Seven Quick Takes (v 20): Smoke and Mirrors

--1--

Before I do any of these other takes, I'd like to point reader to a couple of good links concerning that "I hate religion" video which has (not surprisingly) gone viral on YouTube this week. The first is by Mr Marcel LeJeune. Preach it Marcel! The second is by my co-blogger at IGNITUM TODAY, Mr Marc Barnes. "Smackdown" much? Word (no, really, Logos, which is relevant to this whole discussion, no?). I've written a few posts on this theme before too, but not in the context of this particular video. It really is nothing new, other than that, in the words of Mr Barnes,

"He’s very, very wrong with some great video editing, good background music, a strong emotional appeal, catchy rhyme, and all in relatively well-timed YouTube moment. He’s wrong in style. When a man gains immense popularity by making blanket statements stylistically, how likely is it that his followers will read a rebuttal making specific statements prosaically?"

Go read the replies by Barnes and LeJeune. It's a tired (and tiring) false dichotomy that we must choose either Christ or religion; and though the creator(s) of this video never states it explicitly, it's fairly obvious in this case which religion he is especially targeting. By choosing Christ, we are choosing a religion. The question is how particular and how deep and thought-out and recognizable that religion is going to be.

--2--

Since I'm already mentioning Mr Barnes, allow me to point to another of his posts: this one about smoking pipe tobacco. Some friends of mine and I probably get together about every other week to smoke our pipes and discuss all things Catholic/literary/philosophical/theological/cultural/etc; so Marc, if you're ever in Austin, look me up. As an aside, I was talking to one of these friends--Mr Matthew Anderson--and he made this remark concerning smoking: cigarettes are for looking "cool" and "hip" and alone (and are generally disgusting to boot); cigars are for smoking when trying to appear as the man about the town, or the celebratory man, or for discussing politics and business. But pipes, these are for enjoying with friends and in conversation about the finer things, about philosophy or fantasy or art or culture. 'Tis the pipe that I like best.

--3--

I might add a second note to this effect: cigars seem to go well with whiskeys, maybe Bourbons and especially Scotches. Pipe tobacco I find can go well with these things, but with beer or spiced rum-and-root beer (or rum and cream soda, either of which is, incidentally, much better than rum and coke), or even some types of wine: depending on the type of tobacco you pick. Drink and smoke responsibly [:)] .

--4--

Cigar and scotch. Live jazz music in the background.

Ok, one last take about tobacco and booze. (I swear I don't smoke but maybe every other week, and drink more than but twice a week and in small quantities). For Christmas, I got my wife an incense censor (and a few incense blends, to include frankincense and myrrh, since we exchanged gifts on the feast of the epiphany). She got me a ticket to the Secret Society Adventures: Scotch. Cigars. Jazz, which I attended with my best friend (and fellow Nicene Guy) Mr Andrew Elster. There was a professional photographer on hand, so we'll have some photos of that in a few days. In the meantime, here are a couple from the event. The Scotch was great, the cigar was good, and the jazz was an excellent touch. The next one will be a jazz/swing dance themed thing, so we may be back (with our wives!) for more.

Andrew looking dapper as always

Just for fun: How a pipe-smoker gets started on cigars.

--5--

My wife, for her part, is contemplating doing the training to become a licensed massage therapist. This is so that in addition to offering voice and piano lessons, she can offer massages, and hopefully therefore supplement our income when we have children (especially if/when I'm still in graduate school when we start). This means that tonight we are going to a free session on ankle and foot massages. She is going to see if this is really something she wants to do (it's a big time-commitment for the next year, and it's not free or even cheap, but is rather an investment of sorts). I am going to be supportive.

--6--

My wife and I have been wanting to plan a short (weekend) camping trip for a while now. I've not been camping anywhere in Texas, though I used to go all the time in Oregon/California (though we did do some camping there last summer). Any recommendations for places within a few hours of Austin where we can pitch a tent, cook by fire, etc? Note that my wife hasn't done much camping, and that we probably won't be going until it warms up again anyway.

--7--

Classes begin this week. I'm not taking any classes this semester--I have a time conflict with the only one which looked interesting to me--but I am teaching a couple of section of physical science. Hopefully this semester will come with less stress than the last few have. In any case, when the semester begins, things start to get more complicated around here, kinda like this:



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Seven Quick Takes Friday is hosted by Mrs Jennifer Fulwiler at her Conversion Diary blog.