What We've Been Watching: Wordplay, Lego Movie, and The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wordplay (2006 documentary)

★★★★

A thoroughly enjoyable look at crossword puzzles, both those who create them and those who solve them including Will Shortz of the New York Times and those who compete annually in the national crossword tournament.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

★★★★½

There is a plot about a will, a painting, a looming war, and several murders. But they are all an excuse for this delightful froth of a movie, accented by charming details which take the viewers into a fairy tale which somehow references a history that we all know.

Underlying the whole thing is the mentorship and friendship that grow between a master hotel concierge and a lobby boy. This is a movie which will reward repeated viewing simply to take in all the details, if not to enjoy the effervescent story.

The Lego Movie (2014)

★★★

Both my husband and I had heard interviews with the directors talking about this movie. Hence our interest in viewing it since we have no little ones to drag us to it.

Overall it was clever enough and the voice actors definitely delivered, especially Will Arnett as Batman. However, we both understood why a movie executive, after seeing the first draft, told the creators that it was fun and full of action but had no heart to ground the story.

The solution they came up with, which I won't spoil here, was creative and worked perfectly in my estimation. It turned an entertaining enough movie into something solid. I also appreciated the message about creative teamwork instead of simply falling back on the ubiquitous "you're special, you can change the world" message.

Worth a Thousand Words: Friendship Forever

Friendship Forever
via Not Pulp Covers

This is just striking. And doubtless a classic example of some type of poster art, which the Soviets were so good at. But that's beside the point for me.

Well Said: Doing as He tells you

Do you ask, "What faith is in him?" I answer, the leaving of your own way, you objects, you self, and the taking of His and Him ... and doing as He tells you. I can find no word strong enough to serve the weight of this necessity—this obedience.

George MacDonald, The Truth in Jesus

George MacDonald's writing was formational for C.S. Lewis as a Christian, who consequently held obedience to be very important. Interestingly this is what has been emphasized to me repeatedly by my spiritual director. In my own case it has been through conversation about Abraham and various other Biblical figures that have happened to come up before my conversations.

I say happened to come up as if there was coincidence to it. When one is meeting with a spiritual director and goes in armed with passages about obedience, even if one cannot see it until it is pointed out, it is not coincidence but the Holy Spirit making a point.

Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? - Guy Consolmagno, SJ, and Paul Mueller, SJ

Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?: . . . and Other Questions from the Astronomers' In-box at the Vatican Observatory

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is structured around a half dozen particular questions we've been asked time and again—questions that are interesting in themselves but that tend also to presuppose a conflict of some sort between religion and science.

This intent leads to rich, interesting dialogues. I use the word dialogues intentionally because the book is structured as a conversation between the two authors who are astronomers for the Vatican. Each is a highly accredited scientist and a Jesuit. The broad topics they discuss:

• Biblical Genesis or the Big Bang?
  (how science and religion can have different but complementary ways of viewing the same subject)
• What Happened to Poor Pluto?
  (how scientific theories and ideas change over time)
• What Really Happened to Galileo?
  (how religion can or should respond when science changes)
• What Was the Star of Bethlehem?
  (how can God be active in a universe governed by scientific laws)
• What's Going to Happen When the World Ends?
  (How can humans be important to God in a universe that will come to an end)
• Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?
  (what could the message of Christ mean in an endless universe with countless planets and possibly countless other intelligent races)

The list above doesn't properly convey the riches contained within. Each chapter careens from science to faith to history and then back again. It is really like following an actual conversation where you can never tell exactly what sorts of ideas will flow from the give-and-take.

Also, each chapter asks you to image a different setting which helps to illustrate the points they are making. One is in the Chicago Art Institute, another at Antarctica, yet another at the Restaurant at the End of the World. If that last one makes you think of Douglas Adams books you are correct. These fellows have active senses of humor and a love of science fiction to boot.

As an example, the Star of Bethlehem chapter was set in the Papal Summer Palace with the Vatican Observatory telescopes. It went something like this:

• Scientific possibilities for unusual events in the sky around the time Jesus was born, including conjunctions of planets
• Possible interpretations of scripture (Matthew) about the event including how standards in interpretation have shifted over the ages
• Who were the Magi, why did they come from the East and what part could astrology play
• Ancient cosmology of the spheres
• Comets
• God's actions in human history and the true nature of a miracle
• Old versus new ways of thinking about the physical world
• What is a mystery: scientific versus religious mysteries
• How do men of science and faith see this event as opportunities for encounters with the divine

Every chapter was like a roller coaster ride of new ideas, melding of concepts, and considerations of different opinions ... exactly like following a lively conversation with a couple of friends.

The authors are really good at talking about both science and faith in ways that are eminently reasonable and understandable. I was wary of the dialogue format but wound up enjoying it a lot because they could use it to show a variety of points of view, including the points where they disagreed with each other. I think this would be an excellent book to share with all sorts of folks, whether Catholic or not.

This seems like the perfect book for someone who is interested in both faith and science. And if you are interested in one and wary of the other, I think it could be very fruitful if for no other reason than to understand how the other side thinks. If you keep an open mind, you may be surprised at how well faith and science go together. Like a couple of folded hands, in fact.

Very highly recommended.

Well Said: Ants and our expectations

Ants have played havoc with my belief that anything is interesting when known. Having come prepared to loathe crawling things and stayed to admire them, I came full of copybook reverence for the ant and remain filled with the desire to exterminate the last one. In a still predatory world, good and evil are not fixed values, but are relative. "Good" is what helps us or at least does not hinder. "Evil" is whatever harms us or interferes with us, according to our own selfish standards. The ant as a symbol of industry, of social organization, of superb community instinct, has been extolled by science as well as the Bible. But for whom does the ant function so industriously and so socially? No one has troubled to point out that it is for the ant.

... It is disconcerting, too, to be outsmarted. I lost a birthday cake placed on a pan inside a basin of water sitting on a table whose legs were bound with ant-proof "Hoodoo Tape," because I forgot, and the ants did not, that a wire leading from the wall to an electric fan on the table made the easiest of runways.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek

I was really startled when I read this because it hadn't occurred to me to view ants as adversaries. I think that goes to show that I live in a city and Rawlings lived in the country, not to mention many decades ago. It does make me reflect on a year ago when ants started invading the kitchen and practically drove us crazy trying to figure out where they were coming from. So I guess I'm not as removed as I'd like to think.

Interview: "Calvary" Writer-Director John Michael McDonagh on Good Priests, Integrity, and H.P. Lovecraft

I had the opportunity for a round-table interview which, as it turns out, only consisted of me and Methodist pastor Kenny Dickson speaking with John Michael McDonagh about his new film Calvary (my review here).

McDonagh is engaging and thoughtful in conversation and punctuated our questions intently with "Yes." "Yes." "Yes." as we proceeded. This had the dual effect of ratcheting up the energy level and turning it from a staid interview into a lively conversation.

I had no idea an interview could be so much fun.

Please note, this interview contains spoilers.

==============

Julie D.: When I left your movie there was a quote that kept rolling around in my head. I'd like to read a little of it.

The Church is always God hung between two thieves. Thus, no one should be surprised or shocked at how badly the church has betrayed the gospel and how much it continues to do so today. It had never done very well. Conversely, however, nobody should deny the good the church has done either. It has carried grace, produced saints, morally challenged the planet, and made, however imperfectly, a house for God to dwell in on this earth. (Ronald Rolheiser)

McDonagh: Yes, well that's just it, isn't it. We're left with that fallout and I kept wondering how it affected the good men who are still carrying on. What is it that the priest has to deal with, where people won't trust him even when he's trying to do the best for them.

Where he can be judged just by the uniform he wears. Like when he [Brendan Gleeson] has the scene with the girl in the country lane. Although you could say, you know, it's reached a place now in the world that a man talking to a girl on a country lane would be seen as just bad. But, you know, you can see the priest coming from a long way off now, so it's a courageous thing to do now in the priesthood.

Maybe that's why it's declining in numbers because people who have that kind of impetus to help their community are looking at other forms of social work or social areas to get into, because they don't want to be judged in that way, you know.

Dickson: Because of the baggage.

McDonagh: Yes, exactly.

Dickson: I was going to tell you that I'm a Methodist minister. That's my day job and my passion as a film student is connecting issues of life and faith as portrayed or reflected in film to people of faith. And I usually prefer secular films or not-faith-films because I think there's a better resonance with true life and again with these issues of faith. 

But what I just wanted to compliment you on is this is probably one of the top one or two accurate portrayals of being clergy. In terms of not only bearing the burden of walking people through difficult times in life but, as Father James was, carrying the baggage of, in his case the Catholic Church, in my case ministering to people who want the Word preached and who proclaim faith but who then profane that faith because they don't want to live up to the Word. And so when we preach a prophetic sermon we get pushed back, we get slammed, and that is just burdensome.

McDonagh: Brendan summed up the attitude of those villagers is that they just want to destroy the priest but they actually don't want him to be destroyed because if he is destroyed, if he does cave in, they have kind of destroyed the last little hopeful spark in themselves. So what other kind of iconic figure will they have if he's gone.

Which is kind of the reason for - spoilers - but, you know the montage sequence at the end is all these people are going to have to deal with the aftermath of what's happened at the conclusion. We don't know, they may be better people after it or they may be worse; you know, we're not sure.

Dylan Moran's character, the rich guy, for all of his bluster and all of his talk about how much money he's got and everything and how confrontational he is, he is one of the few characters at the end of the movie who is sincerely asking for help. So he has actually gone through a spiritual journey in a way. He's not fully there because we're not quite sure is he sincere or not. I think he is because he's at such a low ebb. So he's there at the end in the montage, he's got his pen, he's got his watch, you know, but behind him is the shotgun. So which way is he gonna go?

I guess people ultimately have to save themselves in a way. So the aftermath is will these characters save themselves or won't they? But then that would lead to twelve sequels and you'd have twelve more movies. (laughing)

Julie D.: But you also have those two core things to me, one of which was integrity. I loved the way you put those two priests together. The one guy, he wasn't a bad priest, he just didn't get it. And then the other thing ...

McDonagh: Yeah exactly. Sorry, just a second, but the whole line of "I don't hate you. You just have no integrity and that's one of the worst things I could say about anyone." I had that as a dialogue note before I even started ... that the priest was gonna say that at some point and that led to, ok, say it now. Sorry to interrupt.

Julie D.: No, no, that's fine because that was key and that went with Father James' conversation with his daughter where she says, "I belong to myself and not to anyone else." And he says, "True. False." Because that goes back to integrity from other people can help change us but we have to be willing to change and everything we do has ripples. 

McDonagh: Well it's also interesting that you picked that up because initially his response was just, "True." And Brendan says, "I don't think he would say that. He'd give the other option as well that it's false. Yeah, some of it's true but a lot of it's false. There's no easy answer."

I thought, "Yeah, that's a good line of dialogue." (laughs) Don't tell anyone Brendan wrote that. You know when actors come up with lines of dialogue, improvisations, then they go off and tell other actors they cowrote the movie.

Julie D.: If you'd have just left it at "True." I'd have gone no, no.

Dickson: Can I ask you a couple of things. At the end when he decides to go back and he's walking up the stair and he looks and he sees the casket, what in your mind led him back? Why did he go back?

McDonagh: I think there's two things going on in that scene. Just before it, when he meets Marie-Josée Croze who's the French widow she is the one other person in the movie whose faith is as strong as his.  And yes her husband dies but she talks about how she had a good life with her husband, she feels sad for the people who have no love in their lives at all. That's the tragedy.

So obviously, he's fleeing at that point. I guess everyone however brave they think they are, now he knows they'll go through with their threat after burning the church down, that you have a moment of physical cowardice. So it's physical cowardice is why he's there. Then it's her line about "Sometimes you think you can't go on. But I will go on." And then he goes up the steps and they're waiting.

Now there's two ways you can look at this. I mean they're baggage handlers. They're dealing with baggage every day I guess and they often probably have to deal with coffins. You know, are they really bad people, those two guys leaning on the coffin? It's a job to them. They're probably not thinking about the guy. I guess the guy leaning on it doesn't mean to be disrespectful. He's just not thinking enough. And this is the argument the priest has with the naive priest, "You're not thinking about anything. You haven't thought through anything. It's all superficial."

And I guess when he's on there and he's looking down, he must assume if Marie-Josée has such great faith that her husband probably did too. And now he's dead. He's in a coffin. But does that mean he has to be treated in a disrespectful way or ignored? It doesn't. His life, the husband's life goes on in his wife. And there's a lot of complicated things going on but to me that's what makes him go, "Ok, these people's faith is so strong. Mine should be as strong as theirs. And I've had a moment of weakness but now I'll go back. "

And then to me the ending of the movie is - again spoilers - but what's happened to him on the beach leads on to the moment of grace with Kelly Reilly where all of his faith is now in her so he still goes on in her. Whatever arguments they had going on in the movie were kind of resolved and so she has taken on the mantle of all his teachings.

Dickson: He's living in her just like the husband was living in his widow.

McDonagh: Yes. So however somber the movie obviously appears to be, it does end with what I think is a moment of grace. That final shot of her face.

Julie D.: Also, if I might add, I think if he hadn't gone back we don't know what that other character might have done. The fact that once he's shot, he's not detached anymore as you said last night at the Q&A, Father James never takes his eyes off him.

McDonagh: No.

Julie D.: Of course he doesn't want to get shot, but Father James cares about him. He is present to him and that's his moment of grace living on in this other character too, I think. He [the murderer] really felt touched by Father James so much that he would even listen to the daughter. And that's the other path of grace that God gives through this guy, going on.

McDonagh: Yes. And he can see the suffering in that man's face but he's still saying, "It's not too late."

Julie D.: Right. He's not saying, "Don't shoot me." He's saying, "Save yourself."

McDonagh: Yes. Which goes right back to the thief on the cross, you know. He's on the cross but he still redeems himself because it's never too late.

He also earlier goes to see Veronica on the beach, where he says to her ... and what we have to remember is that's soon after the church is burned, so he's gone to see the wife of the man he thinks has done it. That's kind of the hidden subtext in the film. And he says to her, "No one is a lost cause." Because in my mind it was always, "Does she know? How much does she know?"

So saying, "No one is a lost cause" means "Will you help me? Will you speak to him? Is there some way we can resolve this?"

So "no one is a lost cause" and "It's not too late" ... that's Father James's message I guess, right up to the end.

Dickson: And also one other question on the very end, where he sees the writer for the last time and the writer uses his name and says, "Goodbye James." 

McDonagh: It's funny because it's only used twice. I think the bishop who's kind of a facile character calls him James as well. That kind of came out of ... in an original draft, M. Emmet Walsh was also a confrontational character and Brendan said, "Can there not just be one person in town who gets along with me?" And I thought, "Yes, that's true. And so let's give them a final moment." Because that character's been cantankerous but we know how they kind of respect one another. So let's give them that dialogue, that moment of connection where he calls him by his name.

So you're always trying to find those little moments in movies where the audience can watch the film again and see another nuance that they missed. That's what I'm always trying to put in. It's not that there's lots of hidden moments but just nuances that once you've seen the film and realize how it's played out you can then watch it again and see other subtext going on.

Julie D.: I just want to ask one question before they make me leave. Who picked H.P. Lovecraft?

McDonagh: Me! (laughs)

Julie D.: That was brilliant! I have to say at that point in the movie I was sitting there going, "These characters are all so quirky and pointed that they're not real people." I felt as if I was in a morality play or a passion play at that point and I was thinking, "Hieronymus Bosch? No, it's not weird enough for him." And then I saw the cover of that book and I read a lot of weird fiction and I went, "I know that!" And so I missed most of the conversation in that scene because I was trying to see the author.

McDonagh: The book is Dreams in the Witch House and the cover has a woman lying down with a homunculus on her chest. I think they used to do it to represent nightmares in those old books.

Julie D.: Those demons in dreams.

McDonagh: Yeah, that demon on her chest which to me there's a demon in her emotional outlook in a way. That's a signifier for that.

It was also that I wanted to suggest that she's her father's daughter. They're both very literate, erudite people. They have very literate, philosophical conversations all the time. There were little bits and pieces in it which I cut because I thought it was a bit too much, an early scene in the bar where they both quote the Dorothy Parker poem about suicide, "Nooses give, you might as well live." I thought that was going a little bit too far.

But there is a very literary, erudite relationship. Because he's reading a book, she's reading a book. I like those little bits of character building.

Julie D: Well, and also the way that Lovecraft looked at the world was there is no God here and those eldritch gods in space who we only exist for them to consume.

McDonagh: Yes, the darkness controls the world.

Julie D: And I went, "Wow. This is like you took this Lovecraftian world and then you dropped a good priest into it." And I went, "Oh holy moly. What a parallel for this world with people who don't believe in anything." You blew my mind.

McDonagh: Yes and I guess if you talk about aliens it's almost as if Brendan's like Sigorney Weaver in Aliens battling all the creatures coming to try to kill him. Yeah, yeah, the cosmos of darkness that surrounds this lone, good man.

Movie Review: Calvary

Not for the faint-of-heart. But simply astounding. 

A real masterpiece that provides food for thought for everyone from Catholics to atheists.

============

"No point in killing a bad priest. I'm going to kill you because you're innocent."

Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is hearing confessions when the parishioner on the other side of the screen tells him about five years of childhood abuse at the hands of a bad priest. The man plans to exact revenge by murdering Father James, who is given a week to wind up his affairs. It is a small community and the priest recognizes his parishioner's voice, although that identity is not revealed to the audience. Father James takes no immediate action but spends the week tending to his small flock. They are an erring lot who are flawed, wounded, and deeply critical of Father James, who they verbally flay for the suffering, real and imagined, that they have experienced at the hands of the Catholic Church.

Father James' life is further complicated by his tenuous relationship with his daughter, Fiona. (Father James entered the priesthood after his wife died.) We also see him contrasted with his bishop and a fellow priest, both of whom are not bad men but who are not fully engaged in their vocations. This leaves the audience in the position of trying to suss out the mystery while observing a truly good priest struggle to live his vocation under seemingly impossible circumstances.

Writer and director John Michael McDonagh has given us a layered and nuanced film made for anyone who has ever struggled with faith, forgiveness, betrayal, and revenge. Above all, he looks at the cost to good priests who must struggle with the human fallout and suffering caused by bad ones. Brendan Gleeson, heading up an excellent cast, portrays the good priest with subtlety and depth which allow you to see into his soul as the week progresses.

Some reviews have criticized the villagers as quirky, broad caricatures. I felt that was intentional and that it would be a mistake to think they are intended as realistic personalities. The sharply drawn characters give Calvary the feeling of a morality play where each is a personification of a different sin or modern struggle with religion. Yet McDonagh doesn't allow it to rest there. In each case we are given glimpses, however brief, below the brittle facades to the human beings beneath. The director does not intend to allow us the detachment which has led to the problems his film highlights.

The most fully realized characters and relationship are Father James and Fiona who translate the struggles to live an authentic faith into real human terms for us. The insistence on the value of each person when combined with Father James' absolute integrity are the messages at the core of this movie.

You may see this billed as a dark comedy. I think that is inaccurate. It is a drama, straight up. Yes, there are some lighter moments but that is because life itself has some lighter moments even in the midst of trouble and darkness. It is no comedy.

Fundamentalists of both sorts, from atheist to Catholic, will either celebrate or mourn this movie as an attack on the Catholic Church. That approach is far too simple. Those who know real truth is never that easy will appreciate the way McDonagh shows both sides without setting up straw men to knock down.

The movie never felt like an attack on the Church to me. Instead of looking at the "evil clergy" McDonagh took the novel and welcome approach of presenting a good priest who doesn't defend horrific actions of bad men but also never denies his own vocation in the very Church to which they all belong. In fact, the inclusion of an angry Buddhist highlights the point that the problem of authentic faith is not constrained to any one religion but is a matter of each person's cooperation with God and others in their community.

If Calvary makes you uncomfortable, it is meant to do so. That's what the truth does. In this magnificent film we are shown Truth shimmering beneath the surface of a week in the life of this good priest. And given grace for viewers to take back into the world with them.


Rated R for sexual references, language, brief strong violence and some drug use.

NOTE
I had the opportunity to interview the director/writer John Michael McDonagh. That interview appears here.

SECOND NOTE
Here is a featurette about Calvary which shows some insights into Father James's character from Brendan Gleeson and others. It doesn't really spoil anything that I can tell and I liked it much better than the trailer I saw.

Well Said: Persistence and Talent

Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.

Steve Martin, Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

Let's face it, this is why Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 Hour Rule resonates. Most of us are not geniuses or inherently talented like Mozart. We've got to be persistent to get where we want to go. It's also why a lot of cultures traditionally venerate the elderly. They've put in their 10,000 hours. They might have some wisdom or skills to pass on.

That's not a message that's really popular in mainstream American culture. But it's true nonetheless.

Daily Prayer: St. Patrick's Breastplate

I usually only trot this out on St. Patrick's Day but a couple of months ago I began praying this aloud every morning. I can't recall why although probably something specific prompted me. After all, it's pretty long to just say on a whim!

But the first time I did so, my voice gained strength and momentum as I went. I could almost hear something like war drums in the back of my mind as I read. It leaves me with the feeling that I can face anything the day dishes out. I liked that.

What I liked even more was the way it grounded me in reality. I mean, of course, the reality that undergirds everything a Catholic should keep in mind.

And finally I like that it comes from someone real, St. Patrick, who had to face much greater hardships than I ever encounter.

Sometimes bits of it come to mind, reminding me of something I need to ground myself in for that moment's need. And that is the best part.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven, (God the Father)
Light of sun, (God the Son)
Radiance of moon, (Our Blessed Lady)
Splendor of fire, (God the Holy Ghost)
Speed of lightning, (Saint Michael)
Swiftness of wind, (Saint Gabriel)
Depth of sea, (Saint John the Baptist)
Stability of earth, (Saint Joseph)
Firmness of rock. (Saint Peter)

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and all evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise.

Christ in the heart and mind of every one who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me or to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me or my works,
Christ in every ear that hears me or hears of me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

(The full text of what has come to be known as St. Patrick's Breast Plate. While it's not known for sure, ancient tradition has ascribed the prayer to Patrick himself. This is an older translation.)

Well Said: Making others as you wish them to be

Be not disturbed that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

This is so spot-on that I have a feeling it is in more than one of my quote journals. And that's probably a good thing. There is always that temptation to point the finger at others when what we should be doing is turning a mirror upon ourselves. This quote reminds me so perfectly and simply.

Another Note on Rereading The Lord of the Rings: Sources of Story

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

When the full light of the morning came no signs of the wolves were to be found, and they looked in vain for the bodies of the dead. No trace of the fight remained but the charred trees and the arrows of Legolas lying on the hill-top. All were undamaged save one of which only the point was left.

I've been thinking of Tolkien coming up with all this fantasy, which was a really new thing for its time, in terms of story, structure, and complexity. For some reason I was particularly pondering it deeply, thinking of how in the world he came up with it all, when I read the above paragraph.

Somehow I could FEEL the age of legends stretching back to cold Northern halls.

Now, I felt foolish once that came to mind because I knew that. I'd read it time and again. But it was a more visceral connection this time. Not just intellectual. I really could feel it in my bones.

Vietnamese Cooking: Grilled Salmon with Chili-Lime Sauce

This could not have been easier or more delicious. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Worth a Thousand Words: Cuttlefish Poster

Title: Shinshin chinka Kattoru = Cuttlefish [Cuttlefish] 新進珍菓カットル
Description: A cuttlefish. "Cuttle" or "Cuttle Fish" (a snack), Chishima-ya Shoten (千島屋商店).
Subject (Company): Snack foods

This is via BibliOdyssey which has a big selection of Taishô Posters to peruse. It was a tossup between this and one with several Japanese maidens dreaming of a steamship.

Let's face it, I'm a sucker for a cuttlefish. Isn't this little guy cute? And the way he's obligingly holding the product box up? Adorable?

What I'm Reading: Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? by Guy Consolmagno

Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?: . . . and Other Questions from the Astronomers' In-box at the Vatican Observatory by Guy Consolmagno



Got an advance e-book from the publisher. Am waiting for the actual book to show up but couldn't stop from taking a quick peek. And was off and running because this book grabbed me. I'm halfway through.

The authors want to discuss two things.

1. The fact that science and faith are not things that live in separate categories but can inform each other.

2. What are the deeper questions behind the ones which materialize in their in-boxes.
(How do you reconcile the The Big Bang with Genesis? Was the Star of Bethlehem just a pious religious story or an actual description of astronomical events? What really went down between Galileo and the Catholic Church – and why do the effects of that confrontation still reverberate to this day? Will the Universe come to an end? And… could you really baptize an extraterrestrial?)

This dual intent leads to rich, interesting dialogues. I use the word dialogues intentionally because the book is structured as a conversation between the two authors who are astronomers for the Vatican. Each is a highly accredited scientist and a Jesuit.

They are really good so far at talking about both science and faith in ways that are eminently reasonable and understandable. I think this would be an excellent book to share with all sorts of folks, whether Catholic or not.

More after I finish the book.

Worth a Thousand Words: Brown Bear

Brown Bear
taken by Remo Savisaar

Another wonderful look at the natural world from the incomparable Remo Savisaar.

This speaks to me today because I am worn out from the Beyond Cana retreat this weekend. It is good for me to shake free from mundane concerns of everyday life by recalling that most of the creatures on the planet have very different immediate concerns.

Their lives are both simpler and with more direct action and consequence. It both refreshes and anchors me in reality.

Well Said: Mysterious Good Art

Good art often seems to us mysterious because it resists the easy patterns of the fantasy, whereas there is nothing mysterious about the forms of bad art since they are the recognizable and familiar rat-runs of selfish day-dream. Good art shows us how difficult it is to be objective by showing us how differently the world looks to an objective vision.

Iris Murdoch

Many thanks to reader of this blog, Tom, who sent this quote because of the art featured here. I like it because it seems to encapsulate the mysterious draw of pieces that I keep coming back to again and again. I know not why. They just draw me. And that is the link with the mysterious which Murdoch points out. It is also that link with the Divine which continually draws us through myriad sources to which we are attracted, though we may know not why.

Beyond Cana marriage retreat this weekend

How could I have forgotten to mention this? Just busy I guess.

The Beyond Cana marriage enrichment retreat is going on this weekend. So far it is going very well.

We're behind the scenes this time around, in charge of the food. Both behind the scenes and in front of the folks have their own sets of rewards and challenges so it is nice to get a change of pace, actually, in simply "doing." Speaking of which, I've got to get busy making banana pudding!

Prayers for its success would be welcome!

Thanks!

Well Said: Being polished

If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?

Rumi

I'm so guilty of this. I continually am struggling with being irritated by every rub. This simple saying has been good for keeping me a bit more mindful ... and going with the flow better.

Worth a Thousand Words: Green Dress 3

Green Dress 3
painted by Edward B. Gordon

We all know I'm a big fan of Edward B. Gordon. This painting gives a good idea of why. It just draws me in.

When the Game Stands Tall - immediate thoughts

Saw the screening last night.

I came for Jim Caviezel. And the football (always the football).

I was surprised by how good this movie is. And that it is layered giving us more than one look at the central question in which football is a means to an end.

The trailer doesn't really give an idea of how this movie does NOT hit every point with a hammer, but for me it was head and shoulders above The Blind Side or Remember the Titans. And it even gives Friday Night Lights a run for its money. Not in technical know how, but in heart.

Review to come soon.

If you get a chance for an early screening don't wait for me. Go see it.

Opening August 22.

Well Said: "Fall into the public domain"

Pedantic point: I hate the term “fall into the public domain”. Things don’t “fall into” the public domain, like carelessly-held cellphones into a pool. They are released from the shackles of copyright, set free from their state-mandated bondage. They soar among the public imagination. The public domain is the natural home of all ideas and concepts, it is their ancestral homeland to which they return triumphant from exile.

Not Pulp Covers

Yep. Don't get me started. Basic copyright is reasonable but the extent it has been extended to, especially for older materials, is completely frustrating to anyone who podcasts. As I do.

Prayer Request For My Mother - UPDATED

My mother is getting a pacemaker tomorrow. This is a 95% safe procedure I am told but I also believe in the power of prayer to accompany percentages.

Any prayers for her safe surgery and, just as importantly, no complications afterwards would be much appreciated.

Also, she's been in the hospital for a few days and told me this morning that her Kindle was a real Godsend. She had it loaded up with old favorites and some new purchases. Score one for the Kindle!

UPDATE
The surgeon said the surgery went really well and that she should be able to go home tomorrow if all else goes well. Thanks be to God!

And thank you for your prayers on her behalf.

Worth a Thousand Words: Studio at East Gloucester

Paul Cornoyer (1864–1923), Studio at East Gloucester
via Wikipedia

I'd never heard of Paul Cornoyer until seeing him featured at Lines and Colors. He's got a style that grabbed me right away though. Check out the Lines and Colors post for more links and samples of this artist's work.

Kitchen Tips & Tricks

Side-to-side whisking. A neat trick you can find out about at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

A Few Notes on Rereading The Lord of the Rings: Luthien and Beren

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I reread this at the beginning of the year for discussions at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast where we covered the book in two parts: one, two. (We also discussed the movies in relationship to the books in a separate episode.)

Also, if you'd like an actual review;I really cannot do a better than Joseph R. did, so please go read his.

Recently I felt the call of the book and was forcing myself not to pick it up again. "You JUST read this behemoth. For the third time! Enough already!"

Evidently not. I finally gave in and am relishing every word.

I had jury duty yesterday. There's nothing like several hours in the jury pool room for getting a lot of pages under your belt.

Interestingly, as I surveyed the huge room, there were very few people using e-readers. Almost everyone had newspapers, magazines, or actual books. Some had computer printouts and were using markers as they read. I know what the sales number say about print being dead but you couldn't have told it from that large cross-section of humanity.

At this early point in the book, on the road to Rivendell while running from the Black Riders, I'm struck by how difficult it is to navigate without a compass, even for Aaragorn.

I never noticed how Aaragorn seems masterful until Glorfindel comes along to help, as which point Aaragorn is grateful for help and advice.

And again I'm touched by the Beren and Luthien poem, thinking of Tolkien putting Beren on his headstone and Luthien on his wife's. A beautiful gesture of love and devotion.

It made me think about whose names I could put on our own headstones that would so neatly sum up my feelings about my relationship with Tom. Not Beren and Luthien. That implies the lady lifted up her husband to higher levels.

Then it struck me. Of course.

Faramir and Eowyn.

Not as we have seen them portrayed in the movie, which does a fair job on Eowyn but completely changed Faramir's character. But as we see them in the book. Telling Tom this would make no sense to him since he hasn't read the book. But I can give him this tribute here where people will see it who have read it and understand how the husband has gently enlightened and taught the lady a better way.

The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants. To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations. The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection. Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on.

What a shocker! I suspected the murderer but not the ending Asimov gave us. Wow.

The Naked Sun gives us a look at the mysterious Outer Worlds, first mentioned in The Caves of Steel. Solaria has never had a crime, due to their extremely privileged population served solely by robots who, of course, never commit crimes of passion. Lige Bailey finds this open, practically empty environment poses both the challenges of solving the mystery and of adapting his agoraphobic nature, thanks to a lifetime of living in underground cities on overpopulated Earth.

Asimov has fun looking at the sociological effects of a high-tech, low population world. I was fascinated by Asimov's contrast of Elijah Bailey, used only to an overcrowded Earth, with the outworld Solarian society which had open space, eugenics, and many robots. There is no way Asimov could have foreseen our computer-oriented society today, but I found the Solarian society's preference for "viewing" through screens rather than "seeing" in person to be a disturbing echo of what we ourselves seem to be moving toward.

I originally read this long ago and remembered a lot about the Solarian society but almost nothing about the mystery itself. Listening to William Dufris' excellent narration, so long after my first reading, I found this a wonderful mystery which kept me guessing. Dufris surpassed his performance in The Caves of Steel as he voiced a wide range of Solarian characters from sensuous to prim, blowhard to reserved, blustering to withdrawn. My favorite voices actually were the Solarian robots which were precisely what you'd expect, and which we hadn't heard yet though several robots spoke in The Caves of Steel.

If you haven't revisited this series lately I recommend it highly, especially this audio version which brings it to life in a fresh way.

Well Said: Sorrow Doesn't Mean Having to Feel You're Sorry

Sincere sorrow for sin does not necessarily require having to feel sorry. Just like love, sorrow is an act of the will, not a feeling. And in the same way as one can love God deeply without any emotional reaction, one can also be truly sorry for sin without experiencing anything sentimental. Real sorrow is seen principally in the way one unhesitatingly avoids all occasions of offending God and is ready to do specific acts of penance for any infidelities committed.

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation With Christ, vol. 4

I know this. It's just that I catch myself falling into the familiar, popular shallow thinking of our times. That one must have an emotional reaction for a feeling to be sincere. Once I figure it out then it is a great relief to remember I can be sincere without kicking myself for not feeling.

Well Said: Approaching Christ While Leaving the Church to One Side

Those people who claim to approach Christ whilst leaving his Church to one side, and even causing her harm, may one day get the same surprise as Saint Paul did when he was on his way to Damascus: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And, the Venerable Bede reflects that He does not say 'why are you persecuting my members,but why are you persecuting me?' For He is still affronted in his Body, which is the Church." Paul did not know until that moment that to persecute the Church was to persecute Jesus himself.

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation With Christ, vol. 4

It's kind of interesting that people know well Paul got his comeuppance by persecuting Christ's church, and yet they themselves will go right ahead and do that same thing. People within the Catholic Church do so as well as those outside of it.

Fernandez goes on to point out that Paul spoke about the Church later as the Body of Christ. Bringing up the logical conclusion, he mentions it is not possible to love, follow, or listen to Christ, without loving, following, or listening to the Church, because she is the presence, at once sacramental and mysterious, of Our Lord, who prolongs his saving mission in the world to the very end of time.

Food for thought, isn't it? The saints worked to improve the Church but through obedience and love. How do we go about it when we see something is going astray? Do we treat Christ's body with medicine or with hatred? Do we love it as we should? This opens up myriad topics for reflection.

Scott and Julie hire an agent but he spends all his time with a water bottle full of talking jello.

So they while away the time talking about Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi. Catch the discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Well Said: Preparing the Soil

All men, whatever their lives may have been in the past, are able to become soil that is prepared to receive God's grace. God pours himself into our souls in accordance with the degree of welcome He finds there. God gives us so many graces because He trusts each one of us; there is no soil that is too impervious or too uncultivated for him, so long as it is prepared to change and to respond to him.

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation With Christ, vol. 4

Listening to the Gospel reading last Sunday with the parable of the sowers, this was the very thought that ran through my head. Yes the soil may be packed down hard from people walking on it, but if someone hoes it up, adds some compost, and the soft rain falls? Then it too may be fertile.

I get the point Jesus was making, of course, but considering the farming analogy it seems to me that He also expects us to cultivate our own gardens ... so that we may cooperate with the farmer. In my own life, I can see that the more often I examine my conscience, cultivate the virtues, repent of my sins in confession, and so forth, then the more God's grace can enrich my life.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“[...] We keep a record for every member, and for every customer who might yet become a member, in order to track their work." He paused, then added, "Some of them are working very hard indeed."

"What are they doing?"

"My boy," he said, eyebrows raised. As if nothing could be more obvious: "They are reading.”

Clay Jannon was lucky to find a job at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Times are hard and jobs are scarce. However, the bookstore sells very few books and the few regular patrons seem to have a strange mission that no one will talk about. Then there's the fact that most of the books can't be found in any index of published books. Naturally Clay begins investigating and winds up on a fascinating quest that includes secret societies, museums, ancient artifacts ... and e-books, virtual reality, and Google.

This book feels like a nerd's dream come true. Not only is there the high tech point of view but also the typographer's inside details. Ok, key figure Griffo Gerritszoon is made up, but Francesco Griffo was actually Aldus Manutius' employee. Who was Aldus Minutius? Every time you read something in italics, you can thank him for inventing them.

There is an interesting tension between the old ways and the new: old knowledge in books versus Google, bookstores versus e-books, tradition and innovation. These are things that all of us cope with in our own ways but it's kind of fun to see it all linked together and hanging off of bits of real history, a la DaVinci Code, but with less of a mean spirit than in Dan Brown's book.

If you ever played Zork or Baldur's Gate, if you ever thrilled to a quest in a fantasy book, if you ever played a scavenger hunt or lost hours to solving mysteries, then this book is going to push your buttons. Mix that in with the idea of a "fellowship" and you've got a sense of where this book excels.

It doesn't have deep character development, but that's not the point of this book. It is skimming the surface of some themes but it still manages to present them and give you food for thought while having a good time. In that it is very much like The Haunted Bookshop or Agent to the Stars or The Rosie Project, just to mention a few light books that I love.

It's a light, fun read with a sense of being an adult Harry Potter-ish book. Perfect summer reading.

Worth a Thousand Words: Superdame Gale Allen!

—”Gale Allen” in Planet Comics #12 (1941), writer & artist uncredited
via Not Pulp Covers

Gale Allen, outer-space adventurer and leader of the “Girl Squadron!

We all want to be a superdame like Gale Allen, don't we ladies?

Worth a Thousand Words: Sleeping Time

Sleeping Time
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Is it a dream? Is it an artist's fabrication? It is a rare moment in nature. I can almost hear the minute rustling of grass, the silence except for small night creatures' movement.

Well Said: A special kind of serenity

Complete trust in God, using whatever human means are necessary in each situation, gives an incomparable fortitude and a special kind of serenity to the Christian, whatever may happen to him and whatever the tribulations he may have to face up to.

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation With God, vol. 4

So there are two things to think about here, for me anyway.

First, how complete is my trust in God? Do I have that special kind of serenity?

Second, am I using whatever human means are necessary in each situation? I know people who will say they have complete trust in God and then laze around waiting for whatever they've been praying for to drop into their lap.

It takes a fine balance to encompass these two things well.

Children's Books: A Little Book About Confession for Children by Kendra Tierney

A Little Book about Confession for Children by Kendra Tierney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

11. What does going to confession do?

The Sacrament of Penance heals our souls when we hurt it by sinning. When we confess our sins to a priest, it is God who hears us and forgives our sins.18 God always forgives us if we are sorry, no matter how big or how many our sins are.

The Bible tells us the story of how Jesus treated a woman who had committed a big sin.19 She had been arrested, and the people were going to throw rocks at her.

Jesus came and told the people, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." One by one the people put down their rocks and left.

When only Jesus and the woman were left he told her, "Go, and do not sin again."

God always forgives us when we ask, but he also asks us to change our behavior. The Sacrament of Penance helps us with this.20

18. CCC. 1461
19. John 8:3-11
20. CCC 1468

This is a really terrific little book that I think might help parents as much as the children they read it with. For one thing, Kendra Tierney strips matters down to basics, as you can see from the excerpt above, to help everyone see the basis for all the ins and outs of the sacrament.

It begins with a brief glossary and then moves through a series of simple questions and answers. This is followed up with a brief look at a few saints who have links to confession, a simple examination of conscience, and a quick review of what actually happens during the sacrament. A really nice feature is that the cover has a quick reference on the front and back flaps containing the steps of the sacrament, the Act of Contrition, and an extremely brief examination of conscience. Personally, I found the examination of conscience really nice as a way to get back to basics in my own life. That may say more about me than it does about the book but, again, I think adults will find this touches them when they are reading through it.

I'm not crazy about the illustrations since they all look as if children drew them. Skilled children, to be sure, but children nonetheless. Maybe some children enjoy looking at pictures their peers could have drawn. I never found them appealing no matter what age I was. Of course, this is purely a matter of personal taste so don't let that stop you from picking up this gem of a book.

Looks wonderful, tastes delicious, and is much easier than you'd think.

Get the recipe for a Pavlova With Strawberries at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Children's Books: Angels for Kids by Donna-Marie O'Boyle

Angels for Kids by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Artists have painted, drawn, and sculpted Angels in a variety of styles. Angels are many times portrayed as children. This is most likely to convey innocence.

Beginning in about the fourth century, Angels were usually illustrated with wings. That's how we usually see them in books, paintings, on the walls of churches, in icons, or in the art of stained-glass windows. The wings might even be the artist's interpretation of their swiftness. An Angel is able to quickly come to our aid. However, this also has roots in Holy Scripture, since some of the people in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible describe the angels who appeared to them as having wings.

For instance, we know that Isaiah saw a winged Angel. Ezekiel, too, saw visions of winged Angels. Most times when Angels appear, they look like normal people, always men. Sometimes Angels appear all aglow in awesome splendor. Warrior Angels—like the Archangels—are tremendously tall and powerful.

As you can see from the excerpt, this is a book for older children and might even be good as a quick primer for adults. Donna-Marie O'Boyle has a true talent for explaining the basics about angels, which are a more complex subject than most people might think.

She includes scriptural references, real life stories such as the children at Fatima, and has ways to relate personally to the fact that angels are all around us. The book cover angels in the Bible, their work, what they look like, archangels, fallen angels, a variety of prayers and much more. I also really liked the book design which was simple but beautiful.

I have a special interest in angels myself and consequently have read a number of books about them. This is a really great book that I'm not sure I'll be able to make myself give to the children I know. I might have to buy them their own copy.

Well Said: Folk call the road lonely

For myself, the Creek satisfies a thing that had gone hungry and unfed since childhood days. I am often lonely. Who is not? But I should be lonelier in the heart of a city. ... I walk at sunset, east along the road. There are no houses in that direction, except the abandoned one where the wild plums grow, white with bloom in springtime. ...

Folk call the road lonely, because there is not human traffic and human stirring. Because I have walked it so many times and seen such a tumult of life there, it seems to me one of the most populous highways of my acquaintance. I have walked it in ecstasy, and in joy it is beloved. Every pint tree, every gallberry bush, every passion vine, every joree rustling in the underbrush, is vibrant. I have walked it in trouble, and the wind in the trees beside me is easing. I have walked it in despair, and the red of sunset is my own blood dissolving into the night's darkness. For all such things were on earth before us, and will survive after us, and it is given to us to join ourselves with them and to be comforted.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek

Amen.

Children's Books: Women of the Bible by Margaret McAllister

Women of the Bible by Margaret McAllister

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Rescuing animals is only the start of it," said Mother Noah. She scooped up a handful of seeds and placed them carefully in her pocket. "If God wants to send a flood, it's very good of him to ask Noah to put the animals in a boat. But then what do you do with them?"

[...]

But however hard it [work] was, every day brought something good. On day ten the tigers realized that she was a friend and stopped trying to eat her. On day eleven the parrots learned to say, "Move over!" which saved Mother Noah a lot of shouting. On day fifteen the chimpanzees had a very silly half hour with Ham's hat and Mr. Noah's whistle. ...

I have a real antipathy toward things that are yanked out of perspective and told from some "special" point of view, usually to empower some group. I encounter this a lot in feminist perspectives where predictable and myopic points of view bore me to tears.

So you can imagine the shiver that ran down my spine when I saw the title Women of the Bible. I read the first story, Mother Noah, to see how it fit into that feminist construct. And was pleased to see it did no such thing. Furthermore I was delighted to find it humorous, relatable, true to Genesis, and opened up my mental image of life aboard the ark. I continued, enchanted, through stories of Rachel's worry about Jacob's meeting with Esau, Miriam's following her baby brother Moses floating in the river, Mary's four special things kept in a box to sink in her mind the great turning points in her life, and many more.

Each story is told in a different way and from a different perspective. Each is accompanied by truly enchanting illustrations by Alida Massari which made me go looking for other books she's worked on.

Most importantly, each story would make a wonderful story time with your favorite little ones, whether girls or boys. They encourage questions and wonder and "entering into" familiar Bible stories from an imaginative point of view.

Highly recommended.

Well Said: A Star

"In our world," said Eustace, "a star is a huge ball of flaming gas."

"Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of."

C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Yes. There are facts and there is truth.

A Couple of Movies on My Radar: Calvary and Exodus

CALVARY

CALVARY’s Father James (Brendan Gleeson from In Bruges) is a good priest who is faced with sinister and troubling circumstances brought about by a mysterious member of his parish. Although he continues to comfort his own fragile daughter (Kelly Reilly ) and reach out to help members of his church with their various scurrilous moral - and often comic - problems, he feels sinister and troubling forces closing in, and begins to wonder if he will have the courage to face his own personal Calvary. CALVARY opens in select theaters on FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014 (Rated: R; Running Time: 104)

I have a few questions going into Calvary. The priest has a daughter? That can be a legit thing, but my antennae are up.

On the other hand, I'm a sucker for Brendan Gleeson ever since seeing him in In Bruges, hence my agreeing to go to the movie screening where he will be doing the Q&A. Yep, I'm excited!

I also became interested in seeing this after reading that the director said, "There are probably films in development about priests which involve abuse. My remit is to do the opposite of what other people do, and I wanted to make a film about a good priest." I've gotta love that!

More after the screening in a couple of weeks. The trailer is here though I don't think it is that great. I feel as if the description above works just fine.

EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

It's been a long time since the Ten Commandments, which was made in 1956. I myself really loved The Prince of Egypt from Dreamworks but that was animated.

And then came Ridley Scott with Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Ooo, and Christian Bale as Moses! Now I'm really interested!

Jeffrey Overstreet has some excellent observations and links if you are interested in this upcoming movie. I was vaguely interested. And then I saw the trailer. Wow.

I'm having a hard time dealing with a Pharaoh who isn't Yul Brynner, but other than that it really looks good.

Also, word is that Ridley Scott is interested in doing a movie about King David. About time. Talk about a story that's got everything in it: faith, devotion, insanity, war, love, betrayal, a no-nonsense prophet and more. Real Old Testament stuff, if you know what I mean.

I think I'll get to see a screening of this also when it is closer to release, which should be around Christmas.

Children's Books: "The gospel according to... dog" by Peter D. Ward

The gospel according to... dog: 'the greatest story ever told'... by a dog by Peter D. Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'Come Lazarus!' I have never heard the Wisest One shout so loudly.

'Come, Lazarus... come out to me!' again he shouted.

The Great Ones [men] all looked at each other uneasily, the smell of fear coming off them as sharp as any skunk. But my ears were pinched back, and I heard what they could not hear: a wondrous thing, a little sigh as gentle as the breeze, and then a scratching, scruffling noise and something being put to one side — the leftover spices, perhaps in a jar being moved? ...

I watched in wonder and could barely keep myself from shouting and dancing and chasing my tail — for in all my days I have never seen anything like this. Suddenly the woman — I realized at once she was the mother of Lazarus — came rushing up and ran straight into the resting-place. There was a shriek of joy and then such weeping it would tear your heart in two if you didn't know it was tears of you that were being wept. ...

Kal is Peter the Fisherman's dog, rescued when he was just a puppy from a group of tormenting boys. He tells us the Gospel story from a canine point of view, including all the senses the we don't notice! Did you know that lepers are delicious to lick and even have a convenient bell to let Kal know they are coming? When Jesus (the Wisest One) heals them it is is a great disappointment because they taste just like regular men again.

Any kid from about the age of 8 who has a basic understanding of the gospel story would enjoy this different view of it. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit myself. Kal's different viewpoint will not only open up the gospel but might prompt children to wonder how their pets understand them and the family events unfolding in daily life.

I really loved the way the book graphically conveyed Kal's sense of smell with "Smellavision" dots of different colors strategically scattered on pages to give an extra layer of information. I wasn't crazy about the illustrations which were done in a very child-like style but, again, that is a matter of personal taste and they don't detract from enjoyment of the story itself.

The story has humor, pathos, drama, and many interesting smells! I can definitely recommend this to imaginative readers, whether young or old.

In which our band of adventurers face their accusers in a public trial.

Will Juanna, Leonard, Otter, and Francisco escape The People of the Mist? Find out at Forgotten Classics podcast where chapters 28-29 are ready for your enjoyment.

Well Said: Expressing Christ in Our Own Stories

Gandalf and Frodo are not allegorical masks for Christ, as in a strict allegory, nor symbols for some aspect of human condition, as in a loose allegory. They are people in their own right. But because they are almost real people they can, as real people can, express Christ in their own way.

It is part of the Roman Catholic idea of the saints that each mirrors Christ in an individual way, expressing facets of the infinite Personality, which could not all be expressed in one finite life, no matter how great. The historical Christ, for example, was not a philosopher nor a King; but St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Louis of France show us something of what He might have been like if He had been. Thus Gandalf and Frodo, while being very real and very individual, also have something to tell us about Christ.

Richard L. Purtill, Lord of the Elves and Eldils

I like thinking of expressing Christ in my own story. It's a phrase that appeals to me since all our lives are stories. Of course, from our own points of view, each of us is the star of our story. How am I doing at expressing Christ? And how often? All the time or just a little? My answers are my own but they push me for a fuller and better expression.

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like most people on the over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley has little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to help track down the killer. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the " R" stood for robot.

I snagged a review audiobook of this from SFFaudio.

I originally read this book when I was a teenager and loved it from the beginning. Isaac Asimov's descriptions of an overpopulated future Earth were de rigueur for science fiction of the time. What gave this story a fresh spin was that it was a bona fide mystery.

Many years later, listening to William Dufris' splendid narration, it still holds up. I still remembered the main points of the mystery and detective Lige Bailey's personality. This left me free to fully appreciate the details of Asimov's imagined future society, complete with spacemen and robots to provide tension and interest.

I'm not sure if I completely forgot or just never registered the points Asimov was making in this book about technology, adaptation, and the human soul. I was quite surprised to see that Lige Bailey knew his Bible so well that he could quote it in either the King James version or the modern version. And that he used religion as a main point of differentiation (along with art, beauty, and other intangibles) between humans and robots. Atheist Isaac Asimov didn't deny that faith can lift people higher and that is something one rarely, if ever, sees these days in science fiction.

I also was really interested in watching the way the germ of an idea took hold and was spread from person to person. It was fascinating to see how many things that idea applied to once it had wormed its way into the person's consciousness.

All in all, this short but satisfying mystery is much richer than I recalled. It was greatly enhanced by the audio where William Dufris became a one man theater company in the way he voiced different characters. There was never any fear of my mistaking who was talking in straight exchanges of dialogue. He was simply masterful whether it was world-weary detective Bailey, slightly robotic Daneel Olivaw, jumpy Jessie, or the nervous Commissioner.

Highly recommended.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE
Wikipedia notes:

It is a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction is a flavor that can be applied to any literary genre, rather than a limited genre itself. Specifically, in the book Asimov's Mysteries, he states that he wrote the novel in response to the assertion by editor John W. Campbell that mystery and science fiction were incompatible genres. Campbell had said that the science fiction writer could invent "facts" in his imaginary future that the reader would not know. Asimov countered that there were rules implicit in the art of writing mysteries, and that the clues could be in the plot, even if they were not obvious, or were deliberately obfuscated.

All hail opinionated John Campbell and Isaac Asimov's determination to prove him wrong. Today there are a lot of different mash-ups included in the science fiction genre and Asimov led the way with this book.

On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis by Louis Markos

On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis by Louis Markos

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We need the truth, but we also need to know how to live in and through and by that truth.

What we need, in short, are stories.

Louis Markos begins with the idea that in the past stories weren't only told for children's entertainment and instruction, but for that of adults as well. We've lost not only that idea but a lot of the time-honored values that we used to teach and cherish in such stories. The author "mines" two of the most honored stories in modern times, the Lord of the Rings and, to a lesser extent, The Chronicles of Narnia, to show how they can help us return to classic virtues these days.

Ancient literature, modern culture, and scripture are all woven into Markos' book. The main emphasis is on Tolkien and Lewis, but the depth of material means that it hits you where you live.  Before delving into the virtues, Markos begins with the idea of the hero's journey and the road. These are the heart of good story telling, after all, and so are themes that are returned to repeatedly throughout the book.

In the greater tales, the ones that matter—the ones that change both us and our world—the heroes do not so much choose the Road, as the Road chooses them. For our part, we must be ready, prepared in season and out, to answer the call, whenever and however it comes. And we must be prepared to press on, trusting to an end that we often do not, perhaps cannot, see. It is easy to claim that we would have done what Abraham did, but that is only because we stand outside the story. We see the good end, the fulfillment that Abraham could not see from within the story.

Markos is not detached with his subject at arm's length. He loves these stories and the themes they embrace and his enthusiasm comes through to make a warm, lively reading experience.

I've read several other books looking deeper into The Lord of the Rings, in particular, and this book still managed to provide new ideas for reflection. Markos really does a fantastic job of revealing the characteristics of various characters in Middle-Earth and Narnia and the virtues we can see in them. This is a thoughtful and thought provoking book which I can't recommend highly enough.

I'll be looking for more of Markos' books in the future.

NOTE
I received this review copy from Aquinas and More, the largest on-line Catholic bookstore. They've got a lot more than books. Check them out for all your Catholic needs ... rosaries, communion gifts, and so forth.

I originally wrote this review of On the Shoulders of Hobbits for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods. I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.

Well Said: Two views about everything

"I suppose there are two views about everything," said Mark.

"Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never ore than one. But it's no affair of mine. Good night."

C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

Ain't that the truth!

What makes this all the more poignant is that this book clearly shows us just how well the enemy is keeping everyone distracted from clear thought, whether by turning them against each other or putting their focus solely on themselves. A tactic that is still used today, from what I observe and what I struggle with myself.

Worth a Thousand Words: Peach-leaved Bellflowers

Peach-leaved Bellflowers
taken by Remo Savisaar

Is this not simply gorgeous? Click through to see it fill the screen in glorious purple.

The Last Policeman at SFFaudio

You may recall that I really loved The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters. Here I discuss it with the others from the SFFaudio podcast gang.

Yes. I annoy everyone until they read the books I love. Not just you guys. Everyone.

Bibliotheca

You know that I care, very much, about book design.

This project to rethink Bible design in terms of typeface, binding, proportions, and more so that the Bible is an enjoyable reading experience is very exciting.

Well Said: Mostly true

Both the stolen apple [The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis] and the Ring [Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien] work: they do give the immortality and power that they promise, just as the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3 does open the eyes of Adam and Eve to the knowledge of good and evil. The lie does not lurk in the primary promise of life-strength-wisdom, but in the accompanying, deceptive promise that these things, once achieved, will make one into a god: eternal, omnipotent, omniscient. The lie rests in the false promise that the life it gives will be a life worth living, the strength a strength worth wielding, the wisdom a wisdom worth possessing.

Louis Markos

On the Shoulders of Hobbits

It's always just that little twist when evil tells us lies. Mostly true is the key to a good lie, after all. Unfortunately that "mostly" is a long way to fall from real truth. And we are always sorry.