Scott switches to Dapper Dan and Julie sings into a tin can.

O Brother, Where Art Thou is the topic at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

GeekLady, c'mon down. You won The Right to Be Wrong book giveaway!

Congratulations for winning our book giveaway! I'll be emailing you to get your contact info to give to the publisher of The Right to Be Wrong.

UPDATE
I can't email you because you are very private lady (which I salute). However, WordPress won't let me into your comments boxes (for reasons which I won't go into here except, really, WordPress? Really?).

Anyway, email me at: julie [at] glyphnet [dot] com

Robot & Frank: "like Philip K. Dick without the amphetamine-induced paranoia"

Now that's interesting.

The trailer shows so much of the movie that I had no fear of spoilers in reading this Tor.com review.

The movie sounds charming and the review completely wins me over by saying that instead of being sappy "The end result feels more like Philip K. Dick without the amphetamine-induced paranoia. If such a thing is conceivable."

That either completely mystifies you or makes you interested. You know which I am.

Social Justice and Ryan the Heretic

You know, I love it when I wake up and can read about relevant Catholic stuff in my paper's editorial section. I like that someone's staying on top of that stuff.

Oh, sorry Dallas Morning News, did you think I meant you? We all know I was talking about the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, about William McGurn's piece this morning.

"I'm not endorsing Paul Ryan," [Paul Ryan's] bishop told me later by phone. "People are free to disagree with him, and disagree vehemently. But it's wrong to suggest that his views somehow make him a bad Catholic."

Unfortunately, suggesting that Mr. Ryan is a bad Catholic is the entire case. Stuck with the fact of Mr. Biden, who has long since made his peace with the party's absolutism on abortion, progressive Catholics know that it would be laughable to try to present Mr. Biden as faithful to church teaching. They know too that clarity about church teaching does not work to their advantage. The only way to take on Mr. Ryan is to tear him down.

Think about that. In another age, Catholic progressives would have laughed at the suggestion that people were corrupted by reading certain works; now they believe Paul Ryan's soul is in peril for his having read Ayn Rand. Before, they would not have feared science; now they insist that a program such as food stamps ought to continue ad infinitum without consideration of its effects. And while they believe that the pope and bishops have nothing of value to offer about the sanctity of marriage or the duty of protecting unborn life, when it comes to federal spending, suddenly a miter means infallibility.

Do go read it all.

Review: Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz

Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The basic setup:

Once presided over by a flamboyant Hollywood mogul during the Roaring ’20s, the magnificent West Coast property known as Roseland is now home to a reclusive billionaire financier and his faithful servants. And, at least for the moment, it’s also a port in the storm for Odd Thomas and his traveling companion, the inscrutably charming Annamaria, the Lady of the Bell. In the wake of Odd’s most recent clash with lethal adversaries, the opulent manor’s comforts should be welcome. But there’s far more to Roseland than meets even the extraordinary eye of Odd, who soon suspects it may be more hell than haven.

I love the Odd Thomas books overall. However, what this book showed me above all is that I love the first trilogy of the Odd Thomas books. (Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd). Each of those were written as complete stories showing sweet, gentle but capable Odd Thomas fighting evil supernatural for the good of the innocent who were threatened. They have beginnings, middles, and ends ... or at least resolutions of an evil situation with Odd sometimes on the road to find somewhere that a simple fry cook can earn a living.

The second trilogy, as I've come to think of them since seeing another book, Deeply Odd, is on the way, are told in a completely different fashion which I find ultimately unsatisfying. Beginning in Odd Hours Koontz just drops us in the middle of the action, a la a thriller where we learn the back story later after having begun with a pulse pounding chase. I actually could forgive that if there ever seemed to be resolution to the story. There is a resolution to Odd's current predicament, however, nebulous hints about the "big meaning of things" are all we get, despite all the action. Ho hum ... and they drive off into the sunset ...

Odd Apocalypse picks up about a week after Odd Hours ended, we are finally told after a thoroughly confusing intro where we've been dropped into a series of very odd events (ha!). Poor Odd is put through a series of gyrations and problem solving tasks because no one can give him a single straight answer. Now, I expect this from the bad guys. But for Annamaria, his mysterious companion picked up in Odd Hours, to do the same is just annoying. She may have a mystical hold on everyone she encounters, but I am mysteriously untouched by it. Odd Thomas tells us this is a haunted house book but for my money it gets a toehold in the Lovecraftian universe before settling down solidly into H.G. Wells country. I won't say which book so as to avoid spoilers but it becomes very obvious toward the end.

Koontz seems to have just thrown everything but the kitchen sink into this book without remembering to give us what was so satisfying about the first three books. An actual story.

I will read the next one simply to see if this ongoing murk ever clears up, but at this point feel it will be more from a sense of duty than anything else. And to give Koontz a chance to pull it all together in a way that makes me like all three of the second trilogy in a "really one book" sort of way.

Weekend Joke: How to Be a Cat

From Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine.

The Book J.R.R. Tolkein Read to His Children: Snergs

Pssst! All fans of The Hobbit! And lovers of fantasy, in general...

My latest offering for "Project Kaitlyn" (stories for my niece) is an unabridged reading of The Marvellous Land of Snergs (1927) by E.A. Wyke-Smith, which J.R.R. Tolkien read to his children and acknowledged as a sourcebook for his The Hobbit. This is a most clever and delightful story. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Take Tolkien’s: “I should like to register my own love and my children’s love of E.A. Wyke-Smith’s Marvellous Land of Snergs...”

What's even better is that you don't have to take anyone's word for it.

Amy H. Sturgis, writer of the words above, read this book not only for her niece, but is generously sharing the files with all of us. She is a superb narrator as anyone who regularly listens to StarShipSofa knows. Just click through and download.

If you want to know more about the book itself, Amy's review on Goodreads is here. I have only listened to the first half-hour and already can see the great appeal of this clever, whimsical book which combines just the right amount of reality and sweetness, while never underestimating the intelligence of the reader.

A lot to say based on one half-hour? Yes. But all true. Download for yourself and give it a try. After all, J.R.R. Tolkein can't be wrong.

4 Things Science Fiction Needs to Bring Back

Beginning with optimism.

A great list from Cracked.com. Keep in mind that this is Cracked and they will use offensive language.

Still, it is a great list and perhaps the reason why I still enjoy listening to old science fiction from LibriVox. It's usually got those four things.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease: Myths About Atheism and Christianity

Third, the international polling outfit WIN-Gallup International has released a new global survey that shows atheism is on the rise, but 59 percent of the world's population still describes itself as "religious."

Taken together, the results seem to debunk two persistent myths about global religion:

• Atheism is mostly a Western phenomenon. Instead, Asia is by far the world's most atheistic continent, with China alone home to two-thirds of the roughly 900 million atheists on the planet.
• Christianity is in decline relative to other world religions, especially Islam. Instead, nine of the world's 10 most religious nations are majority Christian, and people who self-identify as Christian are more likely to describe themselves as "religious" than Muslims (81 percent to 74 percent).

A few of John Allen's cogent observations about myth and reality as exposed in the latest poll results released about international religion.

Western atheists are the loudest and Islamic terrorists are the loudest. And we let them define truth for us oftentimes.

In which we meet the unique detective team of Doan and Carstairs.

Holocaust House by Norbert Davis, part one at Forgotten Classics podcast.

Don't blame the Church for wicked Christians

This is from Day 201 in A Year with the Church Fathers by Mike Aquilina. Tom and I joke that at the rate we are working our way through this it will be more like 4 years with the Church Fathers. However, we continue reading them to each other at work during lunch whenever we get a chance.

St. Augustine has timely advice which also serves to remind us that human nature doesn't change.

Don't bring up against me those people who claim the name of Christian but neither know nor show any evidence of the power of their profession. Don't hunt down the numerous ignorant people who, even in the true religion, are superstitious, or so given up to evil passions that they forget what they've promised to God. I know that there are many who get really drunk over the dead, and who bury themselves over the buried in their funeral feasts, and indulge their gluttony and drunkenness in the name of religion. I know that there are many who claim to have renounced this world, and yet desire to be burdened with all the weight of worldly things, and rejoice in those burdens.

My advice to you is this: that you should at least stop slandering the Catholic Church by protesting against the conduct of those whom the Church herself condemns, trying to correct them every day like wicked children. Then, if any of them are corrected through good will and by the help of God, they regain by repenting what they had lost by sin. On the other hand, those who persist in their old vices with wicked will are indeed allowed to remain in the field of the Lord,and to grow along with the good seed, but the time for separating the weeds will come.

St. Augustine, Morals of the Catholic Church, 34

Book Giveaway! "The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America"

... Ask either faction whether it believes religious liberty is a human right and you’ll get a passionate, tub-thumping — mostly hypocritical — speech in favor of the idea. That’s because religious freedom is so familiar, so American a concept that nobody can really admit to opposing it. That would be like opposing apple pie. So even those who are at each other’s throats over religious liberty have to insist they all absolutely love the stuff. Instead of confessing that they’re actually opposed to religious freedom for all, the Pilgrims and the Park Rangers among us equivocate. When they say they support “religious freedom,” the Pilgrims mean the freedom of their religion, while the Park Rangers mean freedom from others’ religions. That way, they can all sound so very American — they can say they’re in favor of something called religious freedom — and still be as oppressive as they want to be.

I'm a huge fan of The Right to Be Wrong by Kevin Seamus Hasson, which has just had an updated paperback version released.

I believe if we respected each person's right to conscience, their "right to be wrong," our country would be a much more peaceful place. My ability to articulate this belief was both solidified and made easier to articulate when I read Hasson's book. It's a book we all need to read in these contentious times.

Hasson is a constitutional lawyer who heads up a non-partisan, public-interest law firm that specializes in defending free religious expression for all faiths. Hasson asserts, “We defend all faiths but we are not relativists. On any given day, I think most of my clients are wrong. But I firmly believe that, in an important sense, they have the right to be wrong.” This is not a very long book and it is written in a conversational and easy style, but it packs a heavy punch.

The updated book adds a chapter and afterward that discuss the latest set of religious struggles, which have been elevated past the tussles over Nativity scenes on government property to include federal healthcare insurance.

Read my original, indepth review here.

To enter for a chance to win a copy, leave a comment for this post!

Roger Ebert's Review of a documentary Rose edited

Curators of Dixon School (a documentary Rose edited when she was in college) premiered at the Black Harvest Film Festival and Roger Ebert gave it a great review.

(And no comments about pacing, so that's a win for the editing side!)

Thought you guys would want to read it!

Review: Holiness for Everyone by Eric Sammons

Friendship has a powerful impact on people's behavior. Parents often worry that their children will succumb to "peer pressure," implicitly acknowledging the power that friends can have on someone's life. Children aren't the only ones influenced in this way -- adults, too, allow their personalities and choices to be shaped by the company they keep. Communal-ness is part of human nature. We want to be accepted by others. We don't want to seem odd. Natural as this is, it, too, often leads people away from the Faith and into the culture of death in which we live. But friendship's power can work both ways: The Christian who remains faithful to his beliefs and stands up for Christ in this life can have a great influence over those closest to him, even without saying a word.

Very true. For example, I often ask myself "What would Mike Aquilina do?" Never have I been around a nicer guy who consistently sets me on the path of right behavior ... never through a word of criticism but always through his own behavior and words.

I am not a member of Opus Dei, the spiritual movement founded by St. Josemaria Escriva.. Never been much of a joiner really. However, I am well versed in the fundamental way that St. Josemaria Escriva thinks about holiness and every day life thanks to the In Conversation with God series, which I have used for over a decade. Written by a priest from Navarre University, which Escriva helped found, it reflects a lot of Escriva's spirituality which I like. The beauty of the ordinary, the everyday, offered to God is a very practical way to live, as Holiness for Everyone's subtitle reminds us.

Sammons gives a quick look at St. Josemaria Escriva's life and works. He then sets the foundations of what it means to have God as our father and what true love, freedom and holiness really mean. Finally, he comes to how to live a saintly life in our everyday, ordinary lives. Whether at work, at home, with family, with friends, or just driving to the store, the methods to becoming holy are all around us.

Mortifications are all those activities which help us to control our sinful impulses and desires. They can be as simple as denying ourselves a second helping at dinner, allowing others to speak first in conversations, or choosing the longer line at the checkout counter.

This is all interwoven with another theme dear to my heart, that we are all meant to be saints. Becoming a saint sounds like a lofty and unattainable goal because we have only seen the saints after they achieved their goals. Through stories, examples from his own life, and many other sources, Sammons gives us the tools to understand how we too can be saints-in-training right here on earth.

For example, I was struggling with grudgingly doing something I knew God wanted of me. (This is a continual struggle on this particular topic, by the way ... something of a thorn in my side which I must continually strive to overcome.)

A son or daughter of a king is uniquely privileged -- but bears a demanding load of responsibility as a result of his or her lineage. Just so, as children of God, we are called to act in accord with our nobility. Humble submission to the will of our Father will mark us as true children.

It was a real help in my struggle to suddenly see myself as a grown, royal princess, standing to the side of her father the king, awaiting his bidding. This is an image I call up time and again. It helps.

Even if you have no interest whatsoever in St. Josemaria Escriva, you will find something of value in this book. Few of us can pursue holiness aside from the demands of work, family, and friends. Holiness for Everyone gives help and the proper perspective to journey to heaven, together. Highly recommended.

Weekend Joke: Michael Phelps

Cartoon by xkcd

Review: The Odd Life of Timothy Green

On the night they receive the news that they will never be able to conceive a baby, Cindy and Jim Green hold a unique mourning ceremony. They write down all their hopes for what their child would have been like and bury them in a box in their garden. They're surprised when a 10-year-old boy named Timothy shows up in their house, covered with dirt, calling them "Mom" and "Dad," and with leaves growing out of his legs.

This gentle fairy tale looks at parent-child relationships the same the way that The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday did, but using the problems today's children have with their parents. Cindy and Jim are eager to do everything right, be perfect parents, and spare Timothy any of the anguish that they recall from their youth. In no time at all, they are hovering over Timothy's every move. "He can have secrets," Cindy tells Jim. "As long as he tells them to us."

Their own issues with family members come to light as they react to Timothy's experiences. Also, since Timothy's leaves make him "special" they are determined that he will not be made fun of which just increases the hovering.

Writer/director Peter Hedges wrote What's Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy, both wryly quirky movies that I enjoyed for their ability to provide insight and humor when viewing the world from an unusual angle. This movie is no different, although it has been necessarily Disney-fied.

Timothy's unusual origin and the difference his presence makes is a nicely original concept and a humorous way at looking at the helicopter parent generation. We enjoyed it and so did the audience we were with which had a nice sprinkling of children throughout. They laughed a lot throughout and gave the movie a round of applause at the end. This is just the sort of movie our girls would have liked when they were young and I am definitely going to recommend it to the parents and grandparents I know who are looking for a good summer movie.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green opens August 15.

It's the end of the world. Who do you choose? The Dark Man or Mother Abigail?

Scott and I discuss that classic tale of good versus evil, The Stand by Stephen King, at A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Gregg Allman: "After all I’ve been through, I can’t help but feel I’ve been redeemed, over and over."

Mockingbird just finished reading Gregg Allman's memoir and shares some of his story about finding God. Which includes this interesting tidbit.

At one point I was going to convert to Catholicism, but they had so many rules. I have to say that the Catholic Church is very much about who has the nicest suit, the valet parking–too much about the money. I don’t think you have to dress up or show God a bunch of gold for him to forgive you your sins, love you, and guide you. Then I went to an Episcopal church in Daytona, and it just felt right. The Episcopal Church isn’t about gimme, gimme, gimme. The Episcopalians are like enlightened Catholics. They have the faith, but they’re a little more open-minded.

I was thinking, "What Catholic church did this guy visit? " Doubtless there are Catholic churches like that but even ours, which has leanings toward Gregorian chant and kneeling at the altar rail, also sees its fair share of families in shorts, blue collar workers and the dispossessed even at the most formal masses.

Strange Herring (where I came across the story) says it better, as always:

So look, if he found some kind of spiritual peace at an Episcopal church, God bless. But I do wonder what Catholic church he wandered into. Not that I have a dog in this fight. And I’ve known some Catholic parishes — in Manhattan and even in London — where you’d think every Sunday was the wedding of Count Romeo to Lady Juliet. But I’ve also been in Catholic churches where it may as well have been the parish of Our Lady of the Alien Homeless. It’s sorta funny that an Episcopalian church is seen as the “everyman’s” church. If ever there was a status-conscious denomination, good gravy. Once upon a time, the church use to rent pews to families, and the more you gave, the closer you were allowed to be to the action (and the farther from hoi polloi).

I base my knowledge of Episcopalians strictly on my grandmother and the few times I accompanied her to church. So, that may not be strictly accurate, but Strange Herring's take is similar.

Well, wherever he wound up, I'm glad he wound up somewhere.

In which Oleron investigates the unnatural happenings.

The finale of The Beckoning Fair One at Forgotten Classics.

The Prime Directive ...

Savage Chickens does it again. Doug Savage says, "The last time I watched ST:TNG, I was surprised how many episodes were about romance with aliens." Me either but it is undeniable.

This one is for Hannah and all her friends who are watching various Star Trek series for the first time.