Friday, June 11, 2021
Bonnie Blue
Roman Art
I know what you're thinking, just what was the quality of imperial Roman art, the aesthetic sign of that civilization's soul or ethos. Good question and worth asking, not least because it's interesting in itself, and because history rhymes, we can draw lessons from it.
That said, we don't have much pictorial art to work with, it's mostly gone because of its perishable medium, wood, parchment/vellum and other materials. Still, we have wall art, mostly from the cities entombed by Vesuvius and a few examples elsewhere, like Nero's Domus Aurea, his Golden House. What do we see?
Several dimensions of artistry, from trompe l'oeil architectural painting, to landscapes, depiction of mythic themes, portraiture, military Triumphs and more. Although Pliny decries the descent of art from realism to a kind of impressionist decadence, we're nonetheless left with the impression that Roman artists were concerned with painting things and people as they were, albeit to effect.
And what an effect it was! Heroic, mythic and classical, yes, but also garish to our eyes. They would think us bleak and starved of visual uplift, a drab, monochrome society. We would think them, I think, in bad taste. Too much bourgeois ebullience?
But here's the rub, the Romans, for all Pliny's criticism, produced art to please the eye and uplift the mind. We don't. Our art destroys the eye and depresses the soul. It's filth. So who's the decadent in this equation?
Your call, but don't say Rome.
SPQR,
LSP
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Wisdom
I was struck by this today, by Romano Guardini:
He simply commands us to follow his instructions. Only from the depths of a great faith is it possible to obey. One must be utterly convinced that such obedience evokes a divine reaction in our relationship with God, that when we act according to his will we participate in the divine creation, in the forming of a new world, for it is creative conduct that is commanded here.
When man so acts, he not only becomes good in himself and before God, but the divine goodness dormant in him becomes active power. This is what the Lord means when he speaks of "salt" that has not lost its flavor, "light" which lights the whole house.
The divine goodness dormant in him becomes active power; the seed of grace, God's life, unfolds with tremendous, unfathomable, brilliance in the souls of the faithful. Those with eyes to see will have have seen this light.
God bless,
LSP
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
A Parable
Have you noticed that an Italian artist has sold nothing for 18k? Make of this parable what you will. In the meanwhile, here's a random all hail Lord Curzon.
Your Pal,
LSP
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Hackerz?
Today's news cycle moves with all the slapstick, comedic speed of the Keystone Kops on meth, so you may have forgotten the infamous Colonial Pipeline hack, back in May.
This involved a sinister cyber gang called Barkside Darkside which took down America's largest oil pipeline in a ransomware attack. Pay us around 5 million bucks in Bitcoin, said the cryptic crims, and you get your pipeline back.
Sure enough, Colonial coughed up the crypto, and before you could say SPECTRE and CHAOS, this essential bit of American infrastructure was back up and running. Thank God for that, and yet another instance of those dastardly Kremlins messing with our great democracy.
Thank God our patriotic sleuths in the FBI were on the case and wasted no time recovering the bulk of the missing millions. Sorry, Putin, foiled again. But how did these latter day Sherlocks get the cash? Easy, they followed the money, which was publicly traceable to an online wallet on a server in California. Hey, fire up your laptop, find the transaction, the wallet address, and boom, go to court and get that cash. Which is what they did.
So. Are we really supposed to believe that Cyber Spetsnaz are so laughably stupid as to store their ill-gotten digital currency in an online wallet, in America? You know, when they could've spent $50 for its offline hardware equivalent? Who knows, maybe Russian hackerz are incredibly, ridiculously stupid.
Speaking of which, it seems Colonial's cyber security was pathetically rubbish. Who knows, maybe some 13 year olds broke in for a larf. Possible. Then again, perhaps we're looking at an equally rubbish false flag, or simply useless pipeline tech, which bodes ill for the future. Or, surely not, USGOV feels threatened by BTC because, you know, USD$ is so totally sound.
Check out Zero for the lighthearted story.
Cheerz,
LSP
Sunday, June 6, 2021
D-Day
There we were in the sacristy, getting ready for Mass. "What day is it, Padre?" asked the MC. "It's the second Sunday after Pentecost or Corpus Christi transferred," I replied, quick as you like but missing the point. "No, what happened on this day, 1944?"
D-Day happened, and we stopped for a moment, silent, struck by the thought of all those kids who gave their lives. Words fail, at least for me. So we prayed for the fallen and gave thanks for the victory.
Honor the men who stormed those beaches by standing fast for what's right and true. Here endeth the lesson.
God bless,
LSP
Saturday, June 5, 2021
Well Shoot
Friday, June 4, 2021
Just Chill Out
Sham Boleyn
Thursday, June 3, 2021
So It's Come To This
Reject that and the givenness of human nature itself and at last you can be free, No Gods, No Masters! shrieked the libertine abortionist Margaret Sanger. Well yes, except for the corporations who sponsor you. What revolting hypocrisy.
Your Old Pal,
LSP
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Blue's Investment Fund
It's a pump and dump, a tulip, you're gonna get burned, big time, holding the bag. Excuse me, fella, you don't like dogs? That said, we ignored the MSM FUD, Blue and I, and invested in the internet's most popular dog-faced crypto. That was back in February and it's been a bumpy ride, a roller coaster, even.
One week it's at 6 cents, the next at 70 and boom, down to 20 before surging to wherever. Net result? A few thousands of hypothetical USD$ profit. Good work, pup, this Lambo's not going to buy itself. Then last night happened, a surge, from 30 cents to >40. Whoa. Diamonds are created under pressure. I called up LL:
What you gonna do when we hit Moon? Buy a Quadcopter?
No, I want a yacht, bigger than Bezos'.
I get that. You can land the quad on the yacht. And start a Navy, a contract Navy.
Point being, USN will be so distracted in the coming years with filling trans quotas and decommissioning LCS that it won't be able to deploy.
Enter Contract Navy, funded by... everyone's fave crypto. A de-fi currency, store of value, free of Big State thievery, a kind of Buccaneer Coin, branded with an adorable Shiba. You do the math.
In the meanwhile, let's see the pup hit a dollar and then some.
Ad Lunam,
LSP
Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Memorial Day Retrospective
Forgive this late post, it wasn't from any lack of respect, but I hope you had a blessed Memorial Day. It's right to celebrate with friends and family and at the same time to honor the fallen, see LL's excellent post. May they rest in peace and the wicked be held to account.
That said, we had fun in Dallas, even though the skies opened and it poured with rain. Of course it's sunny now, despite burgeoning inflation. Such is climate change and our Old Enemy, the Weather.
Some don't see Memorial Day like this. They regard it as a moment of white, patriarchal colonialist expansion and want to ban it, just as they'd ban gender itself.
Regardless, I hope you had a blessed Memorial Day and paused, as I know you did, to remember all who gave their lives.
God bless,
LSP