One bathroom run

One bathroom run. And at five o'clock. But I felt a little bad seeing Coco and Ash at the door, anxious to be let inside, but I opted for another couple of hours of sleep, or at last for the opportunity, on which I did manage to cash in. Even now, I am leaving them outside until seven-thirty, to let Pop enjoy an extra dose of sweet sleep.

Waitress Gaga

We've come to know her as Lady Gaga, but before the world tours, "The Fame" or even the dress made of meat, photographer Malgorzata Saniewska knew her simply as her restaurant co-worker, Stefani Germanotta.

In the summer of 2005, Saniewska, who goes by Maggie, happened to be tending bar at the same West Village restaurant where the 19-year-old soon-to-be star worked as a waitress.

Just 24 at the time, Saniewska had moved from her native Poland to the United States two years prior with dreams of becoming a photographer.

-- ONTD

So, this is the girl before she became rich and famous and blonde. I like one of the ONTD comments, "Looks like the facebook pics of every nyu girl i know." It is funny how someone can go from being a perfectly ordinary kid to a super-wealthy mega-rock star, whether it's an Elvis or a Lady Gaga. What a ride it must be...

Kindle Fire

Picked up the Kindle Fire again. The shield that Pop got for it is not the nightmare I feared. It doesn't seem to affect visibility or functionality. The only drawback is that one's finger does not glide as effortlessly on the screen. If this is the only real difference, I would still prefer not to have the shield, but at least the Kindle is not ruined. I downloaded Milton's Paradise books.

The Historical Jesus?

Wills, in his foreword, goes on to relate how people try to demystify Jesus and defang him of all his supernaturalism, so as to be able to continue to relate to this key historical figure, by making Jesus out to be a great philosopher and leader. Wills relates the famous example of Thomas Jefferson, who crafted his own abridged version of the gospels by cutting out all the parts that he found unacceptable, especially the supernatural elements such as the healings and miracles as well as the resurrection. Jefferson boasted that the task of culling the “real” gospel was as simple as “finding diamonds in dunghills”. Jefferson was not the only one to do this, and it has even become commonplace today for people to think and speak of Jesus as just another leader who was deified after his death. Wills takes issue with these attempts to make Jesus merely human.

_ _ _

Jesus as a person does not exist outside the gospels, and the only reason he exists there is because of the authors’ faith in the Resurrection. Trying to find a construct, “the historical Jesus,” is not like finding diamonds in a dung hill, but like finding New York City at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. It is a mixing of categories, or rather of wholly different worlds of discourse. The only Jesus we have is the Jesus of faith. If you reject the faith, there is no reason to trust anything the gospels say. The Jesus of the gospels is the Jesus preached, who is the Jesus resurrected. Belief in his continuing activity in the members of his mystical body [that is, the true church of true believers] is the basis of Christian belief in the gospels. If that is unbelievable to anyone, then why should that person bother with him? The flat cutout figure they are left with is not a more profound philosopher than Plato, a better storyteller than Mark Twain, or a more bitingly ascetical figure than Epictetus (the only ancient philosopher Jefferson admired). If his claims are no higher than theirs, than those claims amount to nothing.

-- Garry Wills, “What Jesus Meant”

"Irreversible"

ZOMG! I just noticed that "Irreversible" is available for instant viewing, but it's not free, not even for Prime members. But it's only a few bucks. I may have to catch that one. Even though I have already seen the only scene that really counts. Many times. But it would be nice to catch that scene in English. Assuming they haven't cut it.