Listen Up — Soundtrack Podcasts

I've lately come across several podcasts which celebrate  movie soundtracks. In one sense they're a lot alike. They all take in-depth looks at how the score serves the story, what makes it tick, and how the composer pulls it off in their own unique way. However, each has a different enough focus and hosts that I like them all. In each case I come away marveling at what the music was "saying" that I didn't know enough to hear. It's really fun.

I haven't listened to every episode on any of these podcasts but I've sampled plenty — certainly enough to want to share them with you.

 I found all these via iTunes but I'll include the website links for each.

 

This is the first soundtrack podcast I discovered. Listening to David Collins' polished yet enthusiastic two-part presentation about Jaws hooked me. And that's quite a feat, considering that I don't like the movie that much.  

He has a real love of John Williams and, in fact, I think he had an entire podcast devoted to him before this one. Luckily, he looks at movies scored by other composers too, although this podcast is heavily weighted toward Williams. Ranging from Morricone's music for spaghetti westerns to Casablanca to features about Max Steiner and Wagner as the first Lord of the Ring, there's a lot of variety to choose from. He does all this in terms that anyone can understand.

Episodes are usually half an hour although they occasionally run longer and there are often 3-4 part series of episodes about one movie. The Soundtrack Show website is here.

These three Australians (Andrew Pogson, Dan Golding and Nicholas Buc) crack me up. They are clearly good friends and just as clearly love music and movies. They know lots about the mechanics of music but when they go deep they manage to do it without making it mind-numbing, which is no small accomplishment. I also enjoy how often they find a piece of music  reflecting elements from other pieces in completely different films, which they'll then play for comparative listening. They'll review music form TV  (don't miss the Star Trek episode) and video games as well.

This is probably my favorite of these four podcasts. I find it hard to stop listening to these guys.

Episodes are usually 1-1/2 to 2 hours long with a fairly even mixture of single episodes and two-part series. The Art of the Score website is here.

 

Jon and Andy began their look at film scores by tackling the AFI's list of the 25 greatest film scores. They've since gone on to whatever catches their ear, ranging from new (Interstellar) to old (Spartacus).  I like the later shows better since at the beginning they tended to get a little bogged down in whether they liked the movie that went along with the AFI score.  Regardless, they have good chemistry and cover the music very interestingly.

They don't get too bogged down in what I call "music speak" which leaves the average non-music literate (like me) in the dark. They're also the only one of these podcasts that haven't geeked out over John Williams yet. Whether that is a good or bad thing, I leave to your judgment.

Films are covered in single episodes, just over an hour long. Settling the Score website is here.

 

Hosted by brothers Marty & Will Brueggemann, UnderScore is a podcast dedicated to celebrating the rich tradition of movie music one film at a time.

And when they say "rich tradition" that means these two are doing a very deep dive into every film. Each movie is covered in four episodes which cover, in turn, main theme, additional themes or songs, cues, and spotting (or commentary) of the full film. They also will discuss music very technically sometimes. I love their enthusiasm during those moments as each one's interest feeds the other's excitement. "I know! That chord structure would be ruined in thirds!" (Or something like that.) I just let it wash over me and, to be fair, they do explain what they are talking about. I'm just not as interested on a technical level, which is why I generally listen to the first two of each series. That said, those discussions are fascinating and I love the brothers' musical camaraderie. If you want a good sample, listen to their most recent episode about The Wizard of Oz. Really wonderful stuff.

Episodes usually run half an hour to an hour long. This podcast has been in hiatus since mid-2019 but there is plenty there to enjoy. The UnderScore website is here.

Meiji tunnel Shizuoka

Meiji tunnel Shizuoka, AsunoAkari via Find/47

 

The Tobolowsky Files are back

I've listened to this podcast almost from the beginning, way back in 2009. There haven't been any new episodes since 2017 though. Until today!

That's good news for everyone who knows just what a great storyteller Stephen Tobolowsky is. He's the character actor that you didn't know you knew. (Groundhog Day's Ned Ryerson, to mention just one great role.)

 From growing up in Dallas to attending SMU to breaking into the movie biz in LA, Stephen brings humor, humanity, and sometimes inspiration to his stories.

Get it at iTunes or his website.

Dinner with a Long Spoon

 My people tell a story about the great Ever After, one that reminds my mother of Sis. In the story, a rich and selfish man is condemned to hell, and is ushered into an endless dining hall. He sees a great banquet laid out before the assembled people there, a feast of dripping, roasted meats and savory soups and sumptuous stews. The devil's imps file down the table to pass out spoons, but the spoons are longer than the arms of the men and women gathered there. They cannot, as hard as they try, get the delicious food into their mouths, and a wailing and gnashing of teeth echoes and echoes through the great hall.

Meanwhile, in heaven, Saint Peter welcomes another new arrival, a common and generous man, into a similar great, long banquet hall. The newcomer sees another grans feast laid out before the diners assembled there. But, disconcertingly, the man sees the waiters pass out the same spoons as the ones passed out to the diners in hell, all of them too long for people to feed themselves. "How then," the crestfallen man asks Saint Peter, "can this be heaven?"

Saint Peter smiles.

"Because in heaven," he says, "we feed each other.

Rick Bragg, The Best Cook in the World

Spoon

Spoon, Duane Keiser

I love using the reflection to show the artist.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #23 — Matchstick Men

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Nicholas Cage is a con artist whose successful cons can't compensate for the fact that his numerous phobias leave him no way to have any personal life. Sam Rockwell is his partner and they are in the middle of pulling off a potentially lucrative scam when Cage discovers he has a teenage daughter who arrives unexpectedly to live with him. What then unfolds is a story of learning to parent interspersed with pulling off the con. The two stories become entangled which leads to increasing tension. 

You don't get much more of an anti-hero than Nicholas Cage's character in this role. As for style, granted it is that of the 60's more than today but that is more than compensated for by the sheer attraction of watching the con go on. More than anything, however, I was struck by the sheer potential for change and growth that Cage's character discovers. The end, which I won't reveal here, struck me as an extremely Catholic one.

Cajun Meatball Fricasse

I'd never heard of this dish but it is quite good and makes a nice change from the regular idea of meatballs derived from Italian or Swedish roots. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

History's Queen by Mike Aquilina

 

In History’s Queen, you’ll learn about the many ways Mary has left her mark on the great events of time, not only as we see them in the Bible, but also in pivotal events such as Fatima, the battle of Lepanto, and the plague. In this journey through two thousand years of Mary’s active participation in world events, each chapter of History’s Queen highlights a Marian intervention that is emblematic of a particular era, and opens our eyes to the ways in which Mary provides a vital key for understanding both our past and our future.

I have always enjoyed books which give us a glimpse of God working in history. In this book, Mike Aquilina takes us on a quick tour of the Virgin Mary leaving her marks on historical events. In so doing, he also gives beautifully lucid descriptions of historical context. I always came away with a fuller understanding of events than I had before, often linked to a better understanding of the effect it had on our times.

On the judgment day, the Koran says, God will ask Jesus whether he told the people to worship himself and Mary in addition to God, and Jesus will emphatically deny it. This verse suggests a Trinity consisting of the Father, the Son, and Mary. Many Christian commentators have said that the verse shows a profound ignorance of Christian doctrine. But it might be better to say that it shows a firsthand nowledge of Christian practice. Mohammed had not seen the Christianity of the theologians and apologists. He had seen the Christianity a merchant would see—the Christianity of common people on the edge of theChristian world. And for those common people, Mary was the route to the divine. She was everywhere. The mistake was easy to make. It is the mistake some evangelical Protestants still make today when they say that Catholics worship Mary.

This isn't just about Marian apparitions, although we are shown some of those. It also is about the times when Christians were inspired and informed by  aspects of Mary which affected behavior, art, and creativity in everything from public policy to everyday life. We are shown Byzantium and those who protected icons from being smashed, Irish missionaries to Europe and the Book of Kells, the rise of the great cathedrals and the Book of Hours, the plague and the Pieta, Luther and mass media, Guadalupe in Spain and Mexico, and more. In all cases, Mary is there to inspire Christians and care for them like a mother. Aquilina's skill in showing that through such diverse historical events not only informs but reassures. 

This is a message not only of history but also a reminder that as God has moved in the past, so he continues to do today—weaving salvation history with Mary as his willing servant.

Lady in a Red Hat

Lady with a Red Hat, Frank Duveneck, 1904
Dallas Museum of Art

This is another of those paintings which just can't be fully appreciated on screen. The way the artist captured backlighting with the light coming through the red feathers and casting red highlights on the lady's face is mesmerizing and unique.

Gospel of Matthew — The Transfiguration: Parallel to the Execution

Matthew 17:1-8

This parallel never occurred to me before. But what a world of meditation it opens up!

12th-century icon of the Transfiguration
Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai (Egypt)

The transfiguration scene serves as "a twin of sorts" to the execution narrative in 27:32-54. Davies and Allison beautifully note the parallels. "In the one, a private epiphany, an exalted Jesus, with garments glistening, stands on a high mountain and is flanked by two religious giants from the past. All is light. In the other, a public spectacle, a humiliated Jesus, whose clothes have been torn from him and divided, is lifted upon a cross and flanked by two common, convicted criminals. All is darkness. We have here a pictorial antithetical parallelism, a dyptych in which the two plates have similar lines but different colors. The parallel scenes highlight the horror of Good Friday and the splendor of Jesus's love for us. It is no ordinary man that will be crucified on Calvary, but the beloved Son of God revealed in glory at the transfiguration. This same glorified Son will freely submit himself to utter humiliation in order to redeem the human family (see Phil 2:5-11).

Quote is from Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: Gospel of Matthew by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Pope Francis — Euthanasia and assisted suicide are always the wrong choice

To take one’s own life breaks one’s relationship with God and with others. “Assisted suicide aggravates the gravity of this act because it implicates another in one’s own despair,” it said.

The Christian response to these actions is to offer the help necessary for a person to shake off this despair, it emphasized, and not to indulge “in spurious condescension.”

“The commandment ‘do not kill’ ... is in fact a yes to life which God guarantees, and it ‘becomes a call to attentive love which protects and promotes the life of one’s neighbor,’” the letter said.

The 45 page document (Samaritanus bonus: on the Care of Persons in the Critical and Terminal Phases of Life) is all over the news. Probably the least biased place to read about it is at the Catholic News Agency which does a straight forward reporting job.

As CNA points out, this is a reaffirmation of classic Catholic teachings. In fact, looking around I found this Declaration on Euthanasia from 1980. However, the attention the new document is receiving means it was high time to spell things out again.

The reaffirmation came to mind strongly when I was reading this morning's commentary from In Conversation with God.

Whether we are dealing with children in the womb, old people, accident victims, the physically or mentally ill, we are always dealing with our fellow human beings whose credentials of nobility are to be found on the very first page of the Bible: "God created man in his own image" (Gen. 1:27). On the other hand, it has often been said that it is possible to judge a civilization by the way it deals with the defenseless, with children, with the sick, etcetera. Wherever you have a sick person, there has to be a supremely human environment where each one is treated with dignity. One experiences in such circumstances the closeness of brothers and friends.

Paul VI, Address, 24 May 1974, italicized

Great White Egret

Great White Egret, Remo Savisaar

 

A Movie You Might Have Missed #22 — Radio Days

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

 

Before the internet, video games, and television, there was radio which captivated its audience just as thoroughly as modern storytelling venues do today. 

This movie is Woody Allen's love letter to the medium he grew up with. He narrates as we watch a young boy's view of his ordinary family and the way that different radio shows influenced their lives. Several generations of his family live in their New York house during World War II and the always-playing radio provides the backdrop to the small daily dramas that make up their lives. The stories go from humorous to dramatic as we see the family stories interspersed with those of the radio stars of the day and Sally the cigarette girl who is struggling to begin a radio career. 

At the heart is a love of family that shines through all the everyday ordinary scenarios and the nostalgic look at the past. Thoroughly captivating and a movie I have watched countless times.

What we can learn from Ginsburg’s friendship with Antonin Scalia

 Eugene Scalia considers Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legendary friendship with someone who was her ideological opposite, his father Antonin Scalia.

It’s often remarked today that if our government leaders spent more time together, they would come to like and respect one another, be more civil, and achieve consensus, harmony and wondrous legislation.

Don’t draw that lesson from Ginsburg-Scalia. ...

What we can learn from the justices, though — beyond how to be a friend — is how to welcome debate and differences. The two justices had central roles in addressing some of the most divisive issues of the day, including cases on abortion, same-sex marriage and who would be president. Not for a moment did one think the other should be condemned or ostracized. More than that, they believed that what they were doing — arriving at their own opinions thoughtfully and advancing them vigorously — was essential to the national good. With less debate, their friendship would have been diminished, and so, they believed, would our democracy.

Read the whole thing at The Washington Post.

A Unique and Inexhaustible Book

There is a unique and inexhaustible book in which all there is to say about God and man is said. God's presence pervades it and in it are revealed all those aspects of His mysterious being that we are allowed to glimpse; in it He appears, He speaks, and He acts. Man can also see himself in it, in all his potentialities, his grandeur and his weakness, from his sublimest aspirations down to those obscure regions of consciousness in which each of us bleeds from the wound of Original Sin. It embodies above all a religious doctrine, the doctrine of the revealed truth; but human knowledge and intellectual activity also find in it right and never-failing nourishment. It is as vain to claim to understand the principles of ethics and law as of sociology, economics, and even politics if we are unaware of the message contained in this book.

Henri Daniel-Rops, What is the Bible?

Dorothy

Dorothy, John Singer Sargeant
Dallas Museum of Art

I love Sargeant's portraits anyway, but this little lady's expression just wins me over every time. She brims with personality.

Crunchy Onion Burger

Simple, delicious, and even my mom who doesn't like hamburgers (which is still hard for me to fathom) liked them. Get your Crunchy Onion Burger at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Jodhaa Akbar

An epic romance, set in 16th-century India, about the love story between Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, the Mughal Emperor of Hindustan, and Rajput princess Jodhaa. In order to extend his empire, Akbar agrees to a marriage of alliance to young and fiery Jodhaa but soon realizes he has to defend his choice of bride as his courtiers voice their displeasure at the idea of their Muslim Emperor marrying a Hindu.

The first time we watched this we found the first part really disorienting. I assume that if you are Indian you know a lot about the factions we were being introduced to and the basic history being told — which we had no clue about. Also, as Bollywood newbies, we had a really tough time keeping track of the many warriors and kings, especially since they all were in historical garb. However, the film did a good job bringing us up to speed, the romance was compelling, and by the time they got to proclaiming the emperor Akbar, we were on board all the way. 

A second viewing, almost two years and 150 Indian movies later, made us really able to appreciate it properly. We could even keep track of all those confusing warriors and kings! Also, with the basic story knowledge from our first viewing meant that we could properly appreciate the performances. 

When they say "epic romance" they aren't kidding. By the time that the emperor and Jodhaa declare their love and he puts his hands on her shoulders (yes, they move slowly in a traditional movie like this), you'd been brought to a state of high tension over that ultimate forehead kiss and neck nuzzle. It doesn't hurt that they are the hottest emperor and empress ever. 

This is something on a scale that Cecil B. DeMille would have loved. Lavish is an understatement for the jewelry and costumes and settings. The battles are grand in every sense of the word. It is a feast for the eyes.

The first time around we thought that the movie must have been modernized because Akbar's religious views were so tolerant. We were impressed when we looked up his history and saw that he was indeed a most unusual ruler for his time. Interestingly, on vacation in Charleston talking over movies with some Indian tourists, we brought up Jodhaa Akbar, asking if the great Akbar was as portrayed. He obviously is a national hero because they instantly began praising him with great animation and enthusiasm. It was really impressive and makes the movie even more fun to watch.

NOTE: medium to difficult Bollywood viewing. Just let it flow over you without worrying too much about the politics and you'll enjoy it.

Scott and Julie discuss Jodhaa Akbar at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Hannah and Rose discuss Jodhaa Akbar at An American's Guide to Bollywood.

The Icebergs

The Icebergs, Frederic Edwin Church
Dallas Museum of Art

Nothing can replace sitting in front of this painting and taking it all in. The tints and coloring are impossible to adequately convey on a screen.

I love the story that this was bought by a private collector and kept out of public view for over a hundred years. When it came back into public sight for auction, it raised the most ever given for an American painting. The anonymous buyers donated it to the Dallas Museum of Art. After Lamar Hunt's death, he and his wife were revealed as the generous donors.

The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance.

The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.

Paul Johnson, The Recovery of Freedom (1980)

Making pain meaningful

Obedience makes our actions and sufferings meritorious in such a way that, no matter how pointless they may seem, they in fact can be extremely fruitful. One of the wonderful things Our Lord has done is to have made the most useless things, like pain, meaningful; by his obedience and his love He has made it glorious.

R. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life

Time and Tide

Time and Tide, 1873, Dallas Museum of Art
Alfred Thompson Bricher

I just love this painting. I could stand in front of it all day.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #21 — Shaun of the Dead

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Shaun and his best friend are a couple of slackers. A good evening is one that ends at the pub and every evening ends at the pub. Shaun's girlfriend is less than pleased with this lack of initiative, especially after celebrating their third anniversary ... at the pub. She breaks up with Shaun who is so distraught that he doesn't notice all there is a zombie epidemic all around them. This leads to some hilarious scenes, such as when Shaun and his friend first encounter zombies and think they are drunks. Shaun takes the lead in rescuing his mum and ex-girlfriend to take them to the safest place he can think of ... the pub. This truly is a romantic comedy with the original twist being the zombies.

I was anxious to see this from the first moment I heard the premise, yet put it off for fear of the "R" rating (for zombie violence ... yes, that's actually what it says). There is plenty of warning for any such scenes and much of it is so fake that it doesn't matter. The directors are really good at combining our awareness that this is a zombie movie with Shaun's general cluelessness to provide many very funny jump scenes as well.

Why Coming Back to Mass Matters

What probably surprises most contemporary readers of the book of Exodus is that, immediately following the laying out of the moral commandments, the author spends practically the rest of the text, chapters 25 through 40, delineating the liturgical prescriptions that the people are to follow. ...

No indication whatsoever is given that the moral prescriptions are somehow more important than the liturgical prescriptions. If anything, the contrary seems to be the case, since Exodus is followed immediately by the book of Leviticus, which consists of twenty-eight chapters of dietary and liturgical law. ... God doesn’t need the ark and the tabernacle and priestly vestments and regular worship, but we do. Through the gestures and symbols of its liturgical praise, Israel is brought on line with God, ordered to him. The moral law directs our wills to the divine goodness, but the liturgical law directs our minds, our hearts, our emotions, and yes even our bodies to the divine splendor.

This is a great piece from Bishop Barron which uses Exodus to remind us that following moral law matters but just as important is learning holiness through the liturgy. Thanks to Patsy for bringing it to my attention. I loved it.

Gospel of Matthew — Transfiguration: The Cloud

Matthew 17:1-8

This is one of the biggies in the gospels and so much has been said about it. I always found that cloud mysterious until I was reminded that the shechinah, the glory of God shows up prominently in Exodus. In a pillar leading the people, covering the mountaintop when Moses visits, etc.

And here is the cloud of God's presence again. Of course.

Transfiguration, Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov

Peter, James, and John did not see any ordinary cloud atop the mountain of transfiguration. They saw the cloud of God's Presence. In the Old Testament God's presence was made manifest to Israel in the form of a thick and luminous cloud. God guided the Israelites through the desert in a pillar of cloud (Exod 13:21-22). At Sinai the cloud of God's glory overshadowed the mountain when Moses received the Ten Commandments (Exod 24:15-18). Later the cloud filled the tabernacle (Exod 40:34). It also filled the temple in Jerusalem at its dedication by Solomon (1 Kings 8:11). However, in the sixth century BC, the prophet Ezekiel received a vision of God's glory cloud leaving the temple and Jerusalem because of the people's sinfulness (Ezek 10). Since that time, god's presence had not been visibly manifest to Israel But the prophets envisioned the return of this cloud to God's people in the eschatalogical age (2 Macc 2:8, Isa 4:5, Eze 43:1-5). Peter, James, and John witnessed the fulfillment of these prophetic hopes when the "bright cloud cast a shadow over them" on the mountain of transfiguration.

Quote is from Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: Gospel of Matthew by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Workers, Flowers and the Virgin of San Juan

The Workers, Alfredo Ramos Martinez
Dallas Museum of Art

Continuing last week's Dallas Museum of Art post, we then wandered into an exhibit of Alfredo Ramos Martinez. His style isn't one I'd normally be drawn to, but after just having been immersed in Latin American art, we were primed to take a closer look. I particularly was intrigued by his paintings done on newspaper. All those stripes? Yes. Creative use of newsprint lines in the newspaper. It was really fascinating. Tom especially liked the use of black outline to give a three dimensional aspect to the elements.

Not all his work was like that, of course. I was struck by his floral paintings. These were on loan so we were lucky to see them.

Blue Jar with Flowers, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

La Virgen de San Juan, Santa Barbara Museum

And the Latin American theme continued when we went to lunch afterwards at the San Martin Cafe and Bakery on McKinney Street. It is a Guatemalan restaurant and very trendy, as it turns out. The service and food were excellent. Rose discovered it and she and Mom love going there.

They also had art displayed high up on several walls and the textile art was another link in the chain to the art we'd seen at the DMA. Some it put us in mind of a collection of huipils for putting on statues of the Virgin Mary.

Huipil for a figure of the Virgin of the Rosary, Maya -- Kaqchikel, c. 1905–1925
Dallas Museum of Art

I'll be featuring other paintings soon. No themes, just the stuff that I like a lot.

A drowning man prayed for help. God sent a floating tiki bar filled with priests.

Despite the rough waters, he still thought he could make it back to shore, and so he waved on several boats that had stopped to offer help.


But when his kayak tipped and his hastily-donned lifejacket came up to his ears, Macdonald knew he was in real trouble.

“I thought I was going to die. I was absolutely powerless and wished I had asked for help earlier. I was waving my hand and asked God to please help me,” he said.

God answered his prayers - but not in the form of Jesus walking on water.

“And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the tiki boat.”

A tiki boat full of priests.

From Catholic News Agency comes the real life story that reads like God took the old joke about the man trying to escape the flood and gave it a modern twist.

With an inspiring and ironic twist at the end. Just the way God likes to play it. Go read the whole thing.

Lime Crinkle Cookies

These are from Taste of the South magazine which we've found to be a great source for simple, tasty recipes. Rose says these remind her of Fruit Loops. They are just plain good. Get them at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Find yourself a cup of tea ...

Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things.

Saki

Hummingbirds, Armadillos, and Fish - Oh My!

Hummingbird pendant, Olmec, 800–400 BC
Dallas Museum of Art

To our delight, we discovered that the Dallas Museum of Art is open again and immediately reserved tickets for the next available time — which was last Sunday.

There's never been a better time to see the art, what with limited numbers admitted for social distancing.

We headed up the stairs near the entrance and found ourselves in a spot we'd never come across — Arts of the Americas. This wound up being ancient art from South America, Central America, and Mexico. There were even a few things from North America, but not many.

We found it surprisingly absorbing, especially when I came across several hummingbird depictions that were thousands of years old. I look at the fierce little hummer who is keeping all the others away from our nectar and love the idea that he's the latest in a migration that has been going on so long.

And there was another familiar figure.

Armadillo ornament, Veraguas, 800–1200 AD
Dallas Museum of Art

And, of course, ear ornaments so large that I'd rather wear one as a necklace.

Ear ornament, Zenú (Sinú), 600–1200 AD
Dallas Museum of Art

There also were large, elaborate panels from buildings and a lot of things that only really impress if you see them in person. We realized that a lot of the oldest pieces were contemporaneous with ancient Egypt and that helped put the art in perspective too.

This bit of the visit began our theme day, though we didn't realize it at the time. More on that later ...

Tenet

A secret agent embarks on a dangerous, time-bending mission to prevent the start of World War III.

It seems clear that Christopher Nolan's got James Bond and Mission Impossible on the mind. His latest action thriller clearly pulls from those franchises as we follow his protagonist forwards and backwards in time and around the world on his dangerous mission.

I was excited about going to this movie because (a) Christopher Nolan, (b) back to a more normal life, (c) support the theater/movie industry. Unfortunately it wound up being another 2020 disappointment.

It pains me to admit this is not a great film. The performances are top notch. The action sequences are good, especially ones with the airplane and highway heist. However, this was offset by a very difficult sci-fi concept that wasn't explained well enough and was really hard to understand visually even once I did have a fairly firm grasp of the idea. (I felt like telling Nolan to rewatch Inception for "how to do it").

Also, the plot itself was confusing and with very little cohesive story itself, other than finding the MacGuffin. Alfred Hitchcock made many wonderful movies with nothing more than that pushing the plot but he always gave us something to care about in the character's life or situation. James Bond and Mission Impossible movies give us fairly little personal motivation but they are always very clear in explaining the villain's evil plan and what the heck is going on.

Nolan gives us nothing more than "the cleverness of me." It felt as if he was so enchanted by his sci-fi concept that it was all he could focus on. And guess what — that wasn't enough for me. Or my viewing companions.

Most egregious was that the sound mixing made a lot of the dialogue incomprehensible. When you've got a really hard concept to get across it is always so much easier if the audience can the dialogue at all. Or even if all you want to do is to help them understand why you are flinging yourself around the world for dangerous missions.

There is a wonderful exchange in Christopher Nolan’s latest film, Tenet, between Robert Pattinson and John David Washington. “Hngmmhmmh,” says Pattinson. “Mmghh nmmhhmmmm nghhh,” replies Washington. Marvellous.

This is how much of Tenet sounded to viewers in cinemas. The film’s dialogue has been criticised by reviewers and audience members for often being impossible to make out. Given how hard Nolan’s blockbuster would be to understand even if all the dialogue was crystal-clear, it is curious that the director has made it doubly difficult to hear the story of a screenplay he supposedly spent five years writing.

The Guardian

I'd think the one thing you don't want the people leaving your movie to talk about for five minutes is how none of them could understand the dialogue. But sound mixing was our topic all the way to the parking lot.

On the bright side, the movie theater was bending over backwards to welcome everyone back, although there were only a few other people at our Saturday matinee. Of course, it was showing in at least 10 other theaters in the same complex so maybe everyone was spread out.

Walking by the Lord's house

I often ask children to imagine walking by the house of the Holy Family in Nazareth. Children who love the Lord might remember that Jesus lives there, and make a gesture of reverence, or say a short prayer. But if we walked by the Lord’s house, and he was out on the porch, and we could look directly at him, we would stop, and talk to him, and know that he was hearing us, and talking to us. So it is with adoring Christ in the Eucharist, visible to us in the monstrance. We see him, and we know that he sees us. We speak to him, and we know that he hears us. When we adore Christ in the Eucharist, exposed in the monstrance, the Lord engages all of our senses, through the ministry of the Church, to awaken us to the power of encountering him—love made visible.

Pope St. John Paul II wrote that through adoration of the Eucharist, “we can say not only that each of us receives Christ, but also that Christ receives each of us. He enters into friendship with us: ‘You are my friends.’”

In friendship, in the dialogue of Eucharistic adoration, God transforms us, so that, in love, we can make gifts of our ourselves to the world, just as Christ has made a gift of himself in the Eucharist.

Bishop James Conley, Holy Thursday Letter, 2017

via A Year with the Eucharist, Paul Jerome Keller

It isn't only children who need these sorts of prompts. I love the mental image of seeing Jesus on his porch and stopping for a chat.

But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject

Thus ended our little talk: yet it left a pleasant impression. True, the subject was strange enough; my sisters might have been shocked at it; and at my freedom in asking and giving opinions. But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort—the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person—having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

Somebody must have done a good deal of the winnowing business this afternoon; for in the course of it I gave him as much nonsense as any reasonable man could stand ...

Dinah Maria (Mulock) Craik, A Life for a Life

Often misattributed to George Eliot. You may find out more about that and the book which this quote is from here.

We need the humanity of Christ.

We need the humanity of Christ. In the many wearinesses of life which come to all, it is not only permissible but often necessary to direct our devotion to the sacred human in the Eucharist. God gave us the sacred humanity of His Son because in his divine wisdom He understood man's need of a God-man. ... We who are so dependent on the sense in order to grasp something of the nonsensible, can understand Christ because He "was made flesh and dwelt among us." We feel that having walked in the flesh, Christ knows both from the experience of many and the omniscience of God all the miseries to which our mortal flesh is heir.

We need the human Christ ... in our sacramental devotion to Him. The humanity of Christ, perhaps more than we realize, serves as the lodestone that brings the suffering and weary and sinful to the Eucharistic God. ...

A Year with the Eucharist, Paul Jerome Keller

quoted - True Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

A Movie You Might Have Missed #20 — The Dish

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

This is a favorite of Tom's and the combination of gentle humor with realism is a winning combination.

In  1969, viewing the Apollo moon landing depends on a satellite dish in  Australia that is smack dab in the middle of a sheep pasture. Along with  everything else, the local technicians must deal with their natural  annoyance at having a NASA man foisted upon them to make sure everything goes ok while the locals feel understandable pride at being in the  center of an international spotlight.

Based on a true story, The Dish brims with understated wit that shows the differing cultural attitudes  between Australia and the U.S. while taking us back to the true wonder  of what it meant to watch a man walk upon the moon.

Pavonia

Pavonia (1859). Lord Frederic Leighton (English, 1830-1896).

Isn't she stunning? I could look at this all day.

Summer Corn Salad

a good, different summer salad that it isn't too late to make for Labor Day! Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

A less than perfect democracy that is still a great success story

We must remember that America is still a great success story. When we criticize—as criticize we must—we should play the part of what James Madison called a "loving critic." Former Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan put it best: "Am I embarrassed to speak for a less than perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one. Do Is suppose there are societies that are free of sin? No, I don't. Do I think ours is on balance incomparably the most hopeful set of human relations the world has? Yes, I do. Have we done obscene things? Yes we have. How did our people learn about them? They learned about them on television and in the newspapers.

William J. Bennett, America: The Last Best Hope (Vol. I)

Max

Max
by the brilliant Edward B. Gordon

Blogging Around: Andy Serkis Reads The Hobbit, Gregory the Great, Chinese Persecution of Muslims, Black Leaders Blast Planned Parenthood

ANDY SERKIS READS THE HOBBIT
Later this month Andy Serkis (aka Gollum in the Lord of the Ring movies) has an audiobook recording of The Hobbit coming out. Needless to say I am thrilled. The Rob Inglis reading was never a favorite of mine and listening to Serkis's sample shows how good his narration is.

You can hear it a bit of Riddles in the Dark at YouTube.

GREGORY THE GREAT AND THE GHOST
Via Weird Catholic comes this great story from Pope St. Gregory the Great’s The Dialogues:

Source

"[A] priest used to bathe in the hot springs of Tauriana whenever his health required. One day, as he entered the baths, he found a stranger there who showed himself most helpful in every way possible, by unlatching his shoes, taking care of his clothes, and furnishing him towels after the hot bath.

"After several experiences of this kind, to priest said the himself: ‘It would not do for me to appear ungrateful to this man who is so devoted in his kind services to me. I must reward him in some way.’ So one day he took along two crown-shaped loaves of bread to give him.

"When he arrived at the place, the man was already waiting for him and rendered the same services he had before. After the bath, when the priest was again fully dressed and ready to leave, he offered the man the present of bread, asking him kindly to accept it as a blessing, for it was offered a token of charity.

But the man sighed mournfully and said, ‘Why do you give it to me, Father? That bread is holy and I cannot eat it. I who stand before you was once the owner of this place. It is because of my sins that I was sent back here as a servant. If you wish to do something for me, then offer this bread to almighty God, and so make intercession for me, a sinner. When you come back and do not find me here, you will know that your prayers have been heard.’

"With these words he disappeared, thus showing that he was a spirit disguised as a man. The priest spent the entire week in prayer and tearful supplications, offering Mass for him daily. When he returned to the bath, the man was no longer to be found. This incident points out the great benefits souls derive from the Sacrifice of the Mass. Because of these benefits the dead ask us, the living, to have Masses offered for them, and even show us by signs that it was through the Mass that they were pardoned."

CHINA'S GENOCIDE OF ITS UIGHUR MUSLIMS

In the most extensive investigation of China’s internment camp system ever done using publicly available satellite images, coupled with dozens of interviews with former detainees, BuzzFeed News identified more than 260 structures built since 2017 and bearing the hallmarks of fortified detention compounds. There is at least one in nearly every county in the far-west region of Xinjiang. During that time, the investigation shows, China has established a sprawling system to detain and incarcerate hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities, in what is already the largest-scale detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II.

GetReligion has a wonderful guide to BuzzFeed's story. Every time we think China's not that Communist, remember this type of thing is going on all the time. Hong Kong is nothing new, just more public than a lot of the hijinks China has going on.

BLACK LEADERS BLAST "SYSTEMIC RACISM" OF ABORTION IN LETTER TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD

A coalition of Black leaders is calling out Planned Parenthood for “targeting” Black communities for abortions while professing to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

[...]

“This effort demonstrates the outrage among the Black community that we have been strategically and consistently targeted by the abortion industry ever since the practice was legalized almost 50 years ago,” said Human Coalition Action executive director Rev. Dean Nelson, whose organization coordinated the letter.

The letter noted that 36% of abortions in the U.S. are performed on Black women, who represent only 13% of the country’s female population.

“Black women are five times more likely than white women to receive an abortion,” the letter stated. “In some cities, like New York, more Black children are aborted every year than are born alive.”

“This is no accident,” the letter stated, noting that “79 percent of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities are located in or near communities of color.”

About time. Read more at CNA.

The Bridge at Argenteuil

Claude Monet, The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874

It is so glorious looking. I want to go to there.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #19 — Howl's Moving Castle

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

19. Howl's Moving Castle

19-year-old Sophie has resigned herself to a drab life in her family's hat shop ... until she is cursed by an evil witch to have an 90-year-old body. She leaves home and goes searching for a way to break the spell. In the countryside she comes upon Howl's strange moving castle which walks about on large chicken legs.

Howl is the young wizard who owns the castle and Sophie soon becomes part of the household as the housekeeper. As she gets to know the members of the little household, we also see that their land is under attack from flying ships dropping bombs. Not only must Sophie find a way to break the curse upon her, but she soon wants to help the others that she has met along the way.

Naturally, Sophie eventually discovers her hidden potential in the magical castle through her honesty, determination, and bravery. This is a complicated story and my summary is extremely simple. It is a pure delight but be prepared to pay attention.

Watching the Spring and Listening to the Wind

Watching the Spring and Listening to the Wind, Tang Yin

Gospel of Matthew — Get behind me, Satan! Continued.

Matthew 16:20-23

Let's continue from the thoughts last time which connect this moment of temptation with Christ's temptation in the wilderness by Satan. Looking at Jesus' words to Peter, William Barclay points out interesting language uses ... and what they mean.

James Tissot, Get Thee Behind Me, Satan (Rétire-toi, Satan), Brooklyn Museum</td>

A further development comes when we closely examine this saying of Jesus in the light of his saying to Satan at the end of the temptations as Matthew records it in Matthew 4:10. Although in the English translations the two passages sound different they are almost, but not quite, the same. ...

The point is that Jesus' command to Satan is simply: "Begone!" while his command to Peter is: "Begone behind me!" that is to say "Become my follower again. Satan is banished from the presence of Christ; Peter is recalled to be Christ's follower. The one thing that Satan could never become is a follower of Christ; in his diabolical pride he could never submit to that; that is why he is Satan. On the other hand, Peter might be mistaken and might fall and might sin, but for him there was always the challenge and the chance to become a follower again. It is as if Jesus said to Peter: "At the moment you have spoken as Satan would. But that is not the real Peter speaking. You can redeem yourself. Come behind me, and be my follower again and even yet, all will be well." ... So long as a man is prepared to try to follow, even after he has fallen, there is still for him the hope of glory here and hereafter.

Quote is from Daily Study Bible Series: Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 by William Barclay. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Holiday at the Pier

Alexander Rossi - Holiday at the Pier
via Gandalf's Gallery

You say your life is your own. But ...

You say your life is your own. But can you dare to ignore the chance that you are taking part in a gigantic drama under the orders of a divine Producer? Your cue may not come till the end of the play – it may be totally unimportant, a mere walking-on part, but upon it may hang the issues of the play, if you do not give the cue to another player. The whole edifice may crumble. You, as you, may not matter to any- one in the world, but you as a person in a particular place may matter unimaginably.

Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Mr. Quin

Listen Up: David Suchet Audio Bible - New International Version: Complete Bible

This is 83 hours (and 14 minutes) of wonderfully narrated Biblical audio goodness.

I'm here for David Suchet who, 17 chapters into Genesis, is helping me hear details I hadn't noticed before. Part of that is doubtless because I've not read the NIV translation before. However, it is equally due to the fact that listening to a book makes you notice new details.

As a sidenote, I only discovered this narration after learning that Suchet (who definitively played Hercule Poirot in BBC productions) became a Christian at 40 and then wanted to record the Bible. He did it in between shooting schedules and in his off time for over 200 hours of personal dedication. So inspirational!

Right now I'm thinking that I may use this for another reread of the entire Bible in chronological order. Except, of course, for the books the Protestants took out. Those aren't included in this so I'll read them the old fashioned way from one of my Catholic Bibles.

From the River's Edge

Henri Biva (French, 1848-1929), From the River’s Edge

Chocolate Mousse

Hannah asked for Chocolate Mousse for her birthday and I automatically pulled down The Silver Palate Cookbook which has a whole section of them.

It was the deepest, darkest, most luscious mousse ever. It was really easy, worked like a charm, and utterly delicious. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon, Maxfield Parrish, 1902

Window View

Edward Okuń, Window View

Gospel of Matthew — Get behind me Satan!

Matthew 16:20-23

This is the passage in which Jesus begins to tell the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, and be killed. Peter rebukes him — shocking in itself for a disciple to rebuke his master — and Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan."

This has always seemed fairly straight forward to me — a real "stop tempting me" moment. I liked what William Barclay says, in this speculative lectio divina thinking about what may have come to Jesus' mind, connecting it to when he was tempted by Satan himself.

Source

We must try to catch the tone of voice in which Jesus speaks. He certainly did not say it with a snarl of anger in his voice and a blaze of indignant passion in his eyes. He said it like a man wounded to the heart, with poignant grief and a kind of shuddering horror. Why should he react like that?

He did so because in that moment there came back to him with cruel force the temptations which he had faced in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. There he had been tempted to take the way of power. ... It was precisely these same temptations with which Peter was confronting Jesus all over again.

Nor were these temptations ever wholly absent from the mind of Jesus. Luke sees far into the heart of the Master. At the end of the temptation story, Luke writes: "And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13). Again and again the tempter launched this attack. No one wants a cross; no one wants to die in agony; even in the Garden that same temptation came to Jesus, the temptation to take another way.

And here Peter is offering it to him now. ... Peter was confronting Jesus with that way of escape from the Cross which to the end beckoned to him.

That is why Peter was Satan. Satan literally, means the Adversary. That is why Peter's ideas were not God's but men's. ...

What made the temptation more acute was the fact that it came from one who loved him. Peter spoke as he did only because he loved Jesus so much that he could not bear to think of him treading that dreadful path and dying that awful death. The hardest temptation of all is the one which comes from protecting love. there are times when fond love seeks to deflect us from the perils of the path of God; but the real love is not the love which holds the knight at home, but the love which sends him out to obey the commandments of the chivalry which is given, not to make life easy but to make life great. ... What really wounded Jesus' heart and what really made him speak as he did, was that the tempter spoke to him that day through the fond but mistaken love of Peter's hot heart.

I have often recalled that bit of Luke's gospel which Barclay mentions — "he departed from him until an opportune time" — and wondered when Jesus felt the sting of temptation at times when it wasn't mentioned in the gospels. For that reason, perhaps, Barclay's thoughts here resonate with me.

Quote is from Daily Study Bible Series: Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 by William Barclay. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Bright-eyed Julie and cunning Scott visit the underworld ...

... to find out answers to important questions, like who makes the best biscuits and gravy in the universe. They stop to pet a dog on the way. Good Story 239: The Odyssey, Part 2 of 2.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

When Erik Larson moved to New York City he began musing on the experiences of those who lived through the September 11 terrorist attacks as well as the aftermath. Thinking of similar situations he focused on Londoners during the Blitz and Battle of Britain in WWII. The resulting book looks at Churchill's ability to lead and inspire when things seemed hopeless, which is to say during the time before the Americans finally entered the war.

Larson does a fantastic job of making you feel you understood those struggles, those times, and those people. By the last third of the book I was fully invested in the people and the story. In fact, I had tears of joy about the victory celebrations.

This one's a keeper and I know I'll be reading it again.

The God Who Performs Daily Miracles

St. Augustine hits the nail on the head, as usual. We live in a world of miracles, so deeply embedded that we no longer recognize they are miracles at all.

This is the God, after all, who performs daily miracles through the whole of creation. These, though have grown cheap in people's eyes, not because they are easy, but because they happen all the time; while the rare things done by the same Lord, that is, by the Word who was made Flesh on our account, have struck people with greater amazement, not because they were indeed greater than what he does every day in creation, but because the things that are done every day occur, so it seems, in the natural course of events; while the others seem in people's eyes to be manifesting the activity of a power actually present here and now.

I said, you remember, that one dead man rose again, and people were struck dumb with amazement, while nobody marvels at those — who did not exist — being born every day. In the same way, who is not astonished at water being turned into wine, while God is doing the same thing every year in the vines?

St. Augustine,

Homily 9 on John 2:1-11

Coromants' Boulder

Cormorants' Boulder, Remo Savisaar

We won't "remote everything" because there's no "energy."

There’s some other stupid thing in the article about “bandwidth” and how New York is over because everybody will “remote everything.” Guess what: Everyone hates to do this. Everyone. Hates.

You know why? There’s no energy.

Energy, attitude and personality cannot be “remoted” through even the best fiber optic lines. That’s the whole reason many of us moved to New York in the first place.

You ever wonder why Silicon Valley even exists? I have always wondered, why do these people all live and work in that location? They have all this insane technology; why don’t they all just spread out wherever they want to be and connect with their devices? Because it doesn’t work, that’s why.

Real, live, inspiring human energy exists when we coagulate together in crazy places like New York City.

Jerry Seinfeld: So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’(It’s not.)

The New York Times

Exactly. People've got to be together to really connect. We'll make do with Zoom and Google Hangouts and so forth until this pandemic is over and then we'll be back to connecting as usual — with energy.

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Scout, the most patient dog in the world

What with the pandemic and all, we're having Hannah's birthday catered. As you can see!

Hannah actually chose Chocolate Mousse for her celebration so I'm breaking out The Silver Palate Cookbook which has stood me in good stead for Lime Mousse and Pavlovas.

Hannah's our tree loving, animal loving, sweet girl who is smart as a whip, funny, generous, and thoughtful. No wonder we love her so much. We just can't help ourselves! Though how she got to be a married lady expecting her first baby in November ... well, I do remember how but somehow those years just breezed by. She's been a blessing and a treasure through all of them.

Happy birthday, dear Hannah.

Cake by Cake Couture by Tina
Do you live near Cebu City? That's where Tina is. Get one of her cakes!

Gospel of Matthew: Who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16:13-18

I feel as if there has been a resurgence in people focusing on this question in homilies and writing lately. I seem to see it everywhere and it is a good question to ask oneself about Jesus. Peter's answer leads Christ to high praise and revelation about his church.

Reading Bishop Barron's commentary gave me my own sort of revelation.

Jesus responded to this confession of Peter with some of the most extraordinary language in the New Testament: "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Neither the crowds nor the aristocratic circle around Jesus knew who he was—only Peter knew. And this knowledge did not come from Peter's intelligence or from an extraordinary education (he didn't have one) or from his skill at assessing popular opinion. It came as a gift from God, a special charism of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift, given only to the head of the Twelve, Jesus called Simon by a new name: in Aramic Cephas (rock or rocky), rendered in Greek as Petros and in English as Peter.

Reading this my mind's eye was seized with the idea that this is one of those moments when Jesus' perfect humanity and perfect divinity intersect. He knows that Peter will lead the church because Peter was given this revelation by the Father. We are seeing Christ himself take guidance from the Father's working in the moment through Peter. Kind of a give-and-take of these two members of the Trinity in the workings of time. At least — that's how it felt to me.

I also like this further point which Bishop Barron goes on to make. We are not to hunker down because we're safe from the gates of Hell. We're to take the battle to the gates of Hell themselves. Now those are marching orders!

On the foundation of this rock, Jesus declared that he would build his ekklesia, his Church. ... And Jesus insists that this society, grounded in Peter's confession, would constitute an army so powerful that not even the fortified capital of the dark kingdom itself could withstand it. It is fascinating to me how often we construe this saying of Jesus in precisely the opposite direction, as though the Church is guaranteed safety against the onslaughts of hell. In point of fact, Jesus is suggesting a much more aggressive image: his Church will lay successful siege upon the kingdom of evil, knocking down its gate and breaching its walls.

Quote is from The Word on Fire Bible: The Gospels. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.