Bob

BOB from Jacob Frey on Vimeo.

Watch till just past the credits!

Beautiful

Yesterday was a very rough and disappointing day. Forgive me if this seems rather like a jilted lover playing sad love songs over and over again, but I actually find this song to be a bit of a pickmeup. Sappy perhaps, but it's a good reminder of that a bad day doesn't mean you're a complete failure. Rough day but life goes on and as cliche as may sound now, it does get better. God bless.

UPDATE: I'm okay. After an arduous and lengthy application process I didn't get the "dream job" yesterday that I had been hoping to get. It was like a big kick in the gut after spending so much time over so many months prepping. Even so, I'm regrouping and am going to give 'em hell next year when I reapply.

Edward VIII: The Traitor King

I don't know how I missed this documentary back in 1995, but I just recently came across it. I had heard about Edward VIII's pro-Nazi sympathies before but never to this extent. Conspiring with the enemy to subvert the British government in time of war? Possibly giving military information to the enemy? Wow. If these and other charges made against the ex-king are true than he was indeed a disgraceful traitor, as despicable as Benedict Arnold was. That this documentary was produced by Channel 4, a publicly-owned station in the Britain, only adds to the astonishing nature of this film.

This documentary can be found entirely online at YouTube, which the above is just the first part of. You can find the remaining 10 parts by clicking here.

The End of the World

Part 2; Part 3; Part 4.

I happened to stumble across these videos which are apparently the final part of Terry Jone's Barbarians series. I must say that I am very pleased to see Jones again, having thoroughly loved his work on Monty Python, and was surprised to see that he has become something of a popular historian on British TV as he has done more than just this series here. I now have a few more videos saved to watch later with Jones.

As for this particular series, while the videos in this post are from the final part they can stand alone from what I can tell and are still quite enjoyable. Jones does a good job in speaking to his audience and telling a version of the history of the Huns and Vandals that may be unfamiliar to many. While I didn't find his revisionist history about Attila to be all that convincing, he did make some very good points about Genseric and the Vandals. Their sack of Rome in 455 while not bloodless doesn't appear to have been as horrible as popular history claims, they just did a better job of extracting the city's valuables than did others. Genseric also had an interesting claim causus belli in that the treaty he had signed with Emperor Valentinian III which betrothed their children was nullified when he was overthrown and murdered. Eudocia, daughter of the murdered Valentinian III and betrothed to Genseric's son, appealed to the Vandals for rescue from the usurper. This puts the 455 sack into different perspective once these facts are known in my view. Anyways, this part was enjoyable and I recommend watching them. I'm going to slowly watch the other parts and complete the series as soon as I can. Enjoy!

The Forgotten Refugees

Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5.

No matter what your views are on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, this documentary tells about an important part of it that is usually overlooked or is completely unknown by too many. A well-made and very interesting film.

You can also buy the DVD at Amazon here.

The Rise & Fall of Oliver Cromwell

Very good documentary with David Starkey about that brutal Roundhead, bane of Irish Catholics and even British Anglicans.



Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5.

Kevin Roose on "The Unlikely Disciple"

Great talk by Kevin Roose about his book The Unlikely Disciple:

Kevin Roose at Gel 2010 (author, The Unlikely Disciple) from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Fr. Mychal's Prayer

Nice prayer from the late Fr. Mychal Judge that I found at a website dedicated to his memory:

Lord, take me where You want me to go,
let me meet who You want me to meet,
tell me what You want me to say,
and keep me out of Your way.

These good folks at Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City were kind enough to turn Fr. Mychal's prayer into a decent hymn:

Remembering 9/11

I honestly didn't want to remember this day. Nevertheless, the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 has come. God help us all and continue comforting the families of the fallen. For E. at the Pentagon that day, may his soul rest in peace.

Franciscan Father Mychal Judge, chaplain to the Fire Department of New York, was in one of the Twin Towers ministering to the injured when an object fell on him, killing him. Fireman carried his body into St. Peter’s church.

"The firemen in shock came in with the priest’s body," Father Rutler recalled. "He was the first officially recorded death. They put his body in front of the altar. It was very moving. There is a picture of the Crucifixion over the altar. I remember blood coming down the altar steps. I shall always remember that scene."

Read the rest of Fr. Rutler's memories of 9/11 at the National Catholic Register. Pax vobiscum.

UPDATE: Box Turtle Bulletin has a good post today with more about Fr. Judge and others who lost their lives on 9/11.

UP-UPDATE: I highly recommend this excellent and moving documentary about the late Fr. Judge called Saint of 9/11. It can also be found online at YouTube, the first part of which starts here.

"St. Athanasius on Repentance"

I had mixed feelings watching this video from the series "Saints Speak" by Arcadia Films:

1. Intrigued by the concept. Who wouldn't want to hear the saints speak about various matters that concern each one of us?

2. Disturbed that thanks to actor Morten Kublick's very good looks, I'll never look at St. Athanasius the same way again. "Thou shalt not lust after saints" has got to be a corollary to at least one of the Commandments.

3. Amused at how incredibly over-the-top the music, acting and effects are. In a sense it's almost a pious version of Rocky Horror in that it is actually good because it's so bad. Only what am I supposed to throw at the screen instead of toast, rice and hot dogs? Rosary beads?

Eh, even with all of this this video and the others in the series will undoubtedly still inspire some folks so in spite of the unintentional humor that's good I suppose.

"Into the West"

When I heard this song in The Return of the King movie a few years ago, I thought that Annie Lennox had given a remarkable performance in her singing of it which I found to be quite moving. This is the first time that I've heard anyone else do almost a good a job as she did. He falters and starts out slow but eventually he hits the notes almost as well as Lennox did. The renowned Vienna Boys' Choir aside, this particular song seems to be tailor-made for a singing voice that women like Lennox can carry higher notes with amazingly well. However, this young man does a remarkable job with it and is truly blessed with a good voice.

Sister Wendy's Grand Tour of Rome

There is something about Sister Wendy's passion for art that I find to be captivating. It was good to be reminded of this particular video after seeing Rob Cain's old post about Bernini's masterpiece Apollo & Daphne.

"Joy" - Harry Nilsson

"Now, if you haven't got an answer, then you haven't got a question. If you never had a question, then you'd never have a problem. If you never had a problem, well then everyone would be happy. But if everyone was happy, there'd never be a love song."

If this isn't the perfect Country song, I don't know what is. What makes this song ever more humorous is the character "Joy" in the hit series My Name Is Earl, who definitely takes after the song.

UPDATE: Somehow I picked the lousiest version of this song from You Tube, so I switched it to the funny-sounding one here:

"Chasing Cars" - Snow Patrol

I just "re-discovered" this hit song on my iPod recently and have been listening to it a lot over the past few days. The video to this is so-so but the song itself is awesome!

Merry Christmas!!!

May God bless you and keep you in all your endeavors.

Funny Christmas prank!

The Beatles 3000

Pretty funny. A humorous reminder that some of what we think we know about the past may not be all that exact...

Ho Chi Minh's Biography

Interesting video about this infamous Vietnamese leader.

20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

It's hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the Berlin Wall fell. I was serving in the US Navy at the time and remember being stunned at the news. I honestly thought that the Cold War, even with perestroika having an impact on communist Europe, would drag on till I was an old man. I was very pleased to be proven wrong.

Ancient Sparta Repeals DADT

Pretty funny skit from SNL.