Favorite poster from NR's "The Corner"

"I'll miss President Bush."

Best American Posts At The Corner. Guest Editor: Chuck Eddy

This I Vow [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

I will never, ever, ever mention Groundhog Day again in The Corner. After I did, the whole site reverted back to November.

November was not good times.

On the Top of the Nov. 8 Web Briefing [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

We had:

I'll miss President Bush. Jim Towey, Wall Street Journal

I do.

This I Vow [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

I will never, ever, ever mention Groundhog Day again in The Corner. After I did, the whole site reverted back to November.

November was not good times.

― mark cl, Friday, March 13, 2009 11:19 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

looooooooooooooooooooooooooool

Biblical Epics on Blu-Ray [Leo Grin]

Heads up, conservative film fans: Today sees the Blu-Ray debut of two of the all-time great Christian movies, Quo Vadis (1951) and The Robe (1953). These lush, high-budget precursors to The Ten Commandments (1956) and Ben-Hur (1959) each boast spectacular Technicolor restorations along with an impressive array of special features, right in time for Easter.

It’s worth noting that stars like Richard Burton, Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Victor Mature, Jean Simmons, and Peter Ustinov all immersed themselves to various degrees in the miserable culture of drugs, alcohol, affairs, bisexuality, and leftist fellow-travelling that soiled Hollywood then as today. Nevertheless, they collectively rose to the occasion in this pair of wholesome, God-fearing pictures, helping to birth a decades-long Renaissance in rousing cinematic tales of battle, pageantry, lust, decadence, beauty, piety, and sacrifice. Modern stars would do well to emulate their example — The Robe still ranks higher on the all-time box office chart than any of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, the Spider Man films, or the Lord of the Rings films.

Many assume that such old-school success is now impossible in a too-cool-for-pews, post-Life of Brian popular culture. But The Passion of the Christ, itself released in a lavish Blu-Ray “Definitive Edition” last month, proved a scant few years back that blockbuster profits still await those who take pains to produce inspired, unabashedly sincere Christian fare. A massive, starving, international audience is out there, waiting. All that’s needed is for Hollywood to begin serving it once again. Restoring gems like Quo Vadis and The Robe is a healthy start, and Fox and Warner Brothers deserve praise for brightening this Lenten season with two classics of the genre presented in sumptuous, revelatory Blu-Ray.

— Leo Grin is a writer living in Los Angeles.

Leo Grin must be a lonely, lonely dude.

His name seems ironic.

he should be a smiling lion, and yet he's a mewling prude

Grin's that Conan dude. Can't say that I'm surprised to learn that someone so devoted to Conan is also a Corn(i)er writer.

O, Labor! [Lisa Schiffren]

Do women really experience orgasm, or something like it while giving birth? This story makes that claim. And it links to a documentary. Let's hope it's true — and the thousands of years of pain associated with childbirth was just a sign of lack of enlightenment — and failure to practice yoga. It's especially important now, because when we have nationalized health care the odds you'll be getting an epidural will diminish radically. Just ask all those British, Canadian, and other moms — let alone the women of Eastern Europe, Russia, China, and the third world.

the fuck is this woman on about

ha and it's a 'grauniad' link too

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/18/orgasmic-birth-climax-labour

lol wth

Wait until she finds out you also shit yourself. She'll be so confused she'll explode like one of those computers on Star Trek when Kirk gives them a logic problem.

why is it the more I learn about childbirth, the less it seems like a miraculous event and the more it seems like a cruel, cruel prank

^^^ have you ever even had a conversation with a woman who has given birth dan????

Yes, I have! Not a one of them has owned up to shitting themselves.

lol in obama's new iron curtain amerika you won't get your baby until you've proven to a bureaucrat that you shit ursalf properly!!

dark times

oh i just meant that the whole "lol childbirth is like this painful thing and is not really a beautiful miracle for the lady actually doing it" is like the oldest duh roll-yr-eyes men-just-don't-get-it thing ever

well yeah, duh; it just seems that adding shitting yourself to that is just cruel (even if it is an obvious consequence once you think about the situation)

Plenty of women release some feces during pushing stage, but it is immediately removed by nurses/midwives as needed (and during the labor I watched, the woman never noticed this was going on - even with an epidural, you're pretty distracted). Some women's systems kind of clean themselves out before labor starts (this is why diarrhea can be a sign of impending labor, and in fact was what tipped me off to being in preterm labor - usually pregnant ladies have the opposite problem).

As for the orgasmic birth thing... well, whatever works for you, I guess. I wouldn't expect it, though.

So, socialized medicine will somehow move anesthesiologists priorities further away from giving epidurals...? Not sure I'm getting the logic here. Their priority is already the person having surgery over a woman in labor. And hey, here in my little town, I didn't get an epidural with my second because the anesthesiologist was on the golf course!

wait which golf course? if it's that one way south of town, then he is some no-class anesthesiologist

Pretty sure we only have one golf course in Northfield. (?!)

Dude got shoved off into the corner while I gave birth; he showed up, but things were just going too fast for him to get his job done. He wanted me to sign some papers, tried to give me some information, he talked painfully slowly, and I just remember realizing that I had to PUSH NOW!!! I think he probably did the anesthesia for the D&C I had later, though, so at least his trip to the hospital was worth it.

oh right thot u were in hstngs

I planned to have my first baby there, but switched at the end when I had a traumatic visit to that hospital's maternity ward. HSTNGS had horrendous childbirth classes and it seemed like they were totally pushing a "we'll try to talk you out of an epidural" thing.

to be honest I'm kind of surprised HSTNGS doesn't make you hang off of a merry-go-round

Best thing about their childbirth prep. class was the snacks. (And the sense of humor of some of the participants. One guy saw a dilatation chart and exclaimed, "That's gotta leave a mark!!!")

I was not a fan.

Why does Maggie Gallagher worry about women in labor shitting themselves when she's got shit coming out of her mouth and fingers?

[nsfw] SHITTING DICK NIPPLES

lol

Notre Dame [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Will have Barack Obama as their commencement speaker this year, the White House announced today and Notre Dame confirms.That's shameful. Last week the president of the United States perpetrated an assault on human dignity. No statements or press releases will undo what Notre Dame's position in the eyes of the world is in response: "Doesn't matter." We've got THE ONE. So much for the One its namesake gave birth to.

I've been optimistic that the radicalism of this administration on life could be a real catalyst for renewal in many churches. At Notre Dame, they just made a choice. They took a giant step away from their identity as "Catholic." They rather be of this world than the one they supposedly exist to bring people toward.

So much for the One its namesake gave birth to.

I laughed out loud, for real.

jesus.

^ declarative

Last week the president of the United States perpetrated an assault on human dignity.

^^^^ to what is the troll referring?

Maybe stem cells? That was last week.

The irrepressible Maggie Gallagher:

Gay marriage will not leave marriage undisturbed. If gay marriage becomes the law of the land, then this thing called marriage that I care about, and that most human societies have specially protected, will become nameless in the public square — also, unmentionable in polite society.

If she just means her marriage I'm all for that.

"What is this thing...called marriage..."

Okay the image of Shatner as Maggie Gallagher is in my head, thanks to you.

yea that notre dame shit was lolz

like any college is going to forgo having a fucking US president speak

Friday, March 27, 2009

Vampire Issues [Jonah Goldberg]

From a reader:

Jonah,

I'm very concerned about Tony Woodlief's critique of the "Twilight" books/movie on the front page of NRO today? Now, I know nothing about "Twilight," and Woodlief's analysis makes perfect sense. But his bashing of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" cannot go unchecked. I hope to see a Corner discussion of this very soon, as Buffy deserves a vigorous defense. I'm sure KJL will understand.

Here's the relevant passage:

We have fully reversed the symbolism of Stoker’s vampire, who represented a demonic assault on a virtuous community. Today’s vampire is the hip Other, and the community around him is either bungling, intolerant, or simply a source of comedic relief (as in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Lost Boys, and Fright Night, for example). The modern vampire is in touch with his sexuality, but the community suppresses it. The modern vampire is coming to take away your girlfriend, and she kind of likes it. The modern vampire is the guy you wish you had been in high school, or the guy you wish you’d dated in high school, and Meyer has turned that into gold.

All due respect to Woodlief, I am with the reader on this. I think Woodlief is certainly right about Lost Boys and Fright Night and his point would certainly apply to True Blood and other vampiric fare. But that really isn't what's going on in Buffy the TV series. Vampires are thoroughly, irredeemably evil in the Buffy series. The exceptions, of course, are Angel (and, later, Spike) who are re-ensouled. Indeed, that might the source of confusion here. Woodlief is listing other movies, so perhaps he's discussing the Buffy movie. In which case he's right. But distinctions must be made!

the woodlief article has to be read to be believed. basically: twilight is dangerous because monster stories should not be sexy, they should remind us that there really are monsters out there, like homosexuals and muslims, that need to be killed. jonah pipes up to say "hey, i like buffy!!"

Guys: Jay Nordlinger's back, and Reagan's got him.

Some authorship controversy lolz from Sadly, No!

http://www.sadlyno.com/wordpress/uploads/2009/03/klo_big_bedfellows.png

http://www.sadlyno.com/wordpress/uploads/2009/03/jonah_big_bedfellows.png

no the crucial evidence is this:

http://www.sadlyno.com/wordpress/uploads/2009/03/jo-lo.jpg

wau

http://giftedthought.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/peter.JPG

holy shit goole