26 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 15: 99 bottles of Chianti on the wall, 99 bottles of Chianti...


 
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25 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 14: Seriously, a good option for alms giving




CAFOD is the aid agency for the Catholic church in England and Wales, and they've gotten the UK agency for international development to match donations for water projects in Uganda. Seems like a decent idea, even if the Ugandan government is dodgy. 
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24 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 13: Um, I think that's actually a dog.


 
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23 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 12: Let's keep this in mind for the other 325 days, too.


 
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22 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 11: They didn't say it was a good idea. 




I hadn't planned on back-to-back food posts, but found this too unusual to pass up. I really would like to know in what way is ketchup a Lenten idea - use it, give it up, add some reality to your passion play? Inquiring minds and all that.
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20 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 10: You've heard of vegetables, right?




This is actually something that hits close to home, as the wife doesn't really like fish (other than tuna out of a can). Her dinner this past Friday: an appetizer sampler with fries, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, and fried pickles (which she doesn't care for and give to me, to my everlasting thanks). Admittedly we were on the road and had fairly limited options (she was going to have pancakes, only the restaurant was out of batter)

Remember: a garden salad with beans is always a nice choice. Your local Indian restaurant will also have a number of tasty vegetarian dishes, which you can bulk out with paneer (a type of cheese), lentils (look for dal), or chickpeas (also used in dal sometimes, but usually called channa or chole). Just because it's Lent doesn't mean you can't widen your palate.
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19 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 9: Mixed messages

These appeared in order in my most recent search for Lenten tweets:


 




Which led me to think about the number of people who give up social medial for Lent. I can say anecdotally this is a growing thing, as it seems like I've seen more mention of it this year than last. Based on this article about Google's research into what people are giving up, there are four states where some form of social media topped the list.

I can see why this would be a popular choice - social media is time consuming (says the guy on his blog) and can be relentlessly negative. Taking some time away would give a person a chance to clear their minds and focus on the season. On the other hand, I did see one tweet (right when I started to think about this year's theme, which I forgot to save/bookmark/do whatever you do in Twitter to save posts) which wondered if Lent was the right time to abandon relationships, even digital ones, when they can be so supportive.

For me, I tend towards the latter camp (says the guy on his blog).  It's not that I don't think that giving up social media isn't worthy of Lent, as I do think it would provide a tangible loss (if not an actual physical sacrifice). But like many people I use social media to keep in touch with friends and family, and while I could do something crazy like actually call or write, I think the value of more frequent, less formal contact outweighs what good I could get from giving it up. But as they say online, YMMV (does anyone actually say that anymore?).
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18 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 8: Stay right there, Jesus is coming over from the last post with a special message.




I'm as much a fan of solid financial planning as the next guy, but maybe this isn't the best angle for drumming up business.
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17 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 7: Bernie Sanders approves! (Inasmuch as he can as a non-Christian).




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16 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 6: And if he doesn't... there are still 40 days in Lent.


 
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15 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 5: Thanks for the clarification!




There's always confusion about how Sundays fit into Lent, and this is a pretty good one sheet explanation of how things work. Those Canadians, always so helpful!

I was trying to find a tweet about Lent and Valentine's Day, but the first two that kind of fit the bill put me off of further searching:





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14 February 2016

With things heating up in the US Presidential primaries, it's time to give out the coveted Blogalicious endorsements.

On the Democratic side, Blogalicious endorses Bernie Sanders. We don't think he'd make a particularly great President, but do think he's spot on about the increasingly corruptive influence of dark money on politics and the burgeoning financial-governmental complex. A Sanders presidency would also make various GOP heads explode, which would be entertaining.

Speaking of the GOP, Blogalicious endorses John Kasich, due to his positive campaign and executive experience. He's not as moderate as portrayed - we think he gets the label by being graded on a curve, and he's been pretty conservative where abortion is involved - but is moderate enough that bipartisan governing is a possibility.  He's not exactly the candidate for this cycle where the party is concerned, but in the long term is more likely to attract independents and conservative Democrats, which will help in the swing states that someone like Ted Cruz is unlikely to win.

So there you go, endorsements for candidates who have almost no shot at winning - until now!
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13 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 4: Crossover episode!




Today's installment not only works for Lentorama but for the Book Log as well. It's actually an interesting list, with a couple of books that I've read but never considered in a Lenten context.
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12 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 3: Monetizing the suffering of our Lord!











Just three of the many tweets from companies who want to make a buck off of Catholics help maintain Lenten discipline.  Honestly, though, these may have helped, as there were very few "OMG, I ate meat!" tweets. But that could just be my lack of search skills on Twitter.
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11 February 2016

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Day 2: Clearly, someone is better at this than I am.




Yes, a Lenten bracket for saints. And to think how much time I've wasted here! Well done.
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10 February 2016

It looked for a while like this may be the year that Lentorama finally went by the wayside. I didn't even have any marginally interesting ideas, and didn't think anything I could come up with would reach even my incredibly modest goals for humor. But then I had an idea: why not let others come up with my entries for this year. Which is how we got to:

Lentorama 2016: #Lent

Yes, 40 days of letting someone else do the heavy lifting while all I do is search and repost the tweets that I like the best. Hope Twitter doesn't go under before we get to Easter!

Day 1: #AshWednesday



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01 February 2016

A few weeks back I was driving home from work and heard Adele's "Hello" and The Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me" back to back. Ever since then, I can't hear Adele's song without thinking she's singing from the point of view of the girl in "Don't Stand So Close to Me," who is trying to reconnect with the teacher from the song.

It's not a perfect fit, but I do get some humor out of thinking that the girl (now woman, really) is trying to get back in touch with the teacher, and maybe doesn't understand that the teacher would be reluctant to talk to the person over whom he (probably) threw away his career. No, he never did make it out of that town where nothing ever happens because he can't afford to move based on what he's making by working as Tesco. Not that it isn't his fault.
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Book Log 2016 #2: The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

So when we last left the Millennium trilogy the talk of a fourth book was stalled as Stieg Larsson's  long-time partner was in possession of a partial manuscript for a fourth book and all of Larsson's notes. But thanks to an improperly witnessed will, Larsson's estate was awarded to his father and brother. And with ownership of the series, they hired Lagercrantz to write this book.

And I'm not sure he was the best choice, based on the results. The book is OK, but it just feels like your average thriller steeped in the Edward Snowdon/shadowy intelligence community zeitgeist, but with the Millenium characters. It does set up the future conflict between Lisbeth Salander and her twin sister (who now heads the criminal empire started by their father), but I don't know if I'm all that interested in that story at this point.

I suppose it was too much to hope that all of the parties would get together and figure out a way to get the Millennium series written more towards what Larsson had in mind. But I hope that future attempts to cash in on the characters will be more of a piece with the original books.

(2016 Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book translated into English)
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26 January 2016

Book Log 2016 #1: Alex's Wake by Martin Goldsmith

The recent debate over whether or not the US should admit refugees from Syria saw a brief revival of interest in the SS St. Louis, a ship carrying Jewish refugees that was refused entry in a number of Western Hemisphere ports before returning to Germany, dooming many of its passengers to dying in a concentration camp. This book traces the journey of two of the passengers - the author's grandfather and uncle - as they left home in Germany, saw refuges slip through their fingers, and eventually wind up in Auschwitz, where they both perished.

Goldsmith makes this trip for a number of reasons, from honoring his family to confronting his own feelings about the Holocaust and the way average Germans did nothing while genocide unfolded around them. Most notably, he makes the trip as a way to make up for his parents' apparent lack of effort to get their family out of Germany before it was too late. It makes for a highly emotional tale, but one that pays off as the author and the many people he encounters along the way make some amount of peace with history.

That being said, I had a hard time connecting with the book until I got fairly deep into it. Not sure why; it could have been having to reconcile the travelogue/historical aspects of the book with the deeply personal tragedy, or just not having enough of a personal connection to get into it right away. I am happy that I stuck with it, though.

(2016 Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book about a road trip)
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01 January 2016

Book Log 2015 Extra: The 2015 Popsugar Reading Challenge

I tried to tailor my reading for 2015 to complete the reading challenge put out by Popsugar, but didn't quite finish. Which wasn't surprising, given some of the entries. So what didn't I read?

Classic romance - not a genre I typically read, so it wasn't shocking that I didn't read something here.

A book a friend recommended - kind of a ridiculous miss, as how hard would it have been to ask for recommendations on Facebook?

A book you mom loves - my mother's reading was almost exclusively of Harlequin romances, which she favored as it was easy to put them down when needed (she worked overnights at a nursing home, so the books filled the time between patient calls). She would occasionally branch out to the more popular romance authors, but rarely anything beyond. And as I've already noted that I'm not a romance person, it was unlikely that I'd read something to meet this part of the challenge.

A book that scares you - also not much of a horror reader. Or taking this in a different direction, I was apprehensive about tackling Moby Dick, and considering I've been a third of the way through it since March my apprehension was apparently correct.

A play - I started Othello, but didn't get that far into it. I should have chosen something contemporary.

A book that takes place in your hometown - my hometown has about 5500 people and is unlikely to be the setting for a novel (but a movie...). Even my current home, in a city of about 40,000, is an unlikely book setting. The 2016 challenge changes this to a book set in your home state, which will be much easier to complete.

A book that makes you cry - I don't know that I've ever cried while reading. It certainly didn't happen in 2015.

A book set in high school - another one that looks easy that I didn't knock off.

A book with bad reviews - I did try a bit to cross this off, but more often than not by retroactively checking reviews for books I didn't quite care for. That's probably not the best method.

A book that came out the year you were born - possibly the easiest entry that I didn't complete, given that there are several books that would fit the bill that I'd be interested in reading- A House for Mr. Biswas, Slaughterhouse-Five, I Sing the Body Electric, The Godfather, Portnoy's Complaint, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and so on.

A book with antonyms in the title - well, OK, I couldn't be bothered with this one.

So there you are. I am mulling trying to do this with the 2016 challenge, but don't know if I'll bother as I expect my reading time will decline this year.

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