All These Things That I’ve Done was a widely popular song when it was released in 2005. Many people still find it to be deeply meaningful. The writer of this blog would an example of the type of people who love it.

What does this say about the people who like the song?

Lots of You Tube videos of the song, but we are not posting any of them because we could not find one that we could stand.

Orson Scott Card takes J.K. Rowling to the woodshed. What’s not to like?

Poem of the week is Rich Mullins song “We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are.”

Many factors combine to make this an eery video. Hopkins’ body language seems remote and forced, as of an animated wax figure. I think this is partly a change in mannerism over the years. But the poor synching, the black and white, and the beat also contribute.

And I think it will shortly seem more appropriate than it does even now.

“Oh, my friend, we’re older but no wiser.”

The furor over Obama’s recent comments on people is small towns clinging to guns and God due to economic problems caused us to think of the country music song below.

This week’s poem of the week is Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Home Burial is one of the most gut wrenching poems that Robert Frost ever wrote. Though it must be admitted that in many ways the poem is more like lines out of novel then a proper poem.

This week’s poem of the week is Rich Mullin’s song How to grow up big and strong. In a slightly perverse way, it fits with both this week’s rant and this week’s essay.

Sometimes a story that uses cliches and does not get the characters quite right and is a little too popular to be really very good still is a good story.

H/T YouTube 2007 awards.