A Movie You Might Have Missed #77 — My Neighbor Totoro

It's been 11 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. 

As a fun update for this movie, I will soon be showing pieces of it to my 2-year-old grandson. Way back in 2004 when I first reviewed this film, he was so far in the future that I never could have imagined the joy and fun he brings. Hopefully, he'll love this movie as much as his mother did. 

 

Way back in 2004 I reviewed this film. That was before I had an entire series about movies you might have missed so I thought I'd be sure this was brought to mind. These days you might have heard of the film because filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is now known more outside of Japan than he used to be. Specializing in animated films for children, Miyazaki is a masterful storyteller whose talent transcends national culture. 

Also, the people who were young enough to be babysitters in 2004 are now adults with kids of their own. And the kids they were showing this to are also grown. So anime isn't such a foreign concept now as it was then.

Here is my original review which captures a bit of our family's film culture.

Ok, your kids might have seen this but chances are if they have it is because you know my kids. Thanks to Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z my girls got attached to Japanese animation (anime) when they were little. Then they moved on to kids' manga (Japanese graphic novels) which is where Sailor Moon, etc. actually began.

Anime usually doesn't have much of a U.S. following, except among true movie lovers, because they don't follow the expected pattern. For one thing, they are animated but aren't produced by Disney (or Dreamworks or Pixar). For another, they tend to show in art houses which also are unfamiliar to a lot of folks.

We heard of My Neighbor Totoro and were surprised to find it available for rental. Eventually we had to buy our own copy, which my daughters now take with them when baby sitting. This delights the kids and annoys the parents because then their children start pestering them to buy the movie.

My Neighbor Totoro is a charming, original story by a famous Japanese filmmaker. It is the story of two young girls and their father moving to a new home in the forest. The girls go exploring and come across Totoro, a giant forest spirit.

Check out the reviews at Amazon for the full story.

I've seen some cultural warnings about possible misunderstandings also which never occurred to us when we originally watched it, such as:

... there are a couple of scenes that are perfectly innocent in Japanese culture -- like the dad sitting in the bathtub with both little girls-- that may raise some eyebrows/questions in American culture. Please be assured there's nothing sexual about the scene, it is 100% innocent and acceptable in Japan for adults to bath with their younger children (the girls in this movie are 9 and 4 I believe), but American culture is a little different so I thought I'd put a heads up here.

There are other differences but we found that part of the charm as a window into another world. We've enjoyed many of Miyazaki's films but this is a real delight.

Dewy Spider Web

Dewy Spider Web
via Wikipedia

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.

As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?

But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?

This was the follow up to The Thursday Murder Club which introduced four unlikely friends who meet every Thursday to try to solve cold cases. When a real murder happens at the property, they decide to have fun with a case in progress. I liked it but found rather frenetic by the end. This second novel was better and very enjoyable.  

In fact, I went back and listened to the audiobook of the first book and liked it better the second time around. So I recommend both!

Well Said: What a book provides

A book provides more than what's between its covers. It's a relationship that stays with us for a lifetime. It is always faithful. And usually it is kind.

Stephen Tobolowsky

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Saints and Feasts of the Catholic Church by Father Michael Black

I don't know how I stumbled across this series. Sometimes browsing from one link to another does turn up just what you want, even when you don't know that's what you want. This is a very good book looking at the saints approved for the universal  Church's calendar and for the USA. It's one of a four volume series which cover the year.  It is a really good complement to my all-time favorite saint book Voices of the Saints by Bert Ghezzi as each shows the saints with emphasis on different parts of their lives.

The author does a podcast which is uses this series for the source material. I like the podcast description, which is from the introduction to one of the books.

"Catholic Saints & Feasts" offers a dramatic reflection on each saint and feast day of the General Calendar of the Catholic Church.

These reflections profile the theological bone breakers, the verbal flame throwers, the ocean crossers, the heart-melters, and the sweet-chanting virgin-martyrs who populate the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church.

One of the things I especially like is that this covers what I think of as oddball feasts, such as for the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (November 9), which isn't included in any books which only cover saints. Father Black's description made me truly appreciate this feast day for the first time. Here's just a tiny sample.

A church's walls do not make one a Christian, of course. But a church has walls nonetheless. Walls, borders, and lines delimit the sacred from the profane. A house makes a family feel like one, a sacred place where parents and children merge into a household. A church structurally embodies supernatural mysteries. A church is a sacred space where sacred actions make Christians unite as God's family. Walls matter. Churches matter. Sacred spaces matter. Today the Church commemorates a uniquely sacred space, the oldest of the four major basilicas in the city of Rome. The Lateran Basilica is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Rome and thus the seat of the Pope as Bishop of Rome.

A basilica is like a church which has been made a monsignor. Basilicas have certain spiritual, historical or architectural features by which they earn their special designation. ...

The Kindle version of each book is really cheap so you aren't risking much to give it a try.

Apricots on a Branch

 

Apricots on a branch by Carl Balsgaard, via J.R.'s Art Place

Daily Exercise

Daily Exercise
painted by Karin Jurick

You must stick by the work entrusted to you and the task you have undertaken

I am shocked that you are so upset by all these routine scandals that you prefer to spend your life in silence rather than to stay in the duties entrusted to you.

Where will your blessed perseverance be if your patience fails? Remember the apostle who said: “All who want to live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution”. Endurance exists not only in confessing the name of Christ by sword and fire and various punishments. But differences in customs, insults of the disobedient and barbs of wicked tongues and various temptations are also included in this kind of persecution.

There is not a single occupation that is without its dangers. Who will guide the ship if the pilot quits his post? Who will guard against wolves if the shepherd does not watch? Or who will drive away the robber if the watchman sleeps? You must stick by the work entrusted to you and the task you have undertaken. You must hate the sins, not the people. Even though tribulation brings us more than we can endure, let us not be afraid as if we were resisting with our own strength. We must pray with the apostle that God give us “the way out with the temptation,” that we may be able to withstand, for Christ is both our courage and our counsel, "without him we can do nothing" and "with him we can do all things."

St. Braulio (d. 650) in a letter
to his brother who wanted to resign being abbot,
via The Voices of the Saints: A Year of Readings by Bert Ghezzi

This quote was sprinkled with references to scriptural passages in parentheses which I assumed were added by Bert Ghezzi and not St. Braulio. If I got that wrong I apologize but it was insanely distracting when reading this powerful letter.

It could have been written to us today. We forget that we aren't the only ones who have felt buffeted by insults, misunderstandings, and temptations when trying to live our faith.

Voices of the Saints: A Year of Readings by Bert Ghezzi

I've been really negligent in not reviewing this book on the blog. I have loved it since the first edition came out. I now have it on my Kindle for ease in reading about whatever saint has come up in alphabetical order that day. Each is covered in about two pages, which include a sizable chunk of the saint's writing or something by a contemporary (if they weren't a "writing" saint) so we get a deeper look at them from the inside.

Here's a bit more from The Anchoress whose full review you can read here.

Bert Ghezzi’s Voices of the Saints; A Year of Readings is one of those books every Catholic household really should have. This is a meticulously researched and cross-referenced book of saints for grown-ups. No pictures, no frills – you get the information you are seeking, and a taste of their own writings, but the book is arranged with themes and calendar prompts. If you’re if you’re dealing with issues of, say, obedience, you look under “obedience” (if you’re feeling cranky look under “porcupine saints”) and you’re be referred to a helpful Christian whose one struggles or wisdom will help you out. This book gives you a real sense of the “communion” of saints.

Four O Four

Four O Four by Karin Jurick

Light

Light by Karin Jurick 

Psalm 36 — The Wicked and the Righteous

When you see transgressors of the law being so zealous in their evildoing, do not attribute this evil to nature—this is what the heretics teach—but in saying Psalm 36 know that they are the cause of their own sinful behavior.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

I'm really struck by the statement above. To attribute one's evil to their nature instead of to their own choice to commit sin is just the way a lot of evil is spoken about today. Once again, human nature is the same now as it was thousands of years ago.

Waves in Stained Glass

There are two points that I like to think about in this psalm. The first is made by Saint Augustine about wickedness and a possible way out of it.

36:4 Plotting Evil

Our Inner Bedroom, Saint Augustine. Our bedroom is our heart, for there we toss and turn if we have a bad conscience, but there, if our conscience is easy, we find rest. .. But the person of whom our psalm is speaking retired there to hatch his evil plots, where no one would see him. And because such wickedness was the subject of his meditation, he could find no rest, even in his heart.

The Road to Evil, Saint Augustine. If we cannot be free from wickedness, at let us hate it. When you have begun to hate it, you are unlikely to be tricked into committing a wicked act by any stealthy temptation. ... Hate sin and iniquity, so that you may unite yourself to God, who will hate it with you. Homilies on the Psalms.

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

I really was struck by this discussion of "living water" which is referred to in the psalm. I never looked specifically into the phrase. This really adds another level of meaning to both the psalm and every time Jesus brings it up.

The psalmist speaks in reverential tones of experiencing the hospitality of the divine house of Yahweh (36:8-9) and of sharing the refreshment offered by the host: restorative drink drawn from God's "river of delights" and the "fountain of life."...

First, "living water" (mayim hayyim) most often refers to flowing water taken from streams or rivers or to water drawn from spring-fed pools. This kind of living water was distinguished from standing water left in jars, gathered in cisterns, left standing by rainfall in stagnant pools, or even drawn from a well. The distinction was particularly important in the laws of ritual purity and cleansing. Only "living water" had the property of cleansing from uncleanness. For this reason ritual baths had to be provided with some access to living water in order to maintain their cleansing property and status. Often a channel of living water would be directed from a stream or spring to the site of the bath so that a small amount could be let into the chamber pool before each supplicant entered for cleansing. ...

[In his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well] Jesus deepens the conversation by pointing to a spiritual meaning: "Everyone who drinks this [well] water will never be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Living water has been transformed into a "spring of water ... [of] eternal life" (equivalent to maqor hayyim in Ps. 36). Jeremiah employs a similar phrase (meqor mayim hayyim ["spring of living water]) to speak of Yahweh as a "spring of living water" that Israel rejected in favor of cisterns dug by their own hands (Jer. 2:13, 7:13). The woman understands the allusions in Jesus' conversation and immediately asks to receive what Jesus is offering.

Psalms Volume 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

An index of psalm posts is here.

TV You Might Have Missed 3 — The Brokenwood Mysteries

Set in the quiet New Zealand town of Brokenwood, this is a cozy mystery show that manages to avoid being too cozy. It is more of a Midsomer Murders than a Murder She Wrote, in other words. 

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd is an experienced, big city cop with plenty of quirks like an inordinate love of country music (on cassette tapes), a "classic" car which is more of a beater,  too many ex-wives to keep track of, and a habit of talking to the deceased when he first meets them. Local partner, Detective Kristin Sims, does detective work by the book but they soon form a good working relationship. Soon they're joined by a subordinate and a medical examiner who both provide a bit of comic relief but never anything that is too over the top.

It's got a good amount of humor but always keeps the focus on solving the mysteries. The "kiwi" element is strong because the show was made for New Zealand audiences and that makes it just exotic enough. The murders always pull the detectives into a bit of local culture that is fun to see also, like the local Shakespearean troop or tours for the Lord of the Ringz filming locations. (That "z" in Ringz is important.) sometimes they just go for something everyone understands like playing Clue.

We've been really tired of edgy, melodramatic mystery shows and this fits just right. A procedural with a new case each week and slightly quirky detectives to watch do their thing — just what we like on a Sunday night.

Worth a Thousand Words

Impressionable by Karin Jurick

The Sentinel

The Sentinel
by the brilliant Karin Jurick

Karin Jurick passed away too young. I really loved her paintings and appreciated her generosity in giving me permission to share them with you. As I look back over the archives, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites this week.

The setting for a pearl

A jewel demands a setting of gold, and a pearl should only be placed in precious necklaces. Be, then, the finest sort of gold! Be a precious necklace, so that the spiritual pearl can be set in you! For Christ the Lord is the pearl that the rich merchant in the gospel hastened to buy.

St. Maximus of Turin
via Voices of the Saints by Bert Ghezzi

We can't leave all our passions behind

My dear Sister, you tell me that you have brought your pride with you. I assure you that I was quite aware of that! If you had left all your passions behind you and were just an unfeeling lump, how could you prove your love and faithfulness to God? Therefore don't worry about your feelings, but fight bravely, leaning on God.

St. Paola Frassinetti

via The Voices of the Saint by Bert Ghezzi

This is something that was pointed out to me recently when I was bemoaning a character trait that I repeatedly try to reform. It is that very character trait which makes me who I am. Perhaps the way I exhibit it might not always be the most pleasing, but I can't leave "me" behind or, as St. Paola says, I'd be a lump!

Waxwing

Waxwing, Remo Savisaar

The Red Horses

Franz Marc, The Red Horses, 1911

Jumping Dog Schlick

Jumping Dog Schlick, Franz Marc, 1908

Psalm 35 — Plea for Divine Assistance

If [enemies] persist, and, with hands red with blood, try to drag you down and kill you, remember that God is the proper judge (for he alone is righteous while that which is human is limited) and so say the words of [Psalm] 35.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

I love the imagery here. The Navarre Bible points out that "the military language used at the start of the psalm signals the kind of divine deliverance that the psalmist seeks..."

In response to the psalmist's cry, Yahweh runs through the fray, spear and shield in hand, to defend the psalmist's life. As he does so, Yahweh's ringing voice is herd above the din of battle, shouting "I am your salvation!" This encourages the beleaguered psalmist to hang on until deliverance arrives.

Psalms Volume 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

Isn't this the best mental picture ever? It makes me think of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Lord of the Rings when they think all is lost and then Aaragorn and his soldiers show up to fight side by side, eventually winning the day. That is an image of God I need to hold more present in my difficult moments.

In classical antiquity, bucklers on medals were either used to signify public vows rendered to the gods for the safety of a prince, or that he was esteemed the defender and protector of his people: these were called votive bucklers, and were hung at altars, etc. — Wikipedia

A key point of this psalm praises God not just for his might but for his holiness.

The Incomparability of Yahweh

The central part of Psalm 35 turns on a rhetorical question ("Who is like you?") that the psalmist utters in response to God's anticipated retribution against his enemies (35:10). The obvious answer is "No one!" which serves as the immediate foundation for the confidence that Yahweh is able to deliver. There is no other god like Yahweh, who can match his power or inhibit his action in the psalmist's behalf. ...

The psalmists and others draw great solace from their insight that Yahweh is not like the gods of the other nations, or even like human kings or sages. The venality and fickleness of the gods of Mesopotamia is well known. It is not just the matter that various gods and goddesses opposed and sought to undermine one another. The greatest difficulty lay in the fact that the individual deities were inconsistent in their dealings with humans. They could be tricked, misinformed, or emotionally manipulated so that they could swing in a moment from beneficent care to harsh punishment of their followers. All one's careful worship and supplication could be undone in a moment's pique.

Thus, it was a great comfort for Israel to know that Yahweh is not like the gods of the nations. Not only is he superior in power and might, but he is also consistent in his essential character of holiness, justice, and mercy. ... In the final analysis, God's trustworthiness is the result of his incomparable power used for the benefit of the powerless. God is so superior in all things that he has no need to use power for self-interest, but he is free to champion those who have no power at all.

Psalms Volume 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

An index of psalm posts is here.

TV You Might Have Missed 2 — Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Woo Young-woo is a female rookie attorney with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who is hired by a major law firm in Seoul. Being different from her neurotypical peers, her manner of communication is seen by them as odd, awkward, and blunt. With each legal case and through her intelligence and photographic memory, she becomes an increasingly competent attorney. Wikipedia

There isn't a good way to describe the show's premise that conveys the charm and delight of this show. A legal drama at its heart, each episode features an interesting  case that has to be won. Often we learn about Korean culture in surprising ways such as the case of the bride whose wedding dress dress fell down or the fact that a beautiful tree can be eligible for national treasure status. Woo Young-woo's different point of view often yields the key to resolving tricky details. At the same time we learn more about her life and see how her presence changes the people on the legal team that she's assigned to.

This all sounds like something we've seen before and yet this show is unique and quirky without being over the top. The need for others to understand Woo's way of thinking yields interesting results. Her passion for whales and way of seeing complex relationships through a whale-centric focus is startling, refreshing, and adorable. The show is funny and optimistic and has genuine depth.

Even more importantly it has excellent acting, superior writing, and sensitive directing that isn't afraid to let the camera linger on silence while the actors convey complex thoughts without words. It avoids standard romance tropes although there is indeed romance — K-dramas demand romance. It is truly an extraordinary show and every time I get done watching an episode I feel happy for the rest of the day. That is rare indeed.

This is showing on Netflix.

Cats on a Red Cloth

Franz Marc, Cats on a Red Cloth
via Arts Everyday Living

When I write of hunger...

When I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and it is all one.

M. F. K. Fisher

Horse in a Landscape

Franz Marc, 1910, Horse in a Landscape
via WikiPaintings

There is something mesmerizing in this painting. Is this how the horse sees? Is it viewing a painting? The playful tone seems to invite mental hijinks. And yet, I love the painting simply as a work of art. I could look at this all day.

Checking his WikiPaintings entry I see that he painted a lot of animals and that his painting style and my taste part ways about 1912, right after his Girl With a Cat. But nothing grabs me the way this horse does.

The Feast by Margaret Kennedy

Cornwall, Midsummer 1947. Pendizack Manor Hotel is buried in the rubble of a collapsed cliff. Seven guests have perished, but what brought this strange assembly together for a moonlit feast before this Act of God -- or Man? Over the week before the landslide, we meet the hotel guests in all their eccentric glory: and as friendships form and romances blossom, sins are revealed, and the cracks widen.

This book starts out with a clergyman at a loss for how to write a eulogy for seven people who died in a hotel when a cliff fell on it and crushed it. We're then taken back to life in the hotel a week before the disaster. We get to know everyone and watch how their interactions change them (or don't). It's only natural that the reader soon begins to worry about who will die at the hotel and who will be safely away. It hit me with a start when I was reading about children traveling to spend their vacation there and I thought, "Children! No!" This tension continued through the book as I grew fond of characters and worried they would be among the fatalities.

There was equal tension as some characters changed in ways that allowed for growth and redemption of the trajectories their lives had been on. This book is not just about the mystery of who will live and who will die. It is also about spiritual realities by which these people live their lives. It is a rare find and I highly recommend it.

November

November, Theo van Hoytema

Psalm 34 — Praise for Deliverance

If you have chanced upon enemies and yet have prudently fled from them and their schemes, call together people of gentle disposition and give thanks in the words of Psalm 34

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

The inscription of this psalm certainly makes me sit up and pay attention:

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.

I didn't remember this incident at all but it happened when David was on the run from Saul and had to go into enemy territory to escape. When he's recognized by the Philistine king, David feigns insanity and is sent away. Whew! Read it in 1 Samuel, chapter 21.

You would certainly thank the Lord for all his favors when that insanity idea worked out the way it did for David. Surely it seemed like a long shot at the time.

Psalm 34 by Ephraim Moses Lilien.
The musical instruments are drawn after the rich archaeological material;
also the way of holding and playing them is reproduced from the sources.

I like the way that St. Augustine tied it to modern, everyday life in his day. Our days are no different in the way that we think we have it worse than anyone ever did. After all, even God's favored one, David, had a lot to put up.

34:12 Who Desires Life?

Good Days. Augustine. Do you not grumble every day, "How long do we have to put up with this? Things get worse and worse by the day. Our parents had happier days, things were better in their time." Oh, come on! If you questioned those parents of yours, they would moan to you about their days in just the same way. ... So you are looking for good days. Let us all look for them together, but not here. ... There are always evil days in this world, but always good days in God. Abraham enjoyed good days, but only within his own heart; he had bad days when a famine forced him to migrate in search of food. But everyone else had to search, too. What about Paul: did he have good days, he who had "often gone without food, and endured cold and exposure?" (2 Cor. 11:27). But the servants have no right to be discontented; even the Lord did not have good days in this world. He endured insults, injuries, the cross and many a hardship.  Expositions of the Psalms.

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

An index of psalm posts is here.

November

November, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry

The autumn acorn harvest, with a peasant knocking down throwing sticks to knock down the acorns on which his pigs are feeding.

University of Chicago

The Litany of the Counsel of the Saints XIII

Magnificat has this wonderful litany in month leading up to All Saints' Day. We've reached the end of it on Halloween and I feel very happy that I wound up with 13 parts. Perfect!

If any of these meditations spoke to you, take the time to look up a bit more about that particular saint. You might find a new friend to help you to a closer relationship with Christ.

This litany is a meditation on what some of the saints have spoken or written. As we listen to these saints, we pray for a deeper personal participation in their sanctity. This litany represents only a small sampling of the vast communion of the saints. Feel free to add your favorites to it. One option is to sing the litany and its response.

R. (Saint's name), pray for us

Saint Maximilian Kolbe: "Shall the urge for complete and total happiness, inherent to human nature, be the only ned to remain unfulfilled and unsatisfied? No, even this longing can be fulfilled by the infinite and eternal God." R

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: "Holy realism has a certain affinity with the realism of the child who receives and responds to impressions with unimpaired vigor and vitality, and with uninhibited simplicity." R

Saint Katharine Drexel: "May your faith be increased so as to realize the fact that you are never alone, wheresoever you may be, that the great God is with you, in you." R

Saint Faustina: "Jesus, I trust in you." R

Saint Pio: "If the soul longs for nothing else than to love its God, then don't worry and be quite sure that this soul possesses everything, that it possesses God himself." R

Saint Damien: "In the face of the too real dangers that surround me I repeat: 'Lord, I have placed all my hope in you. I will never be confounded.'" R

Padre Pio

 

A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy by Jason M. Baxter

Dante's Divine Comedy is widely considered to be one of the most significant works of literature ever written. It is renowned not only for its ability to make truths known but also for its power to make them loved. It captures centuries of thought on sin, love, community, moral living, God's work in history, and God's ineffable beauty. Like a Gothic cathedral, the beauty of this great poem can be appreciated at first glance, but only with a guide can its complexity and layers of meaning be fully comprehended.

After I read The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, I went looking for more by Jason M. Baxter and was delighted to see this book. Where better to have a medieval mindset explained than through this masterpiece which was written for those very people? 

What makes A Beginner's Guide shine is the way Baxter bridges the gap between our different ways of thinking. He explains the theology, the poetry, the context (both historical and literary), and makes Dante more accessible than any other guide I've read — and I've read a lot of very good ones. I really appreciated the way that he kept connecting different parts of the poem to each other for contrasting so that we could get the deeper message as well as appreciate Dante's artistry.

As with his other book, Baxter displays real skill in showing how differently the medievals thought about the world and our place in it, and also how they were superbly logical which is not something the modern reader expects. Through that lens, the average person can understand and appreciate the depth of structure and thought that underpin this book.

Above all, He helps us dip our toes, just for a moment, into the beauty that shines around us — and not just in this book. Here is a lengthy excerpt to help you see a little of what I mean. After Dante enters heaven, he describes a world of warmth, light, and harmony. Baxter puts this into deeper context for us.

At the same time that the pilgrim feels the order of the heavens, he is also struck by its dazzling brightness. In the medieval world, the spectator delighted in the mere quality of color or light in a way that is hard for us to conceive—we who live in a world flooded by artificial lights. He could almost taste its radiance. ...

What is more, just as we all know that the orbit of the moon affects the tides of large bodies of water, so did medieval people think all heavenly bodies exerted their influence on earth. Looking at the stars wasn't just pretty it was opening yourself to spiritual powers that penetrated your body. Their beauty was spiritually radioactive. For Dante's contemporaries, then, even the basic idea of flying through this place of peace and radiance would have been a wildly exciting, sci-fi journey. The pilgrim visits that region bathed in happiness and light, which flows into his body. It is this visceral feeling for the physical effects of light and music that appears everywhere throughout Dante's final canticle.

And so medieval men and women looked up at the sky and saw it as beautiful, radiant, dazzling, and ordered—or rather, felt it as perfection. It always moved in order, always obeyed, always sang. But although this ordered motion was most perfectly embodied in the starry sky, this order, this love, if you will, also flowed throughout the world, and in fact, was thought to keep everything in motion. It was love that regulated the seasons as they yielded to each other; it was love that ensured that the sea harmoniously lapped the land without overflowing its boundaries; it was even love that bound the soul to the body.

Milky Fall

Milky Fall, Remo Savisaar

October Lagniappe: The Ghost House

A melancholy and evocative poem by Robert Frost.

I dwell in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.

O’er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.

I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;

The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about:
I hear him begin far enough away
Full many a time to say his say
Before he arrives to say it out.

It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me—
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.

They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,—
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had.

My latest article for Our Sunday Visitor — Scary movies with Catholic themes to watch this Halloween

Here's just a bit. Then go read the whole thing at Our Sunday Visitor.

Catholics are really good at looking unblinkingly at the dark. You don’t get through Lent and Holy Week without a deeper understanding of the struggle between good and evil. The Old Testament has horrors like the demon in Tobit, a plague of killer snakes in Exodus and a concubine hacked to pieces and sent all over Israel in Judges. Jesus spent plenty of time in spiritual combat as he went toe to toe with the devil and cast out demons.

With the arrival of Halloween, we’re given another way to consider good versus evil, the struggle for redemption and the cost of choosing the wrong side. Horror movies seem an unlikely venue for spiritual reflection, but the good ones make the darkness visible, give us a hero to follow and can help us face the battle.

Back from Florida!

 My goodness this was a vacation full of great stories! We drove to Florida which is a two-day trip from Dallas because we like to have that time alone together and to see the countryside unfold. The purpose was to attend my nephew's wedding to a lovely girl of Bangladeshi descent.

About half of the stories are about the incredible inconveniences we encountered in travel, in lodgings, in things - essentially. Luckily, the other half of the stories — the more important half — are wonderful stories of all the people. We got to have a mini-family reunion with my brother and sister, with my sister-in-law's family who showed up in force (they are such great folks), and to spend quite a lot of time with the bride's family who were simply lovely and gracious. Those moments left us happy and with so many wonderful memories.

Thanks to modern technology, I was able to send my mother some photos every day for her "Skylight" - picture frame. She couldn't be there in person but she could follow along the activities a little that way. I never would have thought to take so many photos if I hadn't been wanting to let her share our experiences some. So that was beneficial in two ways!

We also discovered that having seen almost 200 Indian films gives you some credit that lets the conversations be very genuine and interesting. Which was also wonderful!

The happy couple is off to a good start and we came home with some very interesting stories!

Lesser Spotted Eagle

 

Lesser Spotted Eagle, Remo Savisaar

Off to Florida!

We're actually driving and not flying but I just love this old poster. My nephew is getting married next weekend and Tom and I are taking the opportunity for one of our favorite activities — a road trip!

Other than the October saint litany or feast day posts,  I'll be off the air until next week. See you then!

The Promenade

The Promenade by Richard Gower
via my daily art display

The thing that keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities

Life is always a novel. ... Our existence is still a story. ...

But in order that life should be a story or romance to us, it is necessary that a great part of it, at any rate, should be settled for us without our permission. If we wish life to be a system, this may be a nuisance; but if we wish it to be a drama, it is an essential.... The thing which keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities is the existence of these great plain limitations which force all of us to meet the things we do not like or do not expect. ... Of all these great limitations and frameworks which fashion and create the poetry and variety of life, the family is the most definite and important.

G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

Eye opening. And heart breaking. A must-listen.

 The Sinister Plot of the Trangender Movement

Today’s children face many new adversities that past generations could never have imagined. Filmmaker, Don Johnson sits down to discuss his new film Dysconnected, and the truth behind this radical movement that is being pushed on our children.

We've seen a number of letters in the Wall Street Journal lately from women who are so happy that they weren't born recently enough to have their strong tom-boy tendencies seen as being a gender problem. That made me interested in listening to this piece which I highly recommend.

 You can read the transcript at Catholic Answers Focus and find the link to the documentary there also.

The Girls

The Girls by Shen Ming Chun
via my daily art display

Climb down a chimney into any house at random, and get on as well as possible with the people inside.

Of course the family is a good institution because it is uncongenial. It is wholesome precisely because it contains so many divergencies and varieties. It is, as the sentimentalists say, like a little kingdom, and, like most other little kingdoms, is generally in a state of something resembling anarchy. ...

The best way that a man could test his readiness to encounter the common variety of mankind would be to climb down a chimney into any house at random, and get on as well as possible with the people inside. And that is essentially what each one of us did on the day he was born.

G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

We have to love our neighbor because he is there.

We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbor. ... That is why the old religions and the old scriptural language showed so sharp a wisdom when they spoke, not of one's duty towards humanity, but one's duty towards one's neighbor. The duty towards humanity may often take the form of some choice which is personal or even pleasurable. ... But we have to love our neighbor because he is there — a much more alarming reason for a much more serious operation. He is the sample of humanity which is actually given us.

G.K. Chesterton, Heretics,
On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family

I have seen the first line of quote interpreted, often by realtors, as meaning that our neighbors are a precious gift. And they are, but not in the sweetly sentimental way that the realtors put forward. We may, in fact, like our neighbors. But often our neighbors are a source of great trial. They are given to us by God in order to try us, to test us, to teach us.

What is equally sobering is we are given to them, as their neighbors, for the very same reason.

A bowl of oranges and one lemon

Still life by Oscar Ghiglia, early 1900s.
Via J.R.'s Art Place

 

Bear Bottles!

These are so adorable. I came across them at Gandalf's Gallery where there's always something that catches my fancy.

Pair of Bear Bottles [c.1740-50]

Bear Bottle [c. 1740-50]

A Movie You Might Have Missed #76 — All of Me (1984)

It's been 11 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.

A screwball comedy that should be better known.

Rich, eccentric Edwina Cutwater  (Lily Tomlin) plans to transport her soul into the body of a beautiful young woman. But it goes wrong. And Edwina's soul has accidentally taken over the entire right side of her lawyer, Roger Cobb (Steve Martin). He still controls what's left. Now, Edwina and Roger are living together in the same body. He's losing his job. He's losing his girlfriend. And he just can't seem to get her out of his system. No matter how hard he tries.

Movie Tagline

"All of Me" shares with a lot of great screwball comedies a very simple approach: Use absolute logic in dealing with the absurd. Begin with a nutty situation, establish the rules, and follow them. The laughs happen when ordinary human nature comes into conflict with ridiculous developments.

Roger Ebert

I'd forgotten just how funny this movie is. We saw this in theaters when it came out and I remembered the big plot points. However, I hadn't seen it for many years so that details of the physical comedy, timing, and the witty screenplay made me laugh out loud. In fact, we were all laughing out loud, which was a lovely way to begin the weekend.

This celebrates not only Steve Martin's acting but merges that with his gift for physical comedy in a way that really works. This really also benefits from the sharp comedic timing of Martin, Tomlin and director Carl Reiner.

The "life after death" theme and humor could put this into loosely into the same category as Ghostbusters if you want a light, non-scary Halloween movie. Though, of course, it is more about living than dying.

El Jaleo

El Jaleo, John Singer Sargent
Isabella Gardner Museum

 I found this because I was reading about an exhibition about Sargent and Spain. Isn't it great? It's about 12 feet wide. Imagine the impact that would have on a room.  Read more here.

Well Said: Quotations

I always have a quotation for everything -- it saves original thinking.

Dorothy Sayers

Obviously, she and I are cut from the same cloth when it comes to loving quotations.

Ad Limina: A Novella of Catholics in Space by Cyril Jones-Kellett

I loved this book. The bishop of Mars has to take his regular trip to Rome to check in with the pope. This is a normal thing in the Catholic Church and I liked seeing it applied to the future when we've got colonies in outer space.

As the bishop makes his way through the vagaries of travel to Earth, he sees the wondrous things people have built, he meets people living under different political systems that dominate each society, and we see his inner growth. When he got to Earth, he had no idea what to expect and neither did I. What happened and the result was a surprise.

This book was a solid science fiction book anchored in Catholic teachings. Somehow it did it without being heavy-handed or preachy — at least to my eyes. It had moments that showed the author's real love of science fiction. The bishop's epiphany when he walked on the surface brought tears to my eyes, his difficulties adjusting showed Cy Kellet's ability to realistically consider the differences between growing up in space versus on Earth, and the bishop's ability to truly appreciate the positive about different cultures' accomplishments was evidence of his open mindedness.

Highly recommended.

Roosting Cranes

Roosting Cranes, Remo Savisaar

Well Said: This One for China, Lord

It's a good reminder for me of just how much of my daily life can be offered for others in prayer.

When sister passed by she heard Sister Maier dedicating each onion to the cause. "This one for China, Lord. This one for India." This continued until the pan was empty and Inez had shed her last onion-tear for the missions.

Sr. Immolata Reida, Selfless

The World of Dreams

Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema - The World of Dreams
via Gandalf's Gallery

A Movie You Might Have Missed #75 — To Be or Not to Be (1942)

It's been 11 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.

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in efforts to track down a German spy.

Jack Benny and Carole Lombard shine in this satire directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch, a master of screwball comedy. It is a unique movie in the way it alternates comedy with really poignant moments — the poignancy would have been more so in 1942 when the Nazis were in Poland. Watching this made me especially appreciate Lombard's acting skill. It was her last film and released a month after she died.

This movie was highly controversial when it was released in 1942. That's hard to image watching it today but when the movie was released there'd been nothing but bad news from Europe, the U.S. hadn't entered the war yet, and nothing seemed to stop Hitler in his goal of world domination. This movie seemed in very bad taste.

But Ernst Lubitsch had an important message beneath the screwball humor — Nazis were not unbeatable superhumans, but simply deluded and incompetent human beings who chose to follow a ridiculous leader like Hitler. And they could be beaten — as a troupe of Polish actors shows us. And never more entertainingly so than in To Be or Not to Be.

It was remade by Mel Brooks in 1983. Don't waste your time on that version. The original is best.

Golden Herrings

Alain Rouschmeyer, Golden Herrings, via Gandalf's Gallery
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

What adds a whole new dimension is this description from the artist:

"When he discovered these golden fishes lined up on this newspaper, he did not imagine for a moment that they would be his school snack every time his grandmother came to babysit him. She made sure to convince her grandson of their nutritional and gustatory qualities. After a few hesitant bites, the young boy quickly agreed with her and the golden herrings became their ritual as soon as he had put his schoolbag on a chair and they were both at the kitchen table.”

Well Said: Never Despairing of Life

There is a way of living and thinking that I would name negative,another that I would name active. The first consists in seeing always what is defective in people and institutions, not so much to remedy them as to dominate them, in always looking back, and in always looking for whatever separates and disunites. The second consists in joyfully looking life and its responsibilities in the face, in looking for the good in everyone in order to develop and cultivate it, in never despairing of the future, the fruit of our will, and in understanding human faults and miseries, expressing that strong compassion which results in action and no longer allows us to live a useless life. ...

As we go along, let us spread ideas, words, and desires, without looking back to see who gathers them.

Elisabeth Leseur

This was written long before the advent of Facebook, but I feel that it and other such social media are too often used to foster the first way of living instead of the second. Such temptations are always around us, to take the path of disunity. We have to remain vigilant to cultivate the second way of living.

Kaw-u-tz, a Caddo woman

Kaw-u-tz, a Caddo woman, 1906
Photographer: George Bancroft Cornish.
Via Traces of Texas who found this at SMU'S Degolyer Library

 My goodness, she is drop dead gorgeous! And the beading on her necklace must have taken forever.

Lagniappe: Error Message Haiku

Collected over time from error messages.

Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

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

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

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

You step in the stream,
but the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

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

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

King Charles III, defender of persecuted Christians

 I wasn't aware of this but am glad to see that the new king has a long history of defending persecuted Christians — something which gets ignored a lot of the time. 

Here's a bit from The Pillar where you can read much more.

It’s hard to identify the precise moment that Charles publicly embraced the cause of suffering Christians. But he took a significant step in 2013, when the Islamist group ISIS was rampaging across Syria and Iraq.

The future king visited a Coptic Orthodox Church center and a Syrian Orthodox church that year in southeast England, before hosting a reception for Middle Eastern Christians at Clarence House, his London residence.

“The Prince has expressed concern about the current challenges facing Christians in some Middle Eastern nations and wanted to meet members of those communities resident in the UK to find out more,” his office explained at the time.

“The Prince of Wales wants to draw attention to the importance of harmony and understanding between peoples of all faiths.”

Charles met the Middle Eastern Christians with Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, a coordinator of the “A Common Word” initiative, in which Muslim leaders reached out to their Christian counterparts following Benedict XVI’s Regensburg address. Through contacts like the Jordanian prince, the heir to the throne kept abreast of the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.

From 2013 onward, Charles began to speak out frequently and insistently on behalf of persecuted Christians.

Against the Sky

Against the Sky by Frank W. Benson, 1910
Via J.R.'s Art Place

Both heartless and good natured

The great family characteristic of the Stanhopes might probably be said to be heartlessness, but this want of feeling was, in most of them, accompanied by so great an amount of good nature as to make itself but little noticeable to the world. They were so prone to oblige their neighbours that their neighbours failed to perceive how indifferent to them was the happiness and well-being of those around them. The Stanhopes would visit you in your sickness (provided it were not contagious), would bring you oranges, French novels, and the last new bit of scandal, and then hear of your death or your recovery with an equally indifferent composure.

Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers

I read this paragraph three times when I first encountered it. It was so funny and I couldn't imagine how it could be possible to have two such traits. Then I saw how Trollope fleshed it out in the story and my question was answered.

The 2023 Schedule for a Good Story is Hard to Find

 I know there's some cross-pollination between this blog and the podcast so I thought I'd share the schedule here too.

 We couldn't wait to pick the books and movies for next year. So here they are with some of the things you'd expect — science fiction, Indian movies, and Flannery O'Connor. You know, the usual around here. But we haven't forgotten the classics and some lighter things either.

• January 10 — Guest selection - TBD
• January 24 — St. Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton
• February 7 – RRR
• February 21 — The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
• March 7 — Mary and Max
• March 21 — FlanneryCast 2023 — stories TBD
• April 4 — Captain Phillips
• April 18 — A Song for Nagasaki by Paul Glynn
• May 2 — Jodhaa Akbar
• May 16 — West of Eden by Harry Harrison
• May 30 — Moon
• June 13 — Persuasion by Jane Austen
• June 27 — Maheshinte Prathikaaram (Mahesh's Revenge)
• July 11 — The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
• July 25 — Raiders of the Lost Ark
• August 8 — Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
• August 22 — Amélie
• September 5 — Bearing False Witness by Rodney Stark
• September 19 — Macbeth (version TBD)
• October 3 — The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• October 17 — Memento
• October 31 — (TBD) by Dean Koontz
• November 14 — Gran Torino
• November 28 — The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
• December 12 — Return to Me

A Movie You Might Have Missed #74 — Gaslight

It's been 11 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.

After the murder of her aunt, Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman) leaves London for Italy to start a new life. While there, she falls in love with the charming Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). They marry and return to London where Paula begins to notice strange goings-on: missing pictures, strange footsteps in the night, and gaslights that dim without being touched. As she fights to retain her sanity, her new husband's intentions come into question.

IMDB

A classic for a reason. If you only know the term "gaslight" but not where it came from, then you need to watch this movie. If, like me, you haven't seen it for a very long time, then you are overdue for a rewatch.

All the actors are simply wonderful at conveying mood and mindset through much more than words. The director's masterful use of light and shadow makes the most of the black and white format. Note the sequences outside the bedroom doors where the shadows of the railings fall across the people, looking like jail cell bars. And the clothes - by Irene - are glorious.

My favorite character was Miss Thwaites, the nosy old lady who lived across the square and was dying to get into the house where a murder had happened. She added much needed comic relief and we all adored her.