When wi' an eldritch stour, 'quaick! quaick!'

From Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Chapter 10: The Witch-Mania.  Discussing the character of the devil in medieval times:

"It was believed that he endeavoured to trip people up, by laying his long invisible tail in their way, and giving it a sudden whisk when their legs were over it; — that he used to get drunk, and swear like a trooper, and be so mischievous in his cups as to raise tempests and earthquakes, to destroy the fruits of the earth and the barns and homesteads of true believers; — that he used to run invisible spits into people by way of amusing himself in the long winter evenings, and to proceed to taverns and regale himself with the best, offering in payment pieces of gold which, on the dawn of the following morning, invariably turned into slates. Sometimes, disguised as a large drake, he used to lurk among the bulrushes, and frighten the weary traveller out of his wits by his awful quack."

I suppose if that if someone were to jump out of the bushes and go "Quick!  Name one thing for which we can be thankful for with regards to Milton!" then I'd have to say "He at least helped popularise the idea of a devil who didn't merely resemble some drunken frat boy."

I'm sorry, but I can't take seriously a "Great Adversary of Mankind" whose idea of tormenting people is to hide in the bushes and make duck noises.

Why Should I Believe You? You're Hitler!

Some days, I am baffled at how people thought something was a good idea.

Case in point: Heil Honey I'm Home!, a 1990 sitcom idea satirising the general vacuousness of 1950's sitcoms.

Doesn't sound so bad, huh?  Well, take a look at the title again.  It's a sitcom satirising 1950's sitcoms, starring the characters of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, who don't get along with their next-door-neighbours, the Goldensteins.

What's scarier than the fact that someone even thought this would be a good idea, is that eight episodes got produced, and one even got aired.  You can find it on YouTube in two parts (Part 1 & part 2).  I don't suggest watching the whole thing though; to call it bad would be an understatement (and I'm not just referring to bad taste).  The entire thing feels like a poorly thought out Saturday Night Live skit that never seems to end.  (Ok, so that last bit was redundant.)

Personally, I'm curious as to how the writer pitched it so that somebody actually was willing to approve it.

Test Entry

Having issues with the new version of Movable Type.  Let's see if this entry posts.

Oh, Those Wacky Puritans! (Part II)

Taken from the start of the errata to the previously mentioned Decennium Luctuosum:

Reader, Carthegena was of the mind, that unto thoſe Three Things, which the Ancients held Impoſſible, there ſhould be added this Fourth ; To find a Book Printed without Errata's.  It ſeems the Hand of Brioreus, and the Eyes of Argus will not prevent them.

I'm having difficulty finding out who Carthegena was, as well as what the three other impossible things were, but I have to admit to just loving that bit.