Trousered Ape

An exercise in presumption.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

The other day, at sunset, the clouds in the west took exactly the shape of a whale's flukes. It struck me that there is something sublime about the idea of a whale so large that it could leap over the world and, when it has dived below the horizon, its tail can still reach halfway up the sky.

Posted by Bob the Ape 7:35 AM

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Another entry in the Shocking but not Surprising File:

The producers of the new The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, or at least someone involved with the production, are publishing a novelization of the film; so from now on we will have two alternative and competing versions of the story in print: the C. S. Lewis original, and the new one reflecting all the changes made in the movie. One can only shake one's head as one contemplates the vanity, shamelessness, and greed of such an act.

I should pray for them; some people make themselves very difficult to be prayed for.

(Story at Looking Closer Journal; hat tip to Julie of Happy Catholic.)

Posted by Bob the Ape 7:01 AM

Thursday, December 01, 2005

I emailed Jonathan Last today (technically yesterday, since it is now 12:20am on Friday), to let him know about my disagreement, and offering to post any response he might wish to make. He did respond, as follows:

Dear Bob,

Thanks for being so kind as to give my piece a careful reading and to drop me the link to your thoughts. We both seem to agree that the internet is a source of both some good things and some bad things, although we draw different conclusions about how we suspect the scale will ultimately balance.

In the end you may well be right--John Paul the Great was on your side, so you're certainly in good company with your optimism. Only time will tell.

It does sadden me, however, to be accused by you of not knowing anything about the blog world. I believe that if you did a little research on me you'd see that I do have some experience in these matters. Just because we disagree doesn't mean that one of us is arguing in bad faith.

Best, Jonathan Last

I did some research. Mr. Last is, in fact, a blogger himself, and can be found at Galley Slaves. I was therefore wrong when I concluded on the basis of his article that his knowledge of blogs and blogging was superficial.

I replied to Mr Last:

Dear Mr. Last,

Thank you for your courteous reply.

Having done some research, I find that you do have some experience - indeed, your own blog - and so I willingly withdraw any and all imputation that you do not.

However, I also can lay claim to some experience, particularly in the area of "Godbloggers", and I think a reader of your article who did not have such experience would come away with, at best, a very incomplete idea of what we (if I may presume to include myself among them) are like and what we do.

Sincerely,
Bob

I think we have both presented our cases. Readers, judge between us.

Posted by Bob the Ape 11:01 PM