Dropping by, dropping off

So here's some drive-by links for you, while I decide what to do with The Great Lost Post and work on a post detailing the Great Christmas Miracle.

Al Strachan is fantastic. He's, like, the mind of a hockey god in the body of a little old Canadian woman. Watch him on the Hotstove segment of HNIC sometime. He's all plugged in to whatever is happening on and off the ice, but he delivers it like he's complaining about the high cost of milk these days. Also, he's not one to shovel on the laudatory bs about a guy just because he's retiring. If he kind of always thought Mario was a punk, he's gonna tell you why.

I've started reading Whispers in the Loggia, a blog of Vatican gossip by one of the writers for Tablet. Detroit's popped up twice in a row, which is kind of nifty. There's mention of Bishop Gumbleton finally offering his retirement and then a mention of the recent ordination of the new Bishop of Marquette that includes some speculation on the future for My Boss.

There's also Deus Caritas Est, Benny16's first encyclical. It's only about a mazillion times warmer and fuzzier than anyone was expecting from His Holiness The Former PanzerCardinal. Around the time of his election, there was a bit of press buzz about the softer side of Ratzinger. As head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, it was speculated that he was often set up as the "bad guy," enforcing the more conservative aspects that didn't fit with PJPII's public image as Most Huggable Pope Ever. I think maybe they were on to something, because DCE really reads more like a guy who likes to play with his cats than a guy who grooved on being the Grand Inquisitor.

Before I get too deep, let's talk Project Runway. Zulema got cut last night, which is good because I kind of hated her. I mean, her designs were good, but her personality was tremendously off-putting. Gyuch. I've made this huge turnaround on Santino, too. From "Wow, he's an ass" to "yeah, he's an ass, but he's an entertaining ass" all the way to "Aww. Santino. I kind of want to hug him." I can't explain it, really. As predicted, Andrae is still around, though he's showing more talent than I had originally expected out of him. I kind of thought Lupe would last longer than she did--she went out before two designers I think were solidly worse than her--but it was a lesson, I guess, in making sure you fit your design style to that of your client. In conclusion I love this show.

Wait, one more thing. Blogger's spell checker suggests that you replace "Detroit's" with "Detritus." Deeply insightful, that spell checker.