Despite their contrasting metaphysics, Thomas Hobbes and John Bramhall were Royalist supporters during the English Civil War. Both men believed that monarchy was the best form of government despite their opposing perceptions of liberty. If philosophy influences politics, why then would two thinkers’ opposing philosophical views result in support for the same form of government? (essay by Nayeli Riano)
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/02/thomas-hobbes-john-bramhall-liberty-necessity-nayeli-riano.html
All posts by bradbirzer
“Stalker”: The Search for Faith Amidst Desolation ~ The Imaginative Conservative
Andrei Tarkovsky’s film “Stalker” is about a man who leads others, however obliquely, and despite obstacles, both external and internal, to faith. Faith is faith. Without it, man is deprived of any spiritual roots. He is like a blind man. (essay by K. V. Turley)
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/02/stalker-andrei-tarkovsky-kevin-turley.html
The Brilliant and Profoundly Catholic Daredevil | The American Conservative
True to superhero convention, Murdock did not merely lose his sight. He unwittingly traded his normal eyesight for finely honed perceptions in his four remaining senses as well as superior resistance to pain and heightened acrobatic agility. When asked if he “sees,” he replies, and I’m paraphrasing, “somewhat but as though the world is on fire.” When the viewer gets a brief glimpse of what Murdock “sees,” we immediately recognize a medieval vision of the angelic, the sainted, and the holy. Halos appear everywhere.
— Read on www.theamericanconservative.com/birzer/the-brilliant-and-profoundly-catholic-daredevil/
Dedra and I just watched all three seasons plus the eight-episodes of The Defenders. As I’ve mentioned before, Daredevil is the single best thing on screen, big or small, and I just can’t–for the life of me–understand why Netflix cancelled it. It seems–and I don’t mean to be conspiratorial–that it must have been too Catholic for the moneymakers at Netflix. Maybe? Regardless, watch it. So stunning. Jeph Loeb has been a favorite writer of mine for a long, long time, and Charlie Cox is just stunning.
Save Daredevil!
Spine of the Dragon: Wake the Dragon #1: Kevin J. Anderson: 9781250302106: Amazon.com: Books
Spine of the Dragon: Wake the Dragon #1 [Kevin J. Anderson] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson triumphantly returns to epic fantasy with the Wake the Dragon series. Spine of the Dragon is a politically charged adventure of swords
— Read on www.amazon.com/Spine-Dragon-Wake-1/dp/1250302102/ref=nodl_
I would read anything that Kevin writes, but I’m especially excited about this.
Where in the world is color e-paper?
There are a few color e-paper solutions on the horizon. Clearink has been developing their color tech for four years. In early 2018 they unveiled the first 1.32 inch color e-paper display with a 202 DPI screen, which is a dramatic increase from the 106 DPI prototype they announced last year. They also announced this model has a 30.4% more improved Color Gamut and it needs less power because they managed to incorporate a 5V battery, which is a 50% decrease from last year.
— Read on goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/where-in-the-world-is-color-e-paper
Liberal Education: The Foundation and Preservation of a Free Society ~ The Imaginative Conservative
A liberal education centered on the western tradition remains unfocused on career success, which prepares students for a marketplace in which they may or may not achieve their goals. Hillsdale College Provost Dr. David Whalen began freshman orientation in 2007 with this declaration, “You have not come here for job training. You have come to let us mess with your minds!” While Dr. Whalen meant this to be a laugh line, he also communicated a significant point. A four-year education costing approximately $100,000 was not intended to help the incoming freshman get a job. Instead, the goal of a liberal education is a transformed perspective on the world recognizing truth, beauty, and goodness as the purposes of human society. At the end of that path, the student may find work, but ultimately the recipient of a liberal education should be prepared to weather the storms of life regardless of economic position.
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/02/liberal-education-preservation-free-society-josh-herring.html
Jacques Barzun and Hector Berlioz ~ The Imaginative Conservative
Even Berlioz’s own countrymen have been loathe to champion him as one of their own, perhaps because his music is not conventionally “French,” but cosmopolitan in both its style and content. Claude Debussy famously called his compatriot a “monster.” Berlioz, it is true, drew inspiration for his dramatic works—his symphonies and operas—not from French sources, but from Goethe, Byron, Virgil, and Shakespeare. His seeming betrayal of his inheritance of French culture provided the background for a debate in the early 2000s, as the bicentenary of his birth loomed, about whether the composer’s remains should be moved to the Pantheon in Paris, the burial site of many of France’s cultural heroes. (President Jacques Chirac decided that they should not.)
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/02/jacques-barzun-hector-berlioz-stephen-klugewicz.html
Surprised by Jack ~ The Imaginative Conservative
Other than his arrival at Christianity in the autumn of 1931, nothing affected Lewis more in his scholarly and personal life than his discovery of the northern gods. They would help form the basis of his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien as well as his own personal imagination, including its boundaries and limitations. Given that Lewis and Ray Bradbury were the two men who most gave respectability to the genre of science fiction in the twentieth century, his encounter with the northern is no small moment. Still, this was only a step toward his acceptance of Christianity, and that would have to wait almost two more decades
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/02/surprised-jack-bradley-birzer.html
Mark Hollis, Rest Your Head ~ The Imaginative Conservative
Despite the gravitas of the music and the lyrics, The Colour of Spring sold well enough that EMI gave Hollis and Friese-Greene free reign on the fourth album, Spirit of Eden. Along with famed audio engineer, Phill Brown, the two men went fully mystical. Renting an abandoned church for fourteen months, Talk Talk did everything possible to create timelessness in the sacred space. Relying on the lighting of the stained glass and lava lamps, the band spent over a year trying to capture specific sounds, piecing them together as a whole. Side one of the album became one eighteen minute track, begging the Lord to rage against injustice. Over its nearly twenty-minute length, the song moves from the sound of sea scapes to an utterly cacophonous passion, finally resolving with a recognition that a man is inherently flawed and, thus, unable to perfect all things. The album concludes with “Wealth,” a lyrical rewrite of the famous prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/02/mark-hollis-rest-your-head-bradley-birzer.html
Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis has reportedly died, aged 64
Mark Hollis of the band Talk Talk has reportedly died, aged 64. He was one of the driving forces behind the band in their early stages
— Read on www.nme.com/news/music/mark-hollis-talk-talk-reportedly-died-aged-64-2453863
One of my greatest heroes has passed from this world. May God bless and welcome a faithful artist.
Spirit of Cecilia 
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