Comments for Confessions of an Urban Druid

Comment on Mystics at large: Andrew Harvey vs. Ken Wilber by mike

mike — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:29:40 +0000

Hi,
I appreciate your words about Harvey and Wilber. I have been getting so fed up with the likes of Harvey and for that matter Ferrer who have so much to say about enlightenment and the whole history of mysticism, when they have clearly not come to anything like liberation.

Wilber’s authenticity and depth of mystical experience vastly outshine all the angry projections that fly his way.

Best
Mike

Comment on Where it all began by executivepagan

executivepagan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:57:47 +0000

At times I have wondered whether, had I been raised Anglican rather than Lutheran (rather than passing through Anglicanism later in life, as I did) I might have had more interest in staying in the Church… but then I recollect that the church I grew up in was also highly liturgical (although the emphasis was more on the German Classical repertoire than on the older material) and that the problem was in the end between me and the Christian mythos.

I will certainly admit to a fairly high degree of liturgical snobbishness – it’s one of the reasons that I have never had a lot of luck with pagan group rituals. The OBOD liturgy, with its propers and ordinaries, came the closest that I have found to feeding that need; it’s my bad luck that there’s not a functioning OBOD group anywhere near me, and that I don’t have the time to devote to building one.

Comment on A list of things my readers may not know I like by Erik

Erik — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:14:20 +0000

“World jazz” is not that strange, surely…

I haven’t seen “As Time Goes By”, but I dearly love “Waiting For God” and “Vicar of Dibley” – and, to a lesser extent, “AYBS” and “Keeping Up Appearances”. BTW, did you know that Patricia Routledge (God bless her, she’s wonderful in everything) did a mystery series as well? With a (quite young) Dominic Monaghan, no less – “Hetty Wainthrop Investigates”. Worth a look.

Comment on A list of things my readers may not know I like by Mam Adar

Mam Adar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:28:55 +0000

Erik, my husband is a fan of Pink Martini! I have heard at least one of their recordings. Strange but wonderful stuff. *g*

Comment on A list of things my readers may not know I like by Erik

Erik — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:18:26 +0000

Big band and swing music

Pink Martini? (pinkmartini (d0t) com (slash) home, if you’re not familiar…)

Comment on The shining of the silver screen by Mam Adar

Mam Adar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:31:18 +0000

Nettle, the Granada version doesn’t mention the marriage! but it doesn’t surprise me. Watson is obviously quite taken with Morstan, and Jenny Seagrove is very sympathetic, very attractive in the role–she has warmth and strength.

Comment on The shining of the silver screen by Mam Adar

Mam Adar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:58:35 +0000

Nettle, having been a raving Spockophile all my life, I’m not sure how I missed out on Brett’s Holmes. He is clearly Spock’s spiritual grandfather, and Watson is his McCoy. *g* Maybe I should just blame my mother, who never watched anything on PBS that I can recall.

Erik, I am rather fond of the Branagh Frankenstein, in which he runs around half-naked with streaming golden hair while lots of machinery goes clank and whoosh in the background… excuse me, where was I? *g* But I’ve seen a number of older horror films this year, and I agree they can still bring the thrills and chills without making one’s gorge or one’s blood pressure rise (unlike, say, Quarantine, which nearly gave me a stroke).

Comment on The shining of the silver screen by Erik

Erik — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Amen and amen on the Frankenstein... for my money it's still the best film version. (Actually, I find that overall older horror films are frequently superior to more recent ones, with the occasional exception such as American Werewolf in London or Sean of the Dead, that manage to find a new perspective.) And while we're on the subject of moody and atmospheric, I also highly recommend Lon Chaney's The Wolf Man if you haven't seen it. I haven't watched Great Pumpkin in a few years, but we certainly make a point of watching the Grinch every year (speaking of Karloff!).

Comment on The shining of the silver screen by Nettle

Nettle — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:46:19 +0000

I don’t recall if the Granada version made it clear, but Watson married Mary Morstan. Watson and the double-barreled tiger cub…

I love Suchet’s Poirot so very much! And Brett’s Holmes was practically my first boyfriend – I had a raging crush on the character from late childhood, and the Granada series came out when I was in my teens, so you can just imagine. I think “Four” was one of the best of that series – they got sadly awful towards the end as Brett was getting sicker, but for a while there they were glorious.

James Whale’s Frankenstein is worth Netflixing. We did a whole Frankenstein film festival last year around this time, and that one stood up really well against any of the other versions.

Comment on October’s reading by fionn999

fionn999 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:15:51 +0000

I *love* The Squire’s Tales. I’ve just finished The Princess, the Crone and the Dung-cart Knight. Then again, I am a big sucker for Arthurian tales. : )

Also, I wonder if you would be interested in a book I read recently called The Quantum and the Lotus by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan. It’s about Buddhism and modern physics, and how the two often intersect in surprising ways.

Very wonderful food for thought and relevatory to me concerning Buddhism’s metaphysics (for lack of a better word.

–Finn