From merely "good" to...

... ultimate.

For a variety of reasons, but mostly out of convenience, I'm packing up shop here at Good Brownie and moving over to a new Blogger site, Brownie's Bites. I hope to offer up the same stuff I dished out here, only with a little more regularity. So check it out over there.

For all those who visited here, and especially those who left comments, I thank you.

A murder in Celebration

It seems that not everyone has been happy living in the Town Built by the Happiest Place on Earth.

Celebration, Disney's master-planned, picture-perfect central Florida community, has never reported a homicide in its 14-year existence — until this week.

Residents of the town five miles south of Walt Disney World woke up Tuesday to the sight of yellow crime-scene tape wrapped around a condo near the Christmas-decorated downtown, where Bing Crosby croons from speakers hidden in the foliage. A 58-year-old neighbor who lived alone with his Chihuahua had been slain over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Osceola County sheriff's deputies said.

The community's famous friendliness is what brought investigators to Matteo Giovanditto's body: Neighbors hadn't seen him for days, so they filed a missing person's report, then went into his condo a day later and found him.

Town officials claimed this to be an isolated incident. What would they have said at the beginning of last week, if asked if there were ever to be a murder in their fair town?

UPDATED: More tragedy in Celebration. Craig Foushee committed suicide after barricading himself in his home.

"Just because this is Celebration doesn't mean everyone's perfect," said Eva Medved, who lived across the street from Foushee. "People die, people get divorced, people get in trouble."

"I don't know if I'm going to win another one."

Rafael Nadal takes the humble route after winning the U.S. Open on Monday, completing his own personal Grand Slam. He is only the seventh man in tennis history to have won all four major tournaments, the other three being the Australian Open, the French Open (Roland Garros), and Wimbledon.

If you're worried about the future and you absolutely MUST consult a psychic...

Consider the octopus.

I'm just like Kathy Griffin!

Does this mean I'll get my own show?

"I will leave my apartment tomorrow and go find a meeting."

Wired magazine explores the history and mystery of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"It’s the kind of film Freud, or more likely Jung, would have delighted in deconstructing."

It's really not shocking that the man who brought us Memento and The Dark Knight would make another critically acclaimed film. Memento focused on the problems of memory and loss, while The Dark Knight reveled in nihilism and fate. From what I've seen of the trailer, Inception appears to focus on perception, dreams, and reality. It's always a treat to watch a movie that engages the senses and the mind.

Happy 234th Birthday, America!

May you have many, many more to come. And may God shed His grace on thee...

the Twinkie

Deconstructed.

You can't expect every WH staff member to be in the Gulf, can you?

Not all White House staffers are taking the BP crisis as seriously as our president. Well, I guess we should give them some slack, right? They work hard...

"From what we know of the future DSM-V, Anakin is a 'good' to 'very good' match to the future BPD."

DSM-V = Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.

BPD = Borderline personality disorder

Anakin = Anakin Skywalker, AKA Darth Vader.

Yes, some French psychiatrists and psychologists had time enough on their hands to create a biopsychosocial assessment and diagnosis for the Lord of the Sith. I guess we should applaud them for their efforts, but how much honor should they get for spending so much time and energy diagnosing someone who doesn't exist?

Think this all is rubbish? We know what Lord Vader would say to that:

3 ways the Gospel can transform a porn addict

Thanks to Covenant Eyes and Breaking Free for a clip of D.A. Carson, John Piper and Tim Keller discussing the power of the Gospel for those who struggle with pornography.

Blago's trial began today

The illustrious former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, finally got his day in court. The Chicago Tribune is keeping up with the latest details, information, and allegations. I'm not sure how exciting the court proceedings will be, but it will certainly be lively if there are a few jurors with 'bad temper.'

Federer out of Roland Garros

For the first time in six years, Roger Federer will not play in a semi-final match at a Grand Slam. Fifth-seed Robin Soderling beat the #1 seed in four sets.

Geoff MacDonald showed two days ago why he has a future in fortune-telling - "I predict that [Soderling] will take the reigning French Open champion down in four sets."

"a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together"

The Gores are no more. Some people may, of course, think it great fun to ruminate on reasons for their split, but it's a tragedy in the end. The article reads, "The Gores crafted an image as a happily married couple during his eight-year stint as vice president in the 1990s and a presidential candidate in 2000." Was it just an image? Perhaps they were deliriously happy during the Veep years, and it wasn't just an "image" to "craft." Ten years ago, marital separation may have been the furthest thing from their minds.

Today is Towel Day

Don't panic if you forgot!

If you're going to play at Roland Garros, you might as well do it with style

Just like Venus and Rafa. Both are ranked #2 in the world.

"The End" of "Lost"

So now we know the complete story and plan that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had for one of the greatest shows on television. An ending that has everyone talking. I was pleased to see that the series concluded with a final struggle of good triumphing over evil. (And, yes, the MIB was evil. How could any good person threaten Bernard and Rose?) Jack sacrificed himself for the sake of the island, and for all the people who still remained there.

There were so many great moments in the final hours. Jack turning over the island caretaker role to Hurley. Sawyer and Juliet remembering each other by some vending machines. Claire deciding she didn't want to be crazy anymore and choosing to go with Kate and Sawyer on the plane. Kate and Charlie helping Claire to deliver Aaron... again. Locke forgiving Ben for murdering him. Vincent coming to Jack in the bamboo reeds, just as he did in the first moments of the "Pilot" episode.

I like Denny Burks' statements about the show here.

As I’ve said before, the Lost story was not your run-of-the-mill postmodern critique of metanarratives. Good and evil were in a pitched battle, and the good won in the end. Viewers saw in this story what they already perceive to be true about their own story. The world that they live in is broken, something has gone wrong, there is evil afoot, and something needs to be done about it. Everyone living in this broken-down world is broken-down themselves and in desperate need of redemption.

I think it’s easy to see why viewers have been attracted to Lost’s mythology. They feel a yearning that what was true in Lost’s story might be true in their own. They hope to find that what they did here did have meaning and a purpose and that good will win-out in the end. The Christian gospel teaches that this universal human yearning does have an answer. It teaches that good does in fact win-out in the end, that there is a purpose to it all, and that redemption is possible—even for the vilest characters in this drama (1 Timothy 1:15). There was really a man who was pierced for our transgressions to make a new world and new life possible (John 19:34; cf. Isaiah 53:5; Zechariah 12:10). Only this man didn’t live in a mythological TV-world. He lived here, was one of us, and has gone on to prepare a place for those who know Him by faith (John 1:14; 14:2-3).

“Lost” highlighted the itch that only the gospel can scratch. This was the unwitting genius of the show, and it is why people will be talking about it for years to come.

Josh Marshall: Rand Paul is "deeply unlikeable" on a "personal level"

So I was reading Althouse, which is one of my go-to places for some lite thought-provoking bloggishness, and I came to this post about Josh Marshall's thoughts on Dr. Rand Paul. Paul is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky, and scored a big victory in yesterday's primary. Josh believes Dr. Paul is a "deeply unlikeable guy," and not just because he's a Republican - no, he's unlikeable "on a personal level."

The interesting thing about this post is that Josh appears to use a lot of therapy-speak. I realize he's not a professional journalist, in the sense that he doesn't have to be objective (or he doesn't have to try to be objective, I should say) when he's writing about persons, places, or things. But Josh seems to have written this as if he was talking to somebody, and he wasn't sure about how he viewed things, and he wanted to check them out. It is my impression that he qualifies his statements to make sure they're accurate.

Do you see what I mean?

• "So is Rand Paul, on a personal level, just a deeply unlikeable guy?" Josh is asking a question of his readers. He's not actually saying that Paul is an unlikeable fellow - he just wants to know if his readers think that way.
• "But I am getting the impression that Paul..." Josh doesn't know something for sure - he's just getting the impression. He wants to check it out, see if he's right, and make sure that his observational prowess is still good.
• "... aside from just being very unlikeable in personal terms..." OK, Josh shows his hand here and writes definitively that Dr. Paul is very unlikeable. Or is he still talking about impressions? This is kind of tough, and gives Josh a cushion in case he has to backtrack and say, "No, no, I didn't say that Dr. Paul is very unlikeable. It's just my impression that he is unlikeable."
• "... may be a much more devisive figure..." Josh believes that Dr. Paul is devisive. That pretty much goes without saying, right? But he could be even more devisive than Josh had previously thought.
• "I get the sense..." Oh, my! Josh's feelers/sensors/antennae have activated!

I'm sure we're getting the same impression. Or am I completely off base?

Wenlock and Mandeville

Just when you think you got the Brits figured out, they pull stuff like this. What exactly are they supposed to represent?