Saturday, March 11, 2023

Saturday Good Reads - March 11, 2023


The movie “Jesus Revolution” was expected to gross about $5 million. At last report, it had exceeded $30 million, a bit more than five of the movies nominated for best picture at the Oscars – combined. Alexander Larman at The Spectator says the that it may well indicate that Christian movies have found their niche

It’s been hard to look anywhere on social media or the news media and not see a story about artificial intelligence (AI), and how Microsoft has integrated into ChapGPT. Some of the best commentary I’ve seen, interestingly enough, is from people of faith. Clint Archer at The Cripplegate says AI is here, and we’re seeing its precocious adolescence. Jeremy Pierre at The Gospel Coalition asks whether students should use AI for writing assignments.

 

I’m old enough to remember what happened when Daniel Ellsberg leaked what came to be called the Pentagon Papers; in fact, I was in journalism school. And there have been a number of spectacular disclosures since then – Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and Wikileaks, to mention some fairly recent ones. Historically, the news media applauded and supported such disclosures. Then came two voluntary disclosures: Elon Musk and the Twitter files, and Tucker Carlson and the Jan. 6 videotapes. Both of those ran afoul of the prevailing media narrative (and there is a prevailing media narrative). Freddy Gray at The Spectator says that Tucker Carlson’s biggest crime was doing good journalism.

 

More Good Reads

 

British Stuff

 

St. Clement Danes – A Historic Strand Landmark – A London Inheritance.

 

Poetry

 

Things Worth Remembering: W. H. Auden’s Poignant Embrace – Douglas Murray at The Free Press.

 

Crucifixion – Anna Akhmatova at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Lean on Him – Warren Bonham at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Life and Culture

 

Thomas Jefferson and the Smoothening of the American Mind – Douglas Murray at The Spectator.

 

Unpopular, Polarizing, and Ineffective: Affirmative action’s days may finally be numbered – Jason Riley at CityJournal. 

 

Cornmeal and Butter: On the Significance of Temperature – Ethan Mannon at Front Porch Republic.

 

American Stuff

 

A Different Fight: The Insurance Writings of General Gustavus Woodson Smith – Karl Miller at Emerging Civil War.

 

The Women’s Tea Parties – Bert Dunkerly at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Blurred Lines: When a Novel’s Author Is Also Its Narrator – William Landay at CrimeReads. 

 

In defense of narrative history: Stories make scholarship human – Charlotte Gauthier at The Critic.

 

Every Friday Nite is Kiddies Nite – a previously unpublished short story by Tennessee Williams at Conjunctions. 

 

Faith

 

Love Is – Vanessa Le at Gentle Reformation.

 

News Media

 

Elon Musk Outlines His Vision for Twitter at Morgan Stanley Tech Conference – Andrew Hutchinson at Social Media Today. 

 

May It Be (Enya / Lord of the Rings) – Voces8



 
Painting: In the Library, oil on canvas  by Johann Hamza (1850-1927).

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