Nick D'Aloisio

Hey, Internet! Leave Them Kids Alone!

Regular readers know that on a Friday I normally publish a film review, but I was unable to get to the cinema yesterday to catch what I wanted to write about, The Place Beyond the Pines, and won’t be able to see it until next week.  Instead, I refer you to Dana Steven’s review in Slate.  In my opinion, Stevens is the best non-filmmaker reviewer out there, which is my way of avoiding the truth—that she is probably a better writer than I am, period—because I’m not aware of any other filmmakers who write reviews,

Pope Benedict

Is Frank the Last Pope?

UPDATE: This post was originally titled “Benedict: The Penultimate Pope?” and makes reference to the Prophecy of the Popes (see link below) as well as the real inexorable demise of the Roman Catholic Church.  The Wikipedia page about the prophecy has already been updated, less than an hour after a cardinal who appears to have suffered a stroke made the announcement. Wouldn’t you know it, the prophecy got it wrong.  To begin with, Frank’s chosen name isn’t Peter (conspiracy against prophecy?), and he’s from Argentina, a looong way from Rome.  But wait!  A last name like Bergoglio means that Frank is actually Italian, i.e. Roman, as are many Argentines. Here’s the text predicting what the last pope will be: