changed
(*) Cult - Love
(*) Zombie - Live
(*) Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void
(*) Stooges - Fun House
(*) Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
(*) Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
(*) The Clash - London Calling
(*) Superchunk - I Hate Music
(*) The Clash - Live at Shea Stadium
(*) Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
(*) John Mayall - Picking the Blues; Boogie Woog
(*) The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
(*) Pavement - Quarantine the Past
(*) Talking Heads - '77
Note: The Joey Ramone Solo album is surprisingly good. It's a mixture of "generic" hard rock mixed with "punkish" roots and lyrically, it is smart... not "dumb" in the Ramones kind of way. Just one qualm re: Joey Ramone ... Ya Know? Think track 10 should've been a 7"single & not included on album. Merry Xmas indeed. Also prolly would've been *the* top 40 hit he always desired if he included a "killer" b-side too. Just sayin'.
(*) The Fall - Eratz GB
(*) Joey Ramone - ... Ya Know?
(*) Radiohead - In Rainbows
(*) Apples in Stereo - #1 Hits Explosion
(*) David Bowie - Nothing Has Changed
(*) Cult - Love
(*) Zombie - Live
(*) Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void
(*) Stooges - Fun House
(*) Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
(*) Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
(*) The Clash - London Calling
(*) Superchunk - I Hate Music
(*) The Clash - Live at Shea Stadium
(*) Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
(*) John Mayall - Picking the Blues; Boogie Woog
(*) The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
(*) Pavement - Quarantine the Past
(*) Talking Heads - '77
Note: The Joey Ramone Solo album is surprisingly good. It's a mixture of "generic" hard rock mixed with "punkish" roots and lyrically, it is smart... not "dumb" in the Ramones kind of way. Just one qualm re: Joey Ramone ... Ya Know? Think track 10 should've been a 7"single & not included on album. Merry Xmas indeed. Also prolly would've been *the* top 40 hit he always desired if he included a "killer" b-side too. Just sayin'.
Friday, September 30, 2016
Recent Finds; Apt. Not Too Too Messy, Really
"Unearthed" CDs "Stored" Behind a Pile of Books
(*) The Fall - Fall Heads Roll
(*) The Strokes - 3 Song EP - free give away included in magazine The Guardian, NME, or some other British Music Mag
(*) The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
(*) Robert Pollard - Waved Out
(*) GBV - UTBUTS
(*) Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
(*) Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (7 Song Single)
"Recently" Purchased Used Cds: Teenage Fan Club - "Here", Johnny Cash - "The Collection" (2 of 3 CD Box Set; 1 CD missing), total monies spent: $8... ok, yes I'm frugal tho I think the correct term is "Financially Broke." :-( also, picked up 2 more CDs recently at a "Street Sale" - ZZ Tops - Greatest Hits & Cat Power - The Greatest for $2 Total. Not Bad, eh?
(*) The Fall - Fall Heads Roll
(*) The Strokes - 3 Song EP - free give away included in magazine The Guardian, NME, or some other British Music Mag
(*) The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
(*) Robert Pollard - Waved Out
(*) GBV - UTBUTS
(*) Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
(*) Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (7 Song Single)
"Recently" Purchased Used Cds: Teenage Fan Club - "Here", Johnny Cash - "The Collection" (2 of 3 CD Box Set; 1 CD missing), total monies spent: $8... ok, yes I'm frugal tho I think the correct term is "Financially Broke." :-( also, picked up 2 more CDs recently at a "Street Sale" - ZZ Tops - Greatest Hits & Cat Power - The Greatest for $2 Total. Not Bad, eh?
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
FallNet: LP Review, Unverified Factoid via Wikipedia.org, & Playful Observations
allan smitheeSep 23 12:58 PM
am sure it has been discussed ad nauseam on FallNet but still, I'm a late comer so consider this only a humourous reminder/take on "Fall Things"; prolly have been on list only 4 or 5 years tho I *really* am a fan of The Fall & *most* things Mark E. Smith even though I had to take the "Blood Oath" that's now a requirement for FallNet Membership. Btw JC, the scar is healing very nicely thank you, the prison tattoo of Mark E. Smith's Mug not so much...
nick here, nick there: track 12 "I Am Damo Suzuki" from "This Nation's Saving Grace" - opening riff & whole song really, very very close to Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead.
separated at birth?: Mark E. Smith & Robin Banks (via The Clash Close Up & Personal - DVD & Book Set)
Have a Great Weekend All!
1) great opening song. one of the best in many many years. heavy, rhythmic bass drums, spare guitar instrumentation, very cool & random seeming keyboard riff. nice female backing vocals. definitely a winner.
2) album "rocks" all the way through except for 2 or 3 slow songs & some "rockabillyish" tunes but so what. and that song "Blindness" Just Kicks ASS!!
3) the 2 or 3 slow & spare "acoustic" tunes are some, if not the most "beautiful" songs ever committed to tape by the Fall. very spare instrumentation *plus* Mark E. Smith's lyrics seem almost introspective... as if these were life changing experiences.
4) lyrically, the album seems very "personal", i.e., lived through by Smith as opposed to the usual "stream of consciousness" word of play. not better or worse but different. ok, better.
5) did I mention that the album flat out rocks, whether songs are "fast" or not, i.e., soft or hard?
6) lastly, without being a "Fall" Fan, the album sounds great & youthful though there are hints of estrangement & "jadedness" i.e. you know.,. "youthfulness" throughout.
7) Matador Records & Gerard Cosloy would have loved to release this album instead of the one they did. just saying.
8) have you listened lately to latter day Fall Albums recently instead of always listening to "the Classic", early stuff? some of it is *really* fuckin' good :-)
Note: this is the opinion of a long-time Fall Fan, though not from the 1st album... don't really remember, maybe "This Nations Saving Grace."
Mark E. Smith (Frontman of The Fall) - Favourite Meal: "Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes"
allan smithee Sep 17 1:25 PM
"Mark E. Smith has gone from loathsome yet charming-like eccentric to disgusting & deplorable human being as evidenced by some recent behaviour such as wearing wet urine-stained trousers on stage at the Glastonbury Festival while The Fall performed. It also wouldn't surprise me to find out he's a bit of a 'poofter' nowadays."
Who Said This?
A) Sir Elton John
B) Paul Francis Gadd, aka "Gary Glitter," Prisoner at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight, Convicted of Sexual Abuse Agaist Minors
C) Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys fame
D) Noel Gallagher, formerly of Oasis
E) Brix Smith, former Fall member and ex-wife of Fall Frontman Mark E. Smith, now budding Author & Performance Artist
F) FallNet Consensus ;-)
..........
Jeff Curtis Sep 17 1:38 PM
>Who Said This?
Hillary Clinton.
JC
wwalters Sep 17 1:58 PM
> "Mark E. Smith has gone from loathsome yet charming-like eccentric to disgusting"
Mark E. Smith has gone from loathsome yet charming-like eccentric to disgustingdeplorable human being as evidenced by some recent behaviour such as wearing wet urine-stained trousers on stage at the Glastonbury Festival while The Fall performed.
It also wouldn't surprise me to find out he's a bit of a 'poofter' nowadays."Who Said This?
A) Sir Elton JohnBitchy old queen so possible -- but would the great man deign to comment on somebody so far down the biz sleb alphabet?
B) Paul Francis Gadd, aka "Gary Glitter," Prisoner at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight,Doesn't sound like my good friend and yours The Lead-uh!
Convicted of Sexual Abuse Agaist Minors
.
C) Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys fameYeah. might be. Possible bitchy old queen PLUS he once described his pop band as a "project" therefore instantly achieving cunt-status. Nothing better to do that comment on other elderly pop persons.
D) Noel Gallagher, formerly of Oasis
He wouldn't describe anyone as "deplorable"
(hANG ON - IS THIS A TRICK QUESTION? wAS IT hILLARY cLINTON?)
E) Brix Smith, former Fall member and ex-wife of Fall Frontman Mark E. Smith,
& now budding Author & Performance ArtistCould be her. She's touting her bokke isn't she. Apart from that circumstantial evidence I'd say (hope) not.
F) FallNet Consensus ;-)Not unless it's in one of the 102 unread.
So I go for Neil fucking Tennant
wwalters Sep 17 2:07 PM
>Hillary Clinton.
>JC
Bingo. We've got a F*llnet Consensus.
Also she's obviously MES's twin:
1. Past-it physical wreck who keeps falling over
2. Drugged up.
3. Plays to tiny audiences
4. Notorious bursts of anger and forgetting the lyrics
5. Mysterious accidents and broken bones.
6. Leaks top secret intel reports
7. stupid trousers.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Recent Comments During Past Month or So Left on Various Fave Blogs
Allan Smithee Saturday, September 24, 2016 1:18 AM
I *always* laugh to myself when you bitch & moan about the death of "rock criticism"... cause you're generally referring to tangible print but man Sweeney, your "rock writing" is always good, if not, at least intelligent & generally entertaining. Regards.
"Allan Smithee" says:
#1 9/5/2016 at 5:59 pm
this comment is off-topic but was curious none-the-less. am currently listening to a couple of fave cds (Matador Artists coincidently, Chavez to be specific) and was wondering since you are in the “biz”… sometimes it takes me quite a few listens to really begin to enjoy some recently released or even "old" music, Pavement’s Wowee Zowee for example. So I was wondering, how you also begin to enjoy some "difficult" music when I’m sure there is *always* more “product” to hear. thx.
GC says:
#2 9/6/2016 at 2:36
you’re 100% correct, this is very off-topic.
I listen to a lot of stuff, old and new. Not all of it particularly related to the projects I’m working on and rarely with the mindset that I’m “scouting” or sniffing or snorting for whoever or whatever. I’m not gonna tell you that everything I’ve ever liked hit me immediately or that certain bands or records aren’t something of an acquired taste, nor can I claim to be the most open-minded listener with the widest musical background (though it’s probably a lot wider in 2016 than it was in 1986).
I try not to think of the “product” side of things when i’m trying to appreciate a composition, a performance and a recording (in that order). That doesn’t mean I’m not mindful of the fact records we’re working on, stuff we’ve commissioned, etc. has a commercial expectation slightly beyond that of The Haters’ ‘Wind Licked Dirt’.
"Allan Smithee" says:
#3 9/6/2016 at 5:45 pm
One last thing. Know you currently reside in Austin. Here in Philadelphia, seems most of our Record Stores have closed & just disappeared almost overnight. Sorta sad.
GC says:
#4 9/7/2016 at 1:02 am
frustrating for sure. However, you still have Philadelphia Record Exchange!
..........
Allan Smithee
Tuesday, August 23, 2016 4:16 AM
Top notch stuff Sweeney. Glad Philebrity is back, but what took you so long? All the staff quit over the summer? ;-) Also, glad you mentioned the "Jeweler's Row" Tear Down... seems nobody in this City really gives a fuck about her history, read, Arch. History which is really strange :-/
..........
yes, Mag Earwhig! is great. also enjoy Sunfish Holy Breakfast & the collab between Pollard & Doug(forgot his last name) Speak Kindly. oh yeah, Tonics is a great GBV album
| Allan Smithee September 5th, 2016 at 9:14 pm
..........
You probably think I suck but I always really enjoyed Green Mind.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Schedule
Chemo Sessions - 8 (Tues.)
Started: Feb. 16th
Ended: April 20th
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Silent Saturday
“Now pay attention to this. God is nameless for no one can either speak of him or know him. Therefore a master says that what we can know or say of the First Cause reflects ourselves more than it does the First Cause, for this transcends all speech and all understanding . . . He is being beyond being: he is a nothingness beyond being. Therefore St. Augustine says: ‘The finest thing that we can say of God is to be silent concerning him from the wisdom of inner riches.’ Be silent therefore, and do not chatter about God, for by chattering about him, you tell lies and commit a sin. If you wish to be perfect and without sin, then do not prattle about God.”
― Meister Eckhart, Selected Writings
.............................................................................................................................................................
He Descended into Hell
Apostles' Creed Series, Sermon 7
In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
“He descended into hell.” We have to proceed with extreme caution when we dare to speak of divine things, and with all the more fear and trembling when we delve into mysteries about things like places of the dead, “that undiscovered country,” as Hamlet called it; and how much more about that mystifying time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, between the crucifixion and the resurrection. Meister Eckhart was a 13th century mystical theologian, and in a sermon one time said, “Don’t chatter about God; for when you chatter about him, you’re telling lies and sinning…”[i] Just by opening your mouth. He knew that there are certain mysteries that are unable to be uttered, and trying to was a sure path to error. He knew that his soul was in jeopardy every time he stepped into the pulpit—it was an occupational hazard; it still is. We speak of the inner life of God at great risk and must proceed with great humility.
“He descended into hell.” When this series of sermons began, the Rector mentioned how creedal affirmations – “I believe in” – are different than affirmations of propositions – “I believe that…” To believe in, is to trust, to have faith—typically, faith in a person. I believe in my brother; I know him deeply, I know how he thinks, I know his life. I don’t know what he’s going to do with his life—and apparently he doesn’t either—but I believe in him. Not because I added up all the evidence, and decided that believing in him was the most rational course of action; that’s certainly not the case. I believe in him, at root, because I love him. That might not have been clear from the way I treated him the first decade or so of his life, but it is true.
So if saying “I believe in” is different than saying “I believe that” – if it is, in fact, at root about love, what is it that we’re believing in, in this unpleasant clause in the Apostles’ Creed? What was it that the early Church found, what was it they experienced, that caused them to believe in Christ’s descent into hell?
There are multiple traditions, multiple ways of approaching this question. There is one school of thought in which Christ’s time in hell was a time of intense and glorious activity. In this telling, Jesus descended into hell with a sword, slew the devil, ending his reign, and unlocked the chains that kept the dead in hell. It was a victorious Christ, in other words, who descended into hell, bringing hope to the land of the dead, bringing light to the darkness, which could not overcome it. This is the heroic model of Christ, and it has its justifications in Scripture and tradition.
I want to suggest a slightly different reading, also affirmed in Scripture and tradition, though again I mention it only with the greatest hesitation and humility.[ii] The issue seems to me to turn on the question of whether Jesus was alive in hell; alive, and thus heroic. I submit that we take very seriously, that we take literally, last week’s creedal affirmation – Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried – and look at this week’s “descent” in light of it.
And it seems to me that, if we do that, and if next week’s clause is true—if what happened next was a true resurrection—then when Jesus went to the dead, he went as one of them. Those “spirits in prison” inhabiting hell had one thing in common: their being dead. And if Jesus was there in solidarity with them, if he was going to take on their nature, human nature, then he must have been there, with them, as one of them: which is to say, he must have been dead: crucified, dead, and buried.
The darkness of that Holy Saturday, then, that silent day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, comes from, it seems to me, this: that the Son of God was dead. If there was no death, there could be no resurrection. But if that’s the case—if the Son of God was dead—then along with the death of Christ on that Holy Saturday went the death of hope. The disciples watched the stone being rolled in front of the tomb with a devastating finality. After those years of ministry, his preaching of the good news—preaching that drew out “all of Jerusalem,” the Scriptures say, attracted crowds in the hundreds, in the thousands—after these words of life had been proclaimed, and community upon community filled with the expectation that this would change the world, that this would change everything—after this, then…nothing. The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did overcome it.
If he was not dead, if he did not suffer that fate, that would mean that in the human experience there are places to which Christ has not gone. If he has not shared in death, then he has not seen true desolation, true human desolation.
If, however, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, as Isaiah says, and if on him was laid the iniquity of us all,[iii] then Christ went to the dead as a citizen of hell. Not as an ambassador from the land of the living; he did not visit the dead, but was dead. Jesus went to the dead as their brother; he went as one of them; he became one with their state one with their alienation from the Father. He was there as guilty as they were; guilty, and dead of sin. Not sin of his own: he was made sin who knew no sin[iv]: he was guilty without transgression; guilty because he stood in front of the judge and cried:
Here am I; send me.
And sent he was.
And he descended.
We believe in Christ’s descent into hell because we trust. It is, at root, about love. We trust that in the broad and exhaustive overflow of God’s love for us there is not one single place that is too far, too dark, too sinful, too barren of hope, that God himself does not reside there. We trust that he is “Lord … of the living” and “of the dead.”[v] For the resurrection to mean anything besides spring time and flowers, we must have this: that Jesus went into the darkness, into the far country, the territory well beyond hope. So that there is no place we can ever go where he has not already been. Because he descended.
It wasn’t a victorious Jesus that descended into hell, but a defeated Jesus. Not an active Jesus, with a sword, but a passive one, slain. Not a spotless lamb, but one heaped with the stain of sin, the sin of the whole world. Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father, having been utterly abandoned by the Father, was dead: and he descended into hell.
Thanks be to God.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Amen.
....................................................................................................................................
Saint Thomas Church
Fifth Avenue - New York City
Sermon Archive
Sunday March 13, 2011
4:00 pm
Preacher: Fr Daniels
[i] The sermon is found in the volume on Meister Eckhart in the “Classics of Western Spirituality” series (Paulist Press, 1981), 177.
[ii] This reading bears the influence of Hans Urs von Balthasar, especially in Mysterium Paschale,trans. Aidan Nichols, O.P. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000 [1970]). Though von Balthasar’s work has been extremely well-received in both Roman Catholic and Anglican theological circles, his reading of the descendit remains controversial. In the pro-Balthasar camp, see Edward T. Oakes, “The Internal Logic of Holy Saturday in the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar,” International Journal of Systematic Theology 9 (2007), 184-99; in the anti-Balthasar camp, see especially Alyssa Lyra Pitstick, Light In Darkness: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Catholic Doctrine of the Descent into Hell (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007).
[iii] Isaiah 53:4, 6.
[iv] 1 Corinthians 5:21
[v] Romans 14:9.
― Meister Eckhart, Selected Writings
Apostles' Creed Series, Sermon 7
“He descended into hell.” We have to proceed with extreme caution when we dare to speak of divine things, and with all the more fear and trembling when we delve into mysteries about things like places of the dead, “that undiscovered country,” as Hamlet called it; and how much more about that mystifying time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, between the crucifixion and the resurrection. Meister Eckhart was a 13th century mystical theologian, and in a sermon one time said, “Don’t chatter about God; for when you chatter about him, you’re telling lies and sinning…”[i] Just by opening your mouth. He knew that there are certain mysteries that are unable to be uttered, and trying to was a sure path to error. He knew that his soul was in jeopardy every time he stepped into the pulpit—it was an occupational hazard; it still is. We speak of the inner life of God at great risk and must proceed with great humility.
“He descended into hell.” When this series of sermons began, the Rector mentioned how creedal affirmations – “I believe in” – are different than affirmations of propositions – “I believe that…” To believe in, is to trust, to have faith—typically, faith in a person. I believe in my brother; I know him deeply, I know how he thinks, I know his life. I don’t know what he’s going to do with his life—and apparently he doesn’t either—but I believe in him. Not because I added up all the evidence, and decided that believing in him was the most rational course of action; that’s certainly not the case. I believe in him, at root, because I love him. That might not have been clear from the way I treated him the first decade or so of his life, but it is true.
So if saying “I believe in” is different than saying “I believe that” – if it is, in fact, at root about love, what is it that we’re believing in, in this unpleasant clause in the Apostles’ Creed? What was it that the early Church found, what was it they experienced, that caused them to believe in Christ’s descent into hell?
There are multiple traditions, multiple ways of approaching this question. There is one school of thought in which Christ’s time in hell was a time of intense and glorious activity. In this telling, Jesus descended into hell with a sword, slew the devil, ending his reign, and unlocked the chains that kept the dead in hell. It was a victorious Christ, in other words, who descended into hell, bringing hope to the land of the dead, bringing light to the darkness, which could not overcome it. This is the heroic model of Christ, and it has its justifications in Scripture and tradition.
I want to suggest a slightly different reading, also affirmed in Scripture and tradition, though again I mention it only with the greatest hesitation and humility.[ii] The issue seems to me to turn on the question of whether Jesus was alive in hell; alive, and thus heroic. I submit that we take very seriously, that we take literally, last week’s creedal affirmation – Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried – and look at this week’s “descent” in light of it.
And it seems to me that, if we do that, and if next week’s clause is true—if what happened next was a true resurrection—then when Jesus went to the dead, he went as one of them. Those “spirits in prison” inhabiting hell had one thing in common: their being dead. And if Jesus was there in solidarity with them, if he was going to take on their nature, human nature, then he must have been there, with them, as one of them: which is to say, he must have been dead: crucified, dead, and buried.
The darkness of that Holy Saturday, then, that silent day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, comes from, it seems to me, this: that the Son of God was dead. If there was no death, there could be no resurrection. But if that’s the case—if the Son of God was dead—then along with the death of Christ on that Holy Saturday went the death of hope. The disciples watched the stone being rolled in front of the tomb with a devastating finality. After those years of ministry, his preaching of the good news—preaching that drew out “all of Jerusalem,” the Scriptures say, attracted crowds in the hundreds, in the thousands—after these words of life had been proclaimed, and community upon community filled with the expectation that this would change the world, that this would change everything—after this, then…nothing. The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did overcome it.
If he was not dead, if he did not suffer that fate, that would mean that in the human experience there are places to which Christ has not gone. If he has not shared in death, then he has not seen true desolation, true human desolation.
If, however, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, as Isaiah says, and if on him was laid the iniquity of us all,[iii] then Christ went to the dead as a citizen of hell. Not as an ambassador from the land of the living; he did not visit the dead, but was dead. Jesus went to the dead as their brother; he went as one of them; he became one with their state one with their alienation from the Father. He was there as guilty as they were; guilty, and dead of sin. Not sin of his own: he was made sin who knew no sin[iv]: he was guilty without transgression; guilty because he stood in front of the judge and cried:
Here am I; send me.
And sent he was.
And he descended.
We believe in Christ’s descent into hell because we trust. It is, at root, about love. We trust that in the broad and exhaustive overflow of God’s love for us there is not one single place that is too far, too dark, too sinful, too barren of hope, that God himself does not reside there. We trust that he is “Lord … of the living” and “of the dead.”[v] For the resurrection to mean anything besides spring time and flowers, we must have this: that Jesus went into the darkness, into the far country, the territory well beyond hope. So that there is no place we can ever go where he has not already been. Because he descended.
It wasn’t a victorious Jesus that descended into hell, but a defeated Jesus. Not an active Jesus, with a sword, but a passive one, slain. Not a spotless lamb, but one heaped with the stain of sin, the sin of the whole world. Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father, having been utterly abandoned by the Father, was dead: and he descended into hell.
Thanks be to God.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Amen.
Saint Thomas Church
Fifth Avenue - New York City
Sermon Archive
Sunday March 13, 2011
4:00 pm
Preacher: Fr Daniels
[i] The sermon is found in the volume on Meister Eckhart in the “Classics of Western Spirituality” series (Paulist Press, 1981), 177.
[ii] This reading bears the influence of Hans Urs von Balthasar, especially in Mysterium Paschale,trans. Aidan Nichols, O.P. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000 [1970]). Though von Balthasar’s work has been extremely well-received in both Roman Catholic and Anglican theological circles, his reading of the descendit remains controversial. In the pro-Balthasar camp, see Edward T. Oakes, “The Internal Logic of Holy Saturday in the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar,” International Journal of Systematic Theology 9 (2007), 184-99; in the anti-Balthasar camp, see especially Alyssa Lyra Pitstick, Light In Darkness: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Catholic Doctrine of the Descent into Hell (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007).
[iii] Isaiah 53:4, 6.
[iv] 1 Corinthians 5:21
[v] Romans 14:9.
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Listicle Listening - Recent Music
Sonic Youth: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, Daydream Nation, Sister, Evol, Ciccone Youth - The Whitey Album
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: Safe as Milk, Lick My Decals Off , Baby
Guided by Voices: Vampire on Titus, Under the Bushes Under the Stars, Robert Pollard: Not In My Airforce, Waved Out, Kid Marine, Bee Thousand (Director's Cut)
The Replacements: Hootenanny (Expanded Edition), Don't Tell A Soul, All Shook Down, EP - Stink (EP), 3 Song EP Don't Buy or Sell, It's Crap, Paul Westerberg - 14 Songs, Eventually, Suicaine Gratifaction, Folker, plus Covers of "Make Your Own Kind of Music" (Flexi-Disc), "Positively 4th Street", "All I Really Want To Do", PW in Concert - Songs Covered: Day Dream Believer, I Wanna Be Your Dog, w/ The Replacements in Concert: Jumpin' Jack Flash, Light My Fire, Sweet Home Alabama, I Can See For Miles, Gimme Shelter, Tush, w/ Dave Minehan in Concert: Turning Japanese & Death of a Clown, plus Replacements & Paul Westerberg on separate episodes of SNL (on YouTube) with guest hosts Harry Dean Stanton & Charlton Heston
Note: Hat-Tip to Large Hearted Boy (Blog) re: St. Vincent - Emotional Rescue Video
Friday, March 11, 2016
Bedside Books Currently Reading
Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2016
Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello
Published by Blue Rider Press, New York, 2015
Free Library Books on Reserve:
Umberto Eco - "Misreadings"
Umberto Eco - "The Island of the Day Before"
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Listicle Listening - Recent Music
Beastie Boys: Check Your Head & Ill Communication (both w/Japanese Bonus Tracks), The Mix-Up (plus The Mix-Up Bonus Track EP), Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (plus assorted bonus tracks), Hello Nasty, To The 5 Boroughs (Plus 5 B-Sides), Paul's Boutique, Rock Hard EP, Licensed to Ill, The In Sound from Way Out!
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Listicle Listening - Recent Music
The Fall - The Unutterable, Re-Mit, Sub-Lingual Tablet, Your Future Our Clutter, Live At The Witch Trials, Imperial Wax Solvent, The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click), Reformation! Post TLC, Are You Are Missing Winner, Extricate, Fall Heads Roll, Shift-Work, Code: Selfish
Guided by Voices - Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, King Shit & The Golden Boys, Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer EP, Sunfish Holy Breakfast, Tigerbomb 7", Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard: Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department, In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker 1984 - 1993, Mag Earwhig!
Will Oldham - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: S/T [Full Album], Palace Music: Lost Blues and Other Songs, Palace Music: Arise Therefore, Palace Brothers: Days in the Wake, W.O./B.P.B.: Joya,
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night, with Crazy Horse: Ragged Glory, w/ C.H.: Zuma, w/ C.H.: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, w/ C.H.: Rust Never Sleeps, Harvest, Comes a Time, On the Beach, Time Fades Away, After the Gold Rush
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Mental Menu for Hunger Pains: Dream Day Nation - 3 Months Sans Solid Food & Drink :-/
Roast Beef, Havarti Cheese, Avocado, Tomato, Mustard, & Small Amount of Mayo on Whole Wheat or Hoagie Bread (Toasted, Natch);
Bagel, Tomato, Bacon, Egg, Cheese, [Avocado Optional];
Steak, Corn Tortillas (Flour Torts - Diff Meal), Good Cheese, Salsa, Avocado;
FF, Onion Rings, dbl Hamburger Patties, Good Cheese, Potato Roll NOT Hamburger Buns, Bacon, Either Avocado or BBQ Sauce... Try One of Each During a Sitting;
Dbl Meat Chili-Cheeseburger :-)
Bacon, Good Cheese, Egg, Avocado on Roll;
1st or 2nd Available Saturday go to Best Deli on LeHigh Ave & Buy Deli Meats Plus Pickles;
Liverwurst, Raw Onion, Mustard, on Rye Bread; Chips plus Pickles too!!
Flour tortillas;
Yellow Rice, Beans, Sausage... Would Be good w/Flour Tortillas Too;
Canned Chili, Fritos, Cooked Onions for Tx F. Pie;
Make BBQ Chicken. Find Easy Recipe on Internet;
French Toast (good bread) w/ Side of Bacon & Sausage, & Top w/ Fried Egg or 2;
Hoagie Roll, Avocado, Tomato, Sausage, Egg, Cheese;
Grilled Hot Dogs w/ Sauerkraut plus Fried/Raw Onions, Mustard; Baked Beans, Potato Salad;
Pigs in a Blanket Plus Mustard Dip!!
Buy Some Canned Smoked Oysters & Canned Sardines in Mustard etc;
Frozen Mussels & Toasted Bread;
Quick Snack: Frozen Burritos, Good Cheese, Salsa, Avocado;
QS: Frozen Pot Stickers & Egg Rolls;
PB&J: Peanut Butter, Strawberry Jam, Good Bread, & Pringles Potato Crisps;
Nachos: Tortilla Chips, Mashed Beans, Various Cheeses, Onions, Jalapenos, Avocados, Sour Cream, Tomatoes;
Taquitos w/ Guacamole & Salsa;
Salsa vs Pico de Gallo;
Cheese Fries;
Bakery on Lehigh Ave near Green Rock Tavern;
Get Hoagie Sandwich or Two (All Cheese Hoagie & Pastrami/Cole Slaw on Toasted Rye) @Best Deli (Lehigh Ave) So Good/Reasonable Priced;
Bottle of Sriracha Sauce;
Cheese Biscuits;
B. Chicken Wings w/White Rice;
Make Some Rice Dishes;
Meatball Hoagie w/Cheese plus FF or Potato Chips;
Cauliflower & Broccoli w/Dip Plus Some Carrots, Celery & Cheese;
Sandwich: Salad Bag, Veggies, Humus, Avocado, Hearty Multi-Grain Bread (Toasted);
White Rice, Soy Sauce, Froz. Veggies, &/Sausage;
Try TALEGGIO Cheese Combo-ed w/ Pesto;
Artichoke Tomato Soup (Add Meatballs too);
Remember to Top Pizza w/ a Couple of Fried Eggs;
Order "Seafood" Hoagie @Wawa (yes, I know the crab is imitation but still good)
Make Broccoli & Cheese Toast;
Buy Bag of Frozen Tater-Tots @Groc. Store;
Eat Mom's Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies & Cheese Straws plus
Chocolate Chip Cookies For Good Measure :-)
.......................................
Previously: Memo City ("Hummingbird Special Diet")
Cheese Fries;
Bakery on Lehigh Ave near Green Rock Tavern;
Get Hoagie Sandwich or Two (All Cheese Hoagie & Pastrami/Cole Slaw on Toasted Rye) @Best Deli (Lehigh Ave) So Good/Reasonable Priced;
Bottle of Sriracha Sauce;
Cheese Biscuits;
B. Chicken Wings w/White Rice;
Make Some Rice Dishes;
Meatball Hoagie w/Cheese plus FF or Potato Chips;
Cauliflower & Broccoli w/Dip Plus Some Carrots, Celery & Cheese;
Sandwich: Salad Bag, Veggies, Humus, Avocado, Hearty Multi-Grain Bread (Toasted);
White Rice, Soy Sauce, Froz. Veggies, &/Sausage;
Try TALEGGIO Cheese Combo-ed w/ Pesto;
Artichoke Tomato Soup (Add Meatballs too);
Remember to Top Pizza w/ a Couple of Fried Eggs;
Order "Seafood" Hoagie @Wawa (yes, I know the crab is imitation but still good)
Make Broccoli & Cheese Toast;
Buy Bag of Frozen Tater-Tots @Groc. Store;
Eat Mom's Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies & Cheese Straws plus
Chocolate Chip Cookies For Good Measure :-)
.......................................
Previously: Memo City ("Hummingbird Special Diet")
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
GoComics.com
Having trouble either setting up an account to comment with or have not been able to recover my password. Please assist. Thank you.
...............................................................................
Note: No response from Corp. Office after one month [shrugs shoulders]
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Gravitational waves: The Holy Grail of Modern Physics
"It's [LIGO, the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory] so precise it can detect changes the size of a soccer ball in the entire Milky Way galaxy." ~ Szabolcs Marka, (Physics Professor at Columbia University)
"Gravitational waves, when we discover them, will open a new window on the universe," Marka told CNN's Rachel Crane. "We will be able to study not just Einstein's general relativity -- we'll be able to find objects we only imagined would exist. We should see a universe that has never been observed before."
LIGO is described in a statement as "two identical detectors carefully constructed to detect incredibly tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves," one located in Louisiana, the other in Washington State. The project was created by scientists from Caltech and MIT and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Note: Click Title Link For Complete CNN Science Article & Video
More: Einstein Called It - Here's What To Read Via Digg.com
More, Cont.: The Real Meaning of Einstein - All Physics Is Local (TheAtlantic.com)
"Gravitational waves, when we discover them, will open a new window on the universe," Marka told CNN's Rachel Crane. "We will be able to study not just Einstein's general relativity -- we'll be able to find objects we only imagined would exist. We should see a universe that has never been observed before."
LIGO is described in a statement as "two identical detectors carefully constructed to detect incredibly tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves," one located in Louisiana, the other in Washington State. The project was created by scientists from Caltech and MIT and funded by the National Science Foundation.
More: Einstein Called It - Here's What To Read Via Digg.com
More, Cont.: The Real Meaning of Einstein - All Physics Is Local (TheAtlantic.com)
Monday, February 8, 2016
Love / Hate
His awkwardness along with seemingly condescending and cold look on his face is enough to keep some from talking to him, "Arrogant" is among the adjectives people think of him the most. There seems to be deep thought and curiosity etched in his face quite frequently. He looks like he is always contemplating something, As though he might take everything literally to the bone and he might misunderstand any figurative speech, He radiates intelligence. However it is sometimes masked by geekiness. In some eyes and in some circumstances these go hand in hand. They do in this case. He obsesses over the most minuscule subjects and over-analyzes the single detail he is currently examining. He may look quite simple and straightforward, but when you dig beneath the surface you find all of the fascinating flaws and strengths that make him quietly shine.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Liquid Sky
“Liquid Sky” has a pre-apocalyptic feel of the Cold War sci-fi with the slickness of much more expensive films like its contemporary “Blade Runner,” but the budget (about a half-million) nearly sparked a mutiny. “The crew was paid very little and they did revolt at one point over the food,” Carlisle says. “They were worked day and night. We worked terrible hours. That the film got made at all was a miracle. It was really — at one point, I was arguing with them, we’re making art here and you’re worried about food. And he said you’re making art here. We want pizza!”
Unlike Ridley Scott’s film, “Liquid Sky” was shot through with a kind of self-deprecating, New York Jewish humor. A rumpled, hapless professor (the lanky Otto von Wehnherr) is on the trail of the alien spacecraft and bumbles his way through the jaded world, where few believe or even care that there might be visitors feeding on the heat of human sexual climax. They’re fixated on their next score, or on Chinese take out.
The film, released in the summer of ’82 at media-heavy film festivals, beginning in Montreal, quickly became a minor sensation. This was the height of the second British cultural invasion (Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran) which was of a piece with Carlilse’s androgyny and gear. It played at the Waverly Theater in New York City for about four years and Carlisle became a star, posing in and out of male drag for (warning: link NSFW) one of Playboy’s strangest photo shoots.
However, neither Carlisle nor Tsukerman let go of Margaret. Carlisle wrote a novel based on her character and Tsukerman began piecing together material designed to document the making of the film, whose status as both a prescient New York story and a fashion touchstone has grown over the years (a Liquid Sky boutique on Manhattan’s Lafayette Street operated for a while). The soundtrack by the un-trained Tsukerman — loud, atonal but funky — inspired the more abrasive elements of the Electroclash movement of the late ’90s.
Innovative and influential as it is, one would assume that Liquid Sky is in the queue to become part of the permanent collection of the Criterion Editions or even MOMA, but in reality the original 35 mm film stock is decaying. “We need money,” Carlisle says. Tsukerman is racing time to raise the funds to restore the film, planning both a crowdfunding endeavor and completion on the documentary. Meanwhile there’s a sequel in the works — its working title is “Vagina Warriors.”
“We’re writing the script,” says Tsukerman. “We’ve stayed friends.” Carlisle is guarded about the story, but will say, “Margaret comes back and she changes other women.”
Liquid Sky is one of the most visually ambitious films ever made about fashion, heroin, New Wave clubs, UFO saucers, ordering Chinese food and having them put it on your tab, the Empire State Building, androgyny, neon and tin foil. The 1982 cult classic may be the perfect embodiment of camp. Unlike contemporary low-budget cinema, which prizes an aesthetic of apathy, Liquid Sky makes its efforts visible. Judgmental fashion reporters cackle straight into the camera. Catwalk scenes take place in rooms both comically small and accurately sized to real New York spaces. And the slang-heavy dialogue, which the director Slava Tsukerman credits largely to the main actress and co-screenwriter Anne Carlisle, is bold and delightfully stilted:
"So I was taught that I should come to New York, become an independent woman. And my prince would come, and he would be an agent, and he would get me a role, and I would make my living waiting on tables. I would wait—till thirty, till forty, till fifty. And I was taught that to be an actress, one should be fashionable, and to be fashionable is to be androgynous. And I am androgynous not less than David Bowie himself. And they call me beautiful, and I kill with my cunt. Isn't it fashionable? Come on, who's next?" --Margaret
Note: Click Here For James Ramsay Interview / Chat With Liquid Sky Director Slava Tsukerman
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Listicle Listening - Recent Music
(*) Lots of Yes
(*) Led Zeppelin - All 8 Studio Albums plus Coda
(*) Pink Floyd - Animals, The Wall, The Final Cut
(*) Rush - A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres, 2112, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures,
(*) The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet, Black & Blue, 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!', Aftermath (British Version)
(*) Elvis Costello - Get Happy!!, Taking Liberties, Imperial Bedroom
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Cookie Gate
Except for a 2-3 week period spent at the rehab facility "Power Back," I have mostly been a bed-ridden patient @Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia following the surgical removal of a cancer tumor directly underneath the right-side jaw joint the day before Thanksgiving, 2015.
Anyways, the Nurses just voted (Tues. & Wed.) to unionize, and the results were not really surprising. They voted yes, pro union. Congratulations.
Note: Click Title Link for Humorous "Cookie-Gate" & Anti-Union Action by Hospital Administrators.
Anyways, the Nurses just voted (Tues. & Wed.) to unionize, and the results were not really surprising. They voted yes, pro union. Congratulations.
Note: Click Title Link for Humorous "Cookie-Gate" & Anti-Union Action by Hospital Administrators.
Monday, January 18, 2016
(*) [Name Redacted] Update
[Name Redacted] Update: Had two surgeries today. First removed a remaining wisdom tooth that had been bothering me for last few years ie lotsa swelling & probable cause of "30 day lock-jaw" episodes. Real relief to finally have that prob fixed. 2nd surgery was installation of a "port" which makes treatment easier. Will start radiation soon. Daily sans wkends for 6 wks. Chemo is once a wk for 6 wks too. Am sure will be a struggle but cancer was found very early so I expect to be a "cancer survivor" like my sister Kimberly, the Warrior :-) Also, I miss you all, the good people! Take Care & Best Regards - [Name Redacted]
(*) Thursday, Jan. 14th, 8:17pm
(*) Thursday, Jan. 14th, 8:17pm
Friday, January 15, 2016
(*) New Phone #, Txt Conversation, Other Stuff etc.
Allan Smithee: "Hello. [Name Redacted] here. This is my new phone/txt number. As with all things you love, please use responsibly. Thanks."
Debbie: "Wow what happen to the other phone"
Deb: "Hello"
AS: "Ha. Good news. I was gifted an iPhone recently :-)"
AS: "I'm still a little slow though"
Deb: "Lmao"
Deb: "When are you coming home"
AS: "Seems like never. Am at hospital again. Blacked out yesterday at Doctors office"
Deb: "On no hope you are OK"
AS: "I'm fine now. Seems if something can go wrong lately, it will."
(*) Tues, Jan. 12th, 7:40pm
Debbie: "Wow what happen to the other phone"
Deb: "Hello"
AS: "Ha. Good news. I was gifted an iPhone recently :-)"
AS: "I'm still a little slow though"
Deb: "Lmao"
Deb: "When are you coming home"
AS: "Seems like never. Am at hospital again. Blacked out yesterday at Doctors office"
Deb: "On no hope you are OK"
AS: "I'm fine now. Seems if something can go wrong lately, it will."
(*) Tues, Jan. 12th, 7:40pm
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Friday, January 8, 2016
Daily Specials - Facility Menu
Friday 1/8/2016
Bean & Bacon Soup
Shepherds Pie
Dinner Roll
Golden Carmel Cake
Breakfast
Breakfast
Orange Juice
Oatmeal
Scrambled Eggs
Cheese Danish
Lunch
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Stuffed Green Pepper
Rice
Butterscotch Pudding with Cherry
Dinner
Maple Sage Turkey
Cranberry Maple Glaze
Savory Stuffing
Biscuit
Coconut Cake
**Menu Subject to Change due to Dietary Restrictions**
Breakfast
Beef Barley Soup
Chicken & Dumplings
Seasoned Peas
Frosted Brownie
Monday, January 4, 2016
Daily Specials - Facility Menu
Monday 1/4/2016
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Italian Sausage Sub w/ Peppers & Onions
Tater Tots w/ Ketchup
Cheesecake Tart
Saturday 1/2/2016
Cream Of Potato
Hot Dog on Bun w/ Mustard & Relish
Power Pickle
Baked Beans
Mandarin Oranges
Today's Lunch Special
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Friday 1/1/2016
Bean & Bacon Soup
Hot Turkey Sandwich w/ Poultry Gravy
Fresh Mashed Potatoes
Peaches & Cream Bar