The Craw

Christmas Music Anyone?

So I'm sitting in Starbucks working day by day and they're playing their Christmas fare over the Muzak. Its Christmas carrol after Christmas carol and most of them are horrid screeching and crooning ugly re-makes of older hymns and Christmas songs (everybody wants to do them "their" way but no one seems to possess the capacity to do it well). It seems we are just musically bankrupt since I am hard pressed to come up with any new Christmas songs from the last 30-40 years that are: (a) singable with a group around a piano and (b) going to be remembered 20 years from now. "Do they know its Christmas?" Gack! I don't think so. It seems this is a symptom of the broader dearth that exists in music now and has implications for sacred music.

BTW: to answer the question that Bandaid asks: NO! Because you goofballs have spent the last 50 years subverting any shimmer of the true meaning of Christmas!

Everybody's Shaving

Now my kids are wet-shaving with a safety razor.

Christmas in Beverly Hills

My daughter, Christiana, and I walked down Rodeo Drive last night. You could sense the fear and depression in the air and the distinct impression that the party is over was palpable. This will not be a good Christmas for retailers.

Shave like a man

Over the past several years I've really come to hate the drudgery of shaving. If you shave with an electric razor you get a boring, lame shave and ingrown hairs. If you wet shave with a new-fangled cartridge razor, like a Mach 3, you get a decent but expensive shave and razor rash. The solution? Old Skool wet-shaving with a safety razor.

I recently purchased a Gillette Super Speed safety razor on EBay, a badger hair brush and some nice shaving soap. Man, what a fantastic, close shave. And the experience itself is manly, invigorating and enjoyable...and its way cheaper.

Here's the cost breakdown for a year of shaving with a Mach 3: (1) Mach 3 razor-$9.00 (2) Razor cartridges at 4 a month-$144.00 = Total: $153.00 a year.

For the safety razor: (1) a once-in-lifetime purchase of a good sturdy safety razor that you can pass on to your grandson-$20.00 on EBay (2) 100 double-edge razor blades-$10 =$30 a year.

I didn't include soap and brush because you'd need that either way but those set you back about $15.00 for long-use badger brush (make sure you buy a good badger brush) and about $10 a year for shaving soap.

For more information on the lost art and luxury of wet-shaving see this and this. Badger & Blade is also a great resource.

Happy shaving gents!

Uh-oh. This doesn't bode well for the future of the OPC and URCNA.

Interesting Ecclesiastical Times

American Anglicanism rising from the ashes?

Pismo

The week before Thanksgiving, my parents graciously took our family on vacation to Pismo Beach. The weather was sunny and warm (high 70's). Here's a picture of my father and I on the beach at Oceana just as the sun set.