More at VFR on modesty in fashion

Sexual liberation and perversity have taken over the world and the toothpaste can't be put back in the tube

and this post critical of Peter Hitchens: The conservative Peter Hitchens's kneejerk liberal comment on women's dress

Was Mr. Hitchens being a "liberal" or a typical "guy"? Or was he employing sarcasm or a certain mode of speech? Trying to provoke certain readers into considering the consequences of their actions or their motivations?

As for Mr. Auster's own comments... they do provide for thought, but I wouldn't agree with everything:

I disagree with what I would describe as ILW's extreme traditionalist view (similar to the Catholic traditionalist view) that either sex is for nothing but procreation, or sex is nothing but sport and entertainment.

Are there some Jansenists still out there? Sure. But traditionalists Catholics talk about procreation being primary, as opposed to being the 'only' purpose.

Dennis Prager, from several years ago:
Fearlessly Feminine: Why Women Are Exposing Themselves (part 1)
Fearlessly Feminine: Why Women are Exposing themselves (part 2)

Dennis Prager @ Townhall: part 1, 2

Lawrence Auster on fashion

Lawrence Auster on fashion:

Of course the 1930s were the greatest fashion period of modern times, for both men and women, maybe of all history.

But there's something in human affairs that it can't stop at something good. Starting around 1940, as you can see in the movies, the look started to change, especially with women's hair and dress, and became relatively dreary. Not that I dislike the long-haired women's look of the early '40s; I like it. But it doesn't compare to the '30s. That's the height.

I think the Philosopher and Pete Takeshi might agree. Jeffrey Tucker as well?

(When is the start of 'modern times'? The turn of the last century?)

Why civility matters in the transition

Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture

It seems to me that the world is growing steadily ruder. As we grow more and more stressed and less connected to those around us, we increasingly, it seems, have less time for civility. (Review of Talk to the Hand: the utterly bloody rudeness of everyday life (or six good reasons to stay home and bolt the door).)

I rarely engage with online chat forums (or fora, sorry… Truss’s previous book was ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ which extolled the virtues of grammar, she would recoil at my use of the word ‘forums’). As a medium, they are designed to maximise rudeness. If you wanted to debate an issue , you wouldn’t enter a darkened room to engage in thoughtful conversation with an unknown number of people with masks on. In the same way, being hidden behind ridiculous names like hotdog18 and vortexman seems to give people permission to be unspeakably rude to each other.

Song Hye Gyo in Paris

Song hye kyo In Paris [1/4]

Song hye kyo In Paris [2/4]
Song hye kyo In Paris [4/4]

Alt (hyekyolover):
宋慧喬 in paris 1
宋慧喬 in paris 2
宋慧喬 in paris 4

For some reason no one has part 3 up. The video can be downloaded here, thanks to songhyegyo.net.
宋慧喬 Song Hye Kyo - ETUDE CF 0403

Section TV, Song Hye Gyo, 6-27-08


宋慧喬 Song Hye Kyo - 思娘幕後精華全紀錄01


宋慧喬 Song Hye Kyo - 思娘幕後精華全紀錄02
宋慧喬 Song Hye Kyo - 思娘幕後精華全紀錄03

Cal Catholic Daily: “I just don't have the energy"
Sacramento bishop asks pope to let him retire

He seems to have done many good things for the Diocese of Sacramento.

Weigand is scheduled to turn over the diocese to current coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto at a Nov. 30 Mass in Sacramento’s more than 100-year-old Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, which underwent a $34 million renovation under Weigand’s leadership. As part of the ritual, Weigand will retire his coat of arms with the phrase "Feed My Lambs," which will be replaced by Bishop Soto’s coat of arms bearing the phrase “Joy and Hope.”

More on cob

Green Home Building: Natural Building Techniques: Cob
The Cob Builders Handbook
What is Cob?
Cob House
Cob house designs and planning
Cob House | Off The Grid Living
House Alive!
The Coleman Experience - A photoblog: The Cob House Archives
Earthen and Cob Houses
Cob Together
Becky Bee's Cob Pages
Underground Cob House photo story
I Love Cob! : Fruth & Brown Cob House
The Hand-Sculpted House: how to build a cob cottage
Cob Cottage Company
Natural Building Network

經典重溫 : 葉倩文 黎明不要來 MV 1992


經典重溫 : 葉倩文 瀟灑走一會 MV 1992

Cal Performances

website

I was looking through the brochure for the new season, and discovered that the Tallis Scholars (March 28) and Le Concert des Nations w/Jordi Savall (Feb. 27-8), Yo-Yo Ma (May 15) and Cecilia Bartoli (Feb. 22), will be coming to Berkeley.

But tickets cost $52 for the early music performances! Unbelievable! For the BEMF one can get student rush tickets for $20 or less!!! I suppose Cal thinks it can charge the rich people and not-so-rich students in the area those kind of prices and still pack the house. (And they are probably right.)

Eh, would I purchase a Cal Alumni Association membership just to get the alumni discount? Edit. At least there is a discount for non-UCB students.

Labor Day 2008

The sisters and their families met with some HS friends of the MD yesterday morning. Afterwards they went to Chuck E. Cheese in Cupertino. I was supposed to be here doing work, but I didn't accomplish much. (Besides going to the oratory.) Apparently my mother saw the Ys there. I suppose it is a good thing I didn't go to Chuck E. Cheese... not with how I am feeling at the moment.

Last night the MD, KK and her husband and I went to watch The Dark Knight over at Tanforan. Review of the movie to come.

This morning I took my mom to Mass and we ended up at Our Lady of Perpetual Help instead of Holy Angels, because I tried a different route to Mission. Since one church was as good as another for my mother, we stayed at OLPH instead of driving to Colma. What can I say about the Archdiocese of San Francisco? (And why did parishes decide that they needed an official 'mission statement' that they could put on their websites, bulletins, and brochures? Reducing life as members of the Body of Christ to a mission statement seems belittling to our Lord. Christ used parables and figurative language for a reason--He didn't give a mission statement for His Church. But if the Church is no different from any other community or institution, why not? What a loss of identity and understanding of Whose Church it is!)

Later in the morning my mother and I went to the other Chinatown, on Clement St. (in the Richmond District?), to pick up some food for breakfast. KK had made congee with pork bones, and she wanted to get some yau tieu (Chinese doughnuts). First we went to Napoleon and Good Luck to get some pastries and dim sum. Then we walked over to Taiwan Restaurant for the yau tieu. The yau tieu was very doughy, not as thin as some other places I've been to this year. It was also a bit sour--because of the dough mix? Or the oil? They're ok when hot, but when cold, they don't taste good. At least the thin ones have very little taste when cold (except for the oil perhaps). I suppose I will have to microwave the ones I have.

I was in a lousy mood this morning. That will require some penance. I should borrow the 'hater' title from someone I know. The nap helped dissipate that to an extent. But maybe I should call Dr. Laura some time and ask her something some questions about anger. Although she doesn't understand the point I was trying to make, my mom is right with regards to what she says about true joy and peace coming from Christ and the solution to pressing concerns.

We had a nice lunch at KK and PS's--BBQ for Labor Day. I was still full from breakfast and the nap I took midday. I don't know what to think of the bratwurst... did it have a beer taste? I am used to Italian sausage; I can't put my finger on the cause of the difference in taste. I think the only other time I had a brat was when I was in South Bend last year... I got in trouble for saying the beef on the stick was 'ok'--the hoisin sauce may not be a good ingredient for a marinade. But the result was still much better than the steak that I've been having lately. So I took some home with me. hahaha.


Someone wants her cha siu bao. I didn't get to see her eat a banana this time around--supposedly she can finish one in 3 bites or so. Tasmanian Devil? haha.







Heard this George Strait song the second time(?) yesterday... very nice ballad--The Chair. ('80s hair for you Sarge!)

via KFCCinema:

Criterion has announced details for their upcoming release of Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express. The film will be released on both DVD and Blu-Ray, have a new, restored high-definition digital transfer and a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack supervised by Wong. Other special features include:

• Audio commentary by noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns
• U.S. theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from a 1996 Sight and Sound interview with Wong by Rayns

Both the DVD and Blu-Ray will be released on November 25th with a suggested retail price of $39.95.

Does the HK edition of PTU have the extras that the US edition has?

Ashes of Time Redux is coming October 17. (Limited engagement in SF, maybe over at CineArts on Santana Row?) Apple, Yahoo!




More stills.

Candice Watters, Living Chaste, Single or Married

Living Chaste, Single or Married
by Candice Watters
Chastity isn't only about abstinence outside of marriage. It's also something that you bring into a marriage with you.

Twitch: Twitch-O-Meter: The Asian Games of Historical Drama Openings

Benedict XVI, On the Reality of Evil

On the Reality of Evil

On the Reality of Evil

"It Is Not 'Optional' for Christians to Take Up the Cross"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Today, too, the apostle Peter is in the foreground of the Gospel reading. But while last Sunday we admired his straightforward faith in Jesus, whom he proclaimed Messiah and Son of God, this time, in the episode that immediately follows, he displays a faith that is still immature and too much influenced by the “mentality of this world” (cf. Romans 12:2).

When, in fact, Jesus begins to speak openly about the fate that awaits him in Jerusalem, when he says that he must suffer much, be killed and rise again, Peter protests, saying: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you” (Matthew 16:22).

It is evident that the Master and the disciple follow two opposed ways of thinking. Peter, according to a human logic, is convinced that God would never allow his Son to end his mission dying on the cross. Jesus, on the contrary, knows that the Father, in his great love for men, sent him to give his life for them, and if this means the passion and the cross, it is right that such should happen.

On the other hand, he knows that the resurrection will be the last word. Peter’s protest, though spoken in good faith and out of sincere love of the Master, sounds to Jesus like temptation, an invitation to save himself, while it is only in losing his life that his life will be returned to him eternally for all of us.

If to save us the Son of God had to suffer and die crucified, it certainly was not because of a cruel design of the heavenly Father. The cause of it is the gravity of the sickness of which he must cure us: an evil so serious and deadly that it will require all of his blood. In fact, it is with his death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death, reestablishing the lordship of God.

But the battle is not over: Evil exists and resists in every generation, even in our own. What are the horrors of war, violence visited on the innocent, the misery and injustice that persecutes the weak, if not the opposition of evil to the Kingdom of God? And how does one respond to such evil if not with the unarmed love that defeats hatred, life that does not fear death? This is the mysterious power that Jesus used at the cost of not being understood and of being abandoned by many of his followers.

Dear brothers and sisters, to complete the work of salvation, the Redeemer continues to draw to himself and his mission men and women who are ready to take up the cross and follow him. Just as with Christ, it is not “optional” for Christians to take up the cross; it is rather a mission to be embraced out of love.

In our present world, where the forces that divide and destroy seem to prevail, Christ does not cease to propose his clear invitation to all: Whosoever wants to be my disciple, he must renounce his selfishness and carry the cross with me.

Let us invoke of the Holy Virgin, who was the first to follow Jesus and followed him to the way of the cross. May she help us to follow the Lord with decisiveness so as to experience from this point on, and in trial too, the glory of the resurrection.

[Following the Angelus the Pope said the following:]

In recent weeks the news has reported the growth in the episodes of irregular immigration in Africa. It is not rare that crossing the Mediterranean toward the European continent -- which is seen as a place of hope to escape adverse and often unbearable conditions -- ends in tragedy; what happened a few days ago seemed to surpass previous incidents in terms of the number of victims.

Migration is a phenomenon that has been present from the dawn of human history, and it has always, for this reason, characterized the relations between peoples and nations. The emergency that migration has become in our times, nevertheless, calls out to us and, while it solicits our solidarity, demands, at the same time, effective political answers.

I know that many regional, national, and international institutions are occupying themselves with the question of irregular migration: I applaud them and encourage them to continue this meritorious work with a sense of responsibility and humanitarian spirit. The countries of origin must also show a sense of responsibility not only because it is a matter of their own citizens, but also to remove the causes of irregular migration and cut off at the root all of the forms of criminality that are linked to these causes.

For their part, European countries, and all other countries that are the destination of immigration, are called to, among other things, develop through consensus initiatives and structures that continue to adapt themselves to the needs of irregular migrants. The latter must be made aware, on the one hand, of the value of their own lives, which are a singular good, always precious, that should be safeguarded in the face of the grave risks that the pursuit of better situations exposes them to and, on the other hand, the duty of legality that is imposed on all.

As the [Pope], I feel a profound obligation to recall everyone’s attention to this problem and to ask for the generous cooperation of individuals and institutions to deal with it and to find solutions. May the Lord accompany us and make our efforts fruitful!

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

[Then the Holy Father greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus prayer. In today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals to his disciples his coming passion, death and resurrection. He also teaches us that, to follow him, we too must enter into the mystery of the cross. Faithful obedience to God and loving service of our neighbour do not always come easily. But to embrace the cross of Christ is to share in his victory. May the Lord keep us in his love! I wish you all a pleasant stay in Castel Gandolfo and Rome, and a blessed Sunday!

© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

For KK, two oldies

經典重溫 : 黎 明 如果這是情 MV 1991


經典重溫 : 劉德華 一起走過的日子 MV 1991


I don't know if you know this one...
經典重溫 : 黎 明 最愛是緣 MV 1991

Austen Blog: P&P95 Blu-Ray out in October

I don't think I'll be getting a Blu-Ray player soon, but this is another reason to do so...

The Right to Property

The ChesterBelloc Mandate: Belloc Speaks - The Catholic Church and the Principle of Private Property/1

1. The right to property in material things is a moral right, attaching not only to the community, but also to private corporations, .i.e., corporations other than the community, to families, and to individuals.

2. This right extends not only over objects consumed in use, but also over objects consumed in production, and over land. It does not attach to particular categories of things. Its boundaries may vary with varying customs and traditions. But its presence as a normal institution of human society is essential to the health of that society.

3. Like every other right, this right stands in a certain scale of proportion to the rest. It may be suspended for the service of a greater right; it must not be suspended for the service of a lesser.

4. Finally, this function of property, like all other human attributes, is distorted when it is defined in isolation. It must be taken in with the mass of all other human functions, and is subject, as is every one of them, to the general modifications imposed by the generalities of human existence.

It is not clear from the post what the source of this excerpt (?) is.

What Belloc has to say about the 'right to property' is something to think about, when it comes time to talk about subjective rights--considerations like this show that 'right' is not always something proper to justice. Right may be associated instead with charity or legal justice, and this may be problematic, if one is inconsistent (e.g. not accepting a full understanding of the common good but using this sort of rights talk nonetheless).

Is there more to the right to property than dominium?

Can we say that law is mean to promote virtuous human agency, and laws that frustrate the development of virtue or present obstacles to it are unjust? (And with respect to individual human action, the principle of subsidiarity does not properly apply, even if some may appeal to it in order to attack some legislation as being paternalistic or statist?)

Half Moon Bay

The sisters planned to take the nieces to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve yesterday afternoon. I drove out to meet them. Highway 92, from 280 to Highway 1, was packed with cars in the westbound direction, bumper-to-bumper traffic. I think it must have taken me 30 to 45 minutes to travel that stretch, which isn't very long.

What is it with Californians? Who can blame them for wanting to enjoy the natural beauty of the state. Isn't that why so many of them moved here in the first place? It certainly strengthens the car culture that exists here. What will they do when fuel prices start to go up again? We take so much for granted. I imagine that years ago, people (with some money) would spend their vacations locally, taking a week or weekend here and there, and treasuring the time they spent there. Our desires have grown since then. How many people make a small escape every weekend when they can? Does appreciation grow or diminish after every visit? I would think that Californians are among the most spoiled Americans.

While I was driving, I was thinking of the small California towns, coastal or inland, that have shown up in various [horror] movies. Half Moon Bay reminded me of the various small 'towns' that you see on the road to Napa Valley, Monterey, or San Luis Obispo. Strip malls, single lane highways packed with people headed to some popular destination, and large tracts of housing. I did see a couple of farms and wineries... but not enough to support the local population. We let our suburbs be ugly places to live, and the footprint we leave at our getaway spots gets bigger and bigger.

Still, the view of the ocean, the smell of the ocean air called to mind the days of sail. (And it smelled rather 'fresh,' compared to the exhaust that I had been breathing for 5 or more miles.) How excited the Spanish explorers must have been when they reached the coast.


For lunch, we went to Barbara's Fish Trap. The restaurant was full, so they decided to get take-out and eat on one of the outside benches. The fish and chips, according to KK and MD's husband, were greasy. I can't disagree, though the fish itself tasted all right. Not 'contaminated' or fishy. Are the fish and chips served inside the restaurant better than the take-out orders?

After lunch, since we had plenty of time still, we went to Raman's Coffee and Chai (yelp), for chai. (I had a mango lassi--it was made partly from yogurt, so there was a sour taste. Pretty good, though in the end, I'd prefer a smoothie, or a straight mango drink.)





Main St. and downtown Half Moon Bay was not much to look at. Was there a real downtown before?

We went to the park afterwards, which was much smaller than I expected. Still, there were a lot of families present. From what I remember of them, the tide pools in Monterey are better.





Afterwards we had a delicious dinner over at KK and her husband's house. On the way I passed by the Devil's Slide tunnel project. That should make that section of Highway 1 a little bit more safe. Would Pacifica be worth a visit?

This is the daughter of one of the MD's friends, who are in the area this Labor Day weekend, having drove up from LA to visit:



I watched a bit of the Cal-Michigan game last night. Was it KK who mentioned that this year should be one of the best teams ever? Bah. At least it performed yesterday, but defense did not seem to be that good? Isn't there another way to get alumni to donate money? Hrm, what about the money generated through broadcast rights...

My Bear Territory blog

St. Elizabeth's Church... just realized where it is located yesterday. It's astounding that people put up reviews of churches on Yelp...

Persuasion vids

Didn't care for the adaptation, but here are some fan-made vids:

Persuasion 2007 : Moonlight Sonata


Persuasion 2007 - Lost(Michael Buble)


Persuasion (2007) - The Walk MV

Regarding the better adaptation--
Ciaran discusses Persuasion Brooklyn College


Ciaran discusses Persuasion part 2


NY1 Ciaran Hinds On Stage interview

Persuasion (1995) - You're the one

The Corrs

The Corrs - Don't Say You Love Me, BBC Radio 2


alt

audio + slideshow
The Corrs - Don't Say You Love Me


The Corrs - Heart Like A Wheel (Acoustic)



official website
info
fansite

Sense and Sensibility 2008 Edward and Elinor


A friend just watched this the other day and was raving about Charity Wakefield... but KK doesn't think Charity Wakefield is that pretty!!!

Brussels Journal: On Human Sacrifice and Political Correctness

Interesting, until the author started talking about IQ.

More from Dr. Fleming on culture

To refine a bit on cultura. It comes from the Latin verb colere, which means to tend or take care of. In farming, it is the tending of fields (but also by extension to settle in a place or inhabit a house); in religion, it is doing what is necessary–e.g., worshipping, respecting–towards the gods. It can also be applied to virtues or studies. Thus culture is not simply high art as bought and consumed by rich people, but culture consists of our most serious and worthy pursuits. The English word was given a particularized meaning by Tylor and became more or less synonymous with “what anthropologists study.” It is very useful, if we stick to a literal understanding, but the fuzzier it gets–and the more abstract–the more dangerous. On this point, Frank is quite correct. If we say that every political and legal problem has a cultural root, then, we are saying that the American mores have been corrupted and not just on the surface.

I don’t think anyone here would underestimate the evils done by activist judges and corrupt politicians, but such men do not get elected by accident. It has been a long decline, since, say the 1850’s, to say nothing of the 1790’s. In the first 60 years of the republic America was not governed by angels or demigods, and corrupt fixers like Van Buren could even get elected president, but the damage they did was limited not by our intelligence–which has never been the strong suit in our country but by the American character that could often distinguish between the false and true or at least between a talented and public-spirited humbug like Daniel Webster and the sort of shabby liars that filled the Grant administration. This is a long story, but the closing of the frontier, combined with mass immigration, have produced an American character that has some virtues but is quite distinct from the old American. We still produce an occasional trouble-maker like Edward Abbey, but Abbey in his lifetime was already an anachronism. The Americans of 1835 would not have stomached a ruling class (including judges) that mistreated them in the way we are mistreated today, nor would the opposition consist of loud-mouthed yahoos. It would have been led by the sort of people who led the revolution.

Finally, I hope no one is going to be sucked into the McCain camp on the strength of his choice of an inexperienced and dizzy hockey mom as VP candidate. It is true that Palin has more executive experience than Barack Obama–but, then, so do I. I have nothing to say against Mrs. Palin, who is probably a fine person and a good mother, even if she does name her children things like Bristol, Track, and Trig. She says she is pro-life, though what she has done to protect life I don’t law, and opposed to gay marriage and civil unions. When Alaska passed a law limiting spousal benefits, she vetoed it, apparently on the advice of the attorney-general, but friends also say that because of her homosexual and lesbian friends, she is sensitive to their rights. I wonder if she knows any one who has had an abortion. I am not saying she his a hypocrite, only a ditzy journalism major who does not seem to have thought through the issues.

The idea that Mrs. Palin might become president does inspire a bit of glee, but only in the malicious sense that Mencken once said he could never leave America, because in a country full of clowns, he could pose as a wise man. She is a satirist’s dream, but in that she is only slightly more qualified than Biden and McCain.

Legalizing abortion was a terrible thing to do, not because we should run around wringing our hands over the fact that millions of babies we don’t know are being judicially murdered, but because a million plus mothers a year are killing their own children. Changing the laws will deter some of them, but only some. The problem is not so much the law: What if they passed a law legalizing cannibalism? If millions of Americans took to eating each other, wouldn’t there be a deeper problem? Similarly, I don’t know if there are laws against coprophagy, but with or without a law, we don’t eat excrement, and if it were legalized, even our contemporaries might think twice about taking up the habit. Judges are chosen by presidents and approved by senators, who with the presidents are elected by the people. I do not say all Americans are guilty or even most, but it is an exercise in futility to think that McCain-Palin can change our world for us, even if they wanted to.

source

Dr. Helen: Interview with T. Boone Pickens on America's Energy Future (mp3)

@ Casa Vicky's last Tuesday

I recommend against getting the mango slush there.

Sunday morning

Did I get a bad batch of Coca Cola? Or is the quality of the product here in the U.S. going down? I had read that it had worsened--just when you thought something couldn't get any worse after corn syrup became the sweetener. What do they use for the Coke products in HK, China, and Macau? I think they use cane sugar for the Coke in Mexico.

I went to the 9:30 Mass at the oratory this morning. I didn't recognize many of the people, like there had been a lot of turnover since I was there a couple of weeks ago. A lot of younger people. Sarge, there was a brunette there with a chapel veil. Like someone you might encounter at Christendom or a similar school. I am thinking she is probably in Watcher or Sarge's courting pool, age-wise. (She had a hand missal, too.)

I felt a bit like a byunteh again, to use Watcher's words. However, it seems that the oratory is not so much of a dead end after all. They should start a young adult group. heh. Maybe I will have to go to the 9:30 more often. haha.

More 張學友

經典重溫 : 張學友 我愛玫瑰園 MV 1991


Used as the opening song for a TVB comedy which had Anita Yuen in her first acting role, I think. (A minor character.)

經典重溫 : 張學友 LINDA MV 1989


張學友 每天愛妳多一些 MV 1991


Japanese original:
真夏の果実


經典重溫 : 張學友 一顆不變心 MV 1991



Leon video, because Athena Chu is in this--
經典重溫 : 黎 明 I Love You, Ok! MV 1992


And this one, because Michelle Reis is the guest star:
經典重溫 : 黎 明 兩 心 痴 MV 1992


Another one with Athena Chu:
經典重溫 : 黎 明 我會像妳一樣傻 MV 1992