Fr. Jonathan Harmon, SJ

@BaritusCatholic This is a call to excellence. We as Catholic artists must stand firm in seeking the true, the good and beautiful. At all costs. Ai copies. Humanity co-creates with God in His act of creation.

AI will inspire an entire new generation of technology, but not in the way all of the AI tech companies are proposing. Right now is precisely the moment when people with some clarity can step into the gap being forged between tech and human creativity, and create a Spotify that is human only. An AI song hitting #1 for the first time has solidified (did we really need more proof?) that Spotify is not about the artist, it's about the money. Also, 3K digital download sales earns an AI band #1? Compare that to the millions of sales that a new hit album on CD would have gotten in the 90's or thereabout. That's bleak for any kind of culturally relevant music.

New Orleans is a wild stallion that cannot be tamed

@ericarmusik Nice. Reminds me of Rosetti.

A detail of my small painting of "The Annunciation" oil on panel, 11 x 14" 2016

@calix517 here's an updated version of that painting I made of Saint Carlo Acutis.. A cleanse is definitely needed.

@calix517 You weren’t supposed to know that..

@BaritusCatholic @ayla_loves_koda Fruit of the earth and work of human hands.. That’s something AI can never take from an artist. I wholeheartedly agree that this moment is, weird, yet crucial for fostering art. Meditate on the Incarnation. Keep drawing, find a community of artists if you can.

Very nice work, you definitely have a talent. I came to the same realization as you, only about +15 years later than you, so you're on a great track, and early, to understanding that your God-given gifts are meant to be given back to Him for His greater glory. You certainly have the skill so keep at it. It's a weird time to be an artist, but that's exactly why we need more ACTUAL artists right now, particularly Catholic artists. Godspeed! :) +++

@DavidPaternostr Dang, even in Tyler, the buckle of the bible belt, we had a solid community of Polish nuns running the hospital that rocked the habit. My mom, the nurse, had them over to the house often.

Like, I didn’t meet a religious sister in the flesh until I was 17, but I *did* watch Sister Act and the Father Dowling mysteries from a young age, so…

And TV by and large kept using pre-VII aesthetics b/c they visually register w/ viewers as “Catholic.” Which I’m willing to bet was an influence on the traditional aesthetic preferences of the post-Vatican II generations

@dlongenecker1 @TheJeffPutnam I try to make it at least once a year to visit my family 🤷

@TheJeffPutnam Yeh, but who wants to go to Tyler, TX instead of Milan?

Any time a Brit makes an argument that Americans don’t need cars I like to remind them that if you go 1,244 kilometers (773 miles) from London: To the south: you’d reach Barcelona, Spain To the east: you’d hit Warsaw, Poland To the southeast: you’d arrive near Milan, Italy To the north: you’d be well past Oslo, Norway To the west: you’d end up in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean But that only takes you from El Paso, Texas, to Tyler, Texas in America.

@TheUnshored We have chapels made of human bones. People forget how metal Catholicism actually is

The Catholic school to metalhead pipeline is extremely real

@calix517 I love this painting. Mead Schaeffer was a great illustrator. I did a few studies based off of this one many years ago.

@calix517 "Set in the year 2024, Connor MacLeod, regains his youth and immortal abilities and must free Earth from the Shield, an artificial ozone layer that was originally intended to protect the Earth from the Sun." Leave it to scientists to try and make Highlander II a reality.

@FrPBehm It’s been raining all day in Chicago. No idea if that has anything to do with it.

Does anyone know why the Cubs/Reds game is blacked out? It's supposedly on FOX, but not where I'm at. It's blacked out on MLB.TV and not on Marquee Sports. I really wish MLB would just be clear on their blackout policy.

@NOHEROESPOD it is Blessed Carlo Acutis. He dressed up as Spider man when he was younger. x.com/calix517/statu…

Great news about future Saint Carlo Acutis. I guess I should dust off this oil painting I’ve had in my studio for over a year (!!) and finally finish it.

@JDLauscher Bro, I just listened to this album the other day. So good.

@greg_thornbury Merry Christmas. Celebrate the season until feb 2, the feast of the presentation!

Here’s the thing no one told me growing up evangelical. It’s okay to be happy. Merry Christmas!

@TheUnshored youtu.be/PiNtAbKWPeA?si… @JDLauscher

Hey y’all, it’s my favorite time of year - Let me know your favorite metal *song* of the year and I’ll make another Metal Twitter Hits playlist for 2023. For my sanity and curation, give me ONE song, not just like a list of 10. Two songs if they’re really exceptional. Ok go!

@TheUnshored Saw Baroness last year at Desertfest. Jealous of your evening.

So I’m currently heading to Chat Pile / Baroness and I just learned that Suffocation is playing across town, and starting later. Dare I attempt the mythical double show?!