Anna Karenina - the movie

This adaptation is actually pretty close to the book which I have read (I'll wait for your impressed gasps to subside), but like all the best adaptations, this uses its new medium to transform it to complement the themes of the book and make it more accessible to modern audiences. Wright uses a stage with moving set pieces and painted backdrops to convey the attitudes and strictly enforced rules of behavior of the Russian aristocracy. Everything they do is watched and judged by their peers because if they disrupt the carefully choreographed steps, it affects them all. This device, which minimizes the amount of exposition necessary in the beginning, reaches a beautiful, intense climax in the dance between Anna and Vronsky which marks the beginning of their relationship. While there are still many of his trademarks as a director, Wright really takes a creative step forward with this film.

A movie that might motivate me to finally read the book ... and a review from Double Exposure that motivates me to watch the movie in the first place, not being a fan of period drama.

I Miss the Cold War: The Hunt for Red October

My rating: ★★★★★

Captain Ramius: I miss the peace of fishing like when I was a boy. Forty years I've been at sea. A war at sea. A war with no battles, no monuments... only casualties. I widowed her the day I married her. My wife died while I was at sea, you know.

A Soviet nuclear sub captained by Sean Connery as Captain Ramius is out for a seemingly routine test run when it suddenly "disappears." The Americans scramble to get defenses in place but CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) believes the Russian commander may have something other than a first strike in mind. A perilous cat-and-mouse game ensues.

This terrific movie hasn't lost anything over the years, except in the area of computer graphics (the high-tech American sub maps look like an old video game). But the acting is great, the tension genuine, and Jack Ryan's character growth real. Also I forgot how good looking Alec Baldwin was when he was young. Wow.

In fact, this is a movie I've seen a million times but I still saw two new things, which probably just shows that I never watched it closely enough. I now understand that the scene with the American plane crashing was included for more than local color and I noticed the Russian doctor murmuring something to a certain someone late in the movie which explained how someone was placed where they were.

More than anything it reminded me of how easy the Cold War was in some ways. You knew who the enemy was, that they were the bad guys and that we were the good guys. I was reminded of that this morning upon reading the latest political correctness/blindness coming from the Powers That Be. No U.S. Army officials were going around trying to blame our guys for not being sensitive enough to Russian culture and provoking attacks. (For more sensible and forceful commentary on this idiotic attitude, watch Skyfall.)

What did Rose ask for when she comes home for Christmas?

You can find out at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

From the Priest Who Was There: Alfred Hitchcock Died Catholic

Some people find these late-in-life turns to religion suspect, a sign of weakness or of one's "losing it." But nothing focuses the mind as much as death. There is a long tradition going back to ancient times of memento mori, remember death. Why? I suspect that in facing death one may at last see soberly, whether clearly or not, truths missed for years, what is finally worth one's attention.

Weighing one's life with its share of wounds suffered and inflicted in such a perspective, and seeking reconciliation with an experienced and forgiving God, strikes me as profoundly human. Hitchcock's extraordinary reaction to receiving communion was the face of real humanity and religion, far away from headlines . . . or today's filmmakers and biographers.

What a pleasure it was to read this story in the Wall Street Journal's Friday religion op ed this morning. It was more like reading a blog post than an article. Do go read it for yourself.

Free Advent Audiobook: God is in the Manger by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christian Audio has a dilly of a deal for their free audiobook this month:

God Is in the Manger is the Advent devotional written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the 20th century's most admired and beloved Christians. This devotional includes daily selections for the four weeks of Advent and twelve daily selections for Christmas and Epiphany. In each devotional, Bonheoffer expresses his beliefs that Christ's strength is portrayed the best during times of trial and weakness and God is often heard most clearly by those in distress.

Many of the writings compiled in this book were written while Bonhoeffer sat in prison for two years after being arrested by Nazi authorities for his involvement in anti-Nazi activities. In his writing, he emphasizes the discipline of waiting, which is a common theme of Advent. After experiencing many different instances of helplessness, Bonhoeffer explains his time of struggle and waiting to the Christian who waits for the redemption of Christ.

With thanks to Westminister John Knox Press, we are pleased to offer God Is in the Manger as our December Free Audiobook of the Month!

Life of Pi Discussion

Hey everyone ... if you saw Life of Pi, you may want to check out the comments on my review.

They suddenly came to life with such thoughtful discussion of many of the religious elements. I'm lovin' it!

Just hold the presses another hour ... or two ...

Scott and I discuss The Paper at A Good Story is Hard to Find. Directed by Ron Howard, this is an underappreciated gem with an all-star cast including Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, and many more.

Letterboxd

I've often wished for a film equivalent of Goodreads.  For those unfamiliar with Goodreads it is a social network for sharing books and reviews. I'm fairly addicted to it and for the first time could understand those who were addicted to Facebook. There is something about checking out the stream of conversation and reviews of books that I crave.

Is Letterboxd what I've been looking for? I sure hope so.

Letterboxd is a social network for sharing movies. You can use it as a diary to record comments about films as you watch them, to check out what friends are watching, etc.

I just got an invitation a few days ago and I think it might be in the early stages since I don't have many friends in there yet. But the six of us are getting started.

Take a look around and see what you think. Here's my home base.

Conversing with God in Advent: Praying the Sunday Readings with Lectio Divina

Conversing with God in Advent: Praying the Sunday Readings with Lectio Divina by Stephen J. Binz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Bible ends with the words of Christ, "Yes, I am coming soon," and with the ancient prayer of the Church, "Come, Lord Jesus!" (revelation 22:20). The word "Advent" is derived from the word adventus, which means "coming." In Advent we're reminded of how much we need a savior, and we look forward to our Savior's coming in majesty even as we prepare to remember his coming in humility at Bethlehem.

Stephen Binz is a passionate advocate of Lectio Divina, the ancient practice of studying and praying using Scripture. The point of lectio divina is to personally encounter God and that is something I can relate to very well since I can't count the number of times I have had "aha!" moments of connection when I'm reading. Now, lectio divina isn't precisely that sort of thing, so it is something that I work at. I want to read too fast, I don't want to stop and reflect, and so forth.

This is where Stephen Binz's books are so valuable. He has a love for this practice which shows in the way they are written. First he takes readers deep into the meaning of Advent with our ancestors in Israel longing for Messiah and early Christians longing for Christ's return, with our own expectant hope of Christ's coming which lends itself to valuing the present, with lighting candles against the darkness, and with the cycles of scripture which give us the great prophets messages of Messiah.

Next, with the Advent background in mind, Binz walks readers through the simple steps of lectio divina: lectio (reading), meditatio (reflection), oratio (praying), contemplatio (resting in God), and operatio (witness in daily life). There is much more to it than this simple list, obviously, and Binz does a wonderful job of taking you through each step.

The treasure for Advent and Christmas, however, are in the specific material Binz has prepared for each Sunday of those seasons. The Lectio does not simply contain the readings for that Sunday but also provides some background material to help readers understand both historical and personal context. Meditatio has some prompting questions to aid reflection on scripture until "they become a mirror in which we see our own reflection." And so forth.

I am especially appreciative that this book has the complete A, B, and C cycle readings thus illuminated. This book becomes a tool that can be used every year. I am really looking forward to going through Advent and Christmas with this book. Highly recommended.

How "the Pope Canceled Christmas" and Other Bad Media Reporting

You know media coverage on the Pope’s new book has spiraled out of control in misreporting when Reuters issues a corrective piece lambasting the bad reporting. The Reuters piece is actually quite good.

Jeff Miller, The Curt Jester, pointed the Reuters piece out. It is great to read the official media actually taking the time to do a corrective piece. As Jeff says, it is a good story.

Jeff actually commented on the bad media reporting in his review of Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives. I recommend his review to anyone interested in the book. It sounds really wonderful and like a good Advent book.

Seven Glorious Days: A Scientist Retells the Genesis Creation Story

The watery planet that would bear the label "Earth" some five billion years later was nothing short of a creative miracle. The ten billion years that it took the universe to produce a habitable planet is about the shortest possible time for that gargantuan task. Skeptics who say humans must be irrelevant because they did not exist for most of the history of the universe don't know what they are talking about. It takes a few billion years to make the first stars and about five billion years for a newly minted first-generation star to fuse itself into a supernova. It then takes a few billion years for the cloud from that supernova to reassemble itself into a second-generation star like our sun, surrounded by rocky planets rich in organic molecules, and, in rare cases, water.

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The most awe-inspiring aspect of this long, strange trip is the constant presence of mathematical laws, guiding and controlling every aspect. When we examine the world at the "top level," so to speak, the mathematics is invisible. ... On the surface, nature is, to be sure, noisy in the sense of being cluttered, busy, and seemingly without patterns. Even beautiful scenery--picture a mountain lake with snowcapped mountains in the background--rarely seems "organized." But as we apply our scientific knowledge to the cluttered world we experience and drill down to the bedrock of our understanding--eliminate the noise--we find something quite wondrous. At the end of the great hallway that takes us from the social sciences to the natural sciences, through biology and chemistry and ultimately to physics, we find ourselves at last in the presence of a most beautiful and unexplained symphony of mathematics. Across the dark abyss, this mathematics comes clearly into view, out of nowhere, explaining the world around us while remaining unexplained itself. It is part of the Logos of creation.

I have a general interest in science but have only a layman's grasp of what happened between the Big Bang and now. As a Catholic convert coming from a completely secular mindset, I especially appreciate the hope and optimism that come from seeing science not simply as coldly rational facts, but in the context of a bigger plan.

Author Karl Giberson comes from an almost completely opposite background than mine. Raised to believe in the literal truth of the Bible, he was a young-earth creationist. College science classes convinced Giberson that Genesis was a story recounting faith rather than science. However, science was often reduced to coldly rational explanations that were not engaging people about their place in the scheme of things, which he found unsatisfactory as well.

Seven Glorious Days bridges the gap between science and faith so that Giberson and I find ourselves meeting in the middle, amazed at the mechanics of creation and awed at the sense of purpose that can be traced. Giberson communicates this by giving an overview of what scientists have discovered about creation, from the Big Bang to human evolution.

As I read about what has been discovered about the underlying structure following the creation of the universe, and how it led to our planet's eventual creation followed by the generation of life, I felt a sense of exhilaration and excitement. There is beauty accompanying the logic of the laws of physics. By the time Giberson reached the "symphony of mathematics" mentioned above, I was thrilled. Not only did I have a grasp, albeit simple, of the science, but I had a sense of why many scientists themselves believe there is more than cold, hard facts to the universe.

Reading Giberson's commentary about how life flourished just about as fast as conditions would permit, I was suddenly struck by the odd notion that perhaps we are not finding life in other star systems because we are the first. This never occurred to me before and, as a devoted science fiction fan, it turned my world upside down. Could it be that we are the much vaunted "Old Ones" which many science fiction novels show their protagonists tracking down? A humbling notion and also a fascinating one, showing that we do not really know where our place is in the universe.

At this point in the book, I was catching up on my daily Catechism reading and came across a passage that dovetailed precisely with Seven Glorious Days.

310 But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil cold exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better. But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" toward its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the eixtenceof the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection.

That sense of "a state of journeying" perfectly expressed the sense I received from Seven Glorious Days. The next paragraph brings that "journeying" home to our own lives.

311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it....

As much sense as this made to my Catholic sensibilities, I was quite surprised to see that it was a foretaste of the remainder of Seven Glorious Days. Speaking of evolution and man's unique characteristics, Giberson fills in the scientific gaps which lead to the above mentioned journey we humans take. I do not want to spoil it for anyone so I won't explain further. Indeed, I see that I have taken up quite a few pixels in my enthusiasm so far. Suffice it to say that Giberson's overview uses scientific facts to show where the whole glorious ride of creation has been headed since the beginning.

I have been remiss in not yet mentioning Giberson's framework, in which he rephrases God's seven days (or epochs) of creation in ways which encompass science. Here is a sample.

Day 2

Then God said, "Let matter emerge, with precisely defined properties that will empower the development of everything else in the universe, laying a secure foundation for changes that will eventually lead to living creatures, following the patterns laid down by the Logos.

And there was evening and morning, beginning and ending, of the second epoch of creation.

And God saw that it was Good.

As you can tell by now, I find Seven Glorious Days to be very good, very inspiring, and a "must read" for anyone who ever struggles to explain to nonbelievers that science and faith are not nonexclusive. Highly recommended.

Praying Through Advent: O Radiant Dawn by Lisa Hendey

O Radiant Dawn: 5-Minute Prayers Around the Advent Wreath by Lisa M. Hendey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very handy book that I recommend to anyone who wants to get in the habit of regular reflection during Advent. Lisa Hendey has written a series of 5-minute prayers designed for daily use by individuals or families, even those with young children.

The family gathers round the Advent wreath, lighting the candle, a song is sung, and a scripture reading is provided to be read aloud for prayer and contemplation. There are reflection and conversation prompts, both for adults and for children. A closing prayer provides more food for thought as it sums up the daily readings.

It is a simple enough formula but Hendey has put it together with obvious care. It is nice to have something structured yet brief enough to include in busy daily schedules. This will also be a good opportunity to reflect upon the O Antiphons, which are included as part of the prayer reflections during the appropriate days immediately before Christmas.

This is a good book that I could see becoming a family tradition from year to year. I'm looking forward to using it myself beginning Sunday when Advent is finally here.

There is a bulk discount offer until December 15, 2012. You can order O Radiant Dawn for only $1 when you order 10 copies or more using the promo code catholicmom12 when placing an order at Ave Maria Press.

Skyfall

Q: Age is no guarantee of efficiency.

Bond: And youth is no guarantee of innovation.

Q: Well, I'll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.

Bond: Oh, so why do you need me?

Q: Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled.

Bond: Or not pulled. It's hard to know which in your pajamas.

We got a chance to see the new James Bond movie this weekend. Others have given more complete review, and I can recommend Roger Ebert's (though I skipped his paragraph on the opening action sequence and would advise you to do the same unless you enjoy spoilers).

As he said, "This is a brand-new Bond with love and respect for the old Bond. "

Exactly.

Skyfall is a brilliant, exhilarating combination of new and old which remakes the franchise while somehow coming full circle and putting Bond back where he began. All this while still moving definitely forward in time.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way Bond and M had to battle suggestions of both people and institutions being "too old" and "outdated." M's speech quoting Tennyson is nothing short of genius and it captures exactly the uncertainties of our age where we aren't sure who is a villain and who isn't. Also, as Rose mentioned in our conversation this weekend, if we were British there were times when we'd have been applauding. The movie is unashamedly positive about the necessity of defending and loving Britain, even if one doesn't go on and on about it. (So British, that.)

This is a Bond movie you must see, if you have even the slightest interest in the franchise. And, possibly, even if you don't.

Blogging Around: The "Leftovers Are Good" Edition

Some of these are things I've been meaning to mention, a few are new (after all the best way to eat leftovers is with a little something to make it all seem new, right?).

Joseph Susanka is Blogging
I'm pretty excited since I like his movie commentary.

Sceptre E-Books 
This is great news for anyone who loves the In Conversation with God devotional series the way that I do. You can find the e-books in the usual places.

Catholic Bookstores
Don't forget that your local (or online) Catholic bookstore are often run by local families. They are a great place to do your Christmas shopping.

For example, check out Aquinas and More's Cyber-Monday specials.

Sudden Monday - A Place for Flash Fiction
Ryan Charles Trusell, who many of us know from his Ora et Labora et Zombies project, has flash fiction on the brain.

Sudden Monday is a brand new weekly link-up, hosted by Labora Editions and devoted to sudden fiction, also known as flash fiction, or the short-short story (in this case, fewer than 500 words.) In the future, I will post a new short-short story every Monday with a link-up at the bottom for others to do likewise.

Sudden Monday submission guidelines are here.

Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives by Pope Benedict XVI

Another thing that really struck me was when he was writing about passages in the Old Testament that seemed to have no context and meaning until the truth was revealed in the New Testament. I just love the term he used ”Word in waiting.” He wrote about how Mary’s yes really was the dividing line between the Old and New Testament. This seems to me to be kind of an ironic reversal. The Old Testament was pregnant with the Word until Mary’s Fiat and the Word was conceived. This is a clumsy analogy on my part, but what the Pope had to say about the “Word in waiting” really made me see some of these passages in the Old Testament in a new light.

Jeff Miller's review both smacks the media for wrong reporting and then tells us what is wonderful about this book. I can't wait to read this!

The Crimes of Galahad by Dr. Boli 
This is the memoir of Galahad Newman Boustead, a young man who decides to live his live scientifically, according to evil principles. Dr. Boli is a favorite stop of mine on the internet and this book sounds hilarious. Turns out, as Will Duquette's review tells us, it is much more.

Although the book made me laugh, it’s by no means a farce; in retrospect, it’s a serious meditation on the relationship between virtue, goodness, and grace, on the limitations of purely human virtue, and on human nature and the natural law. I suspect I’m going to be pondering it for some while.

Judge Upholds Part of Law On Birth-Control Coverage

A federal judge Monday rejected Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.'s request to block part of the federal health-care overhaul that requires the arts-and-craft-supplies company to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after and week-after birth control pills.

U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton denied a request by Hobby Lobby to prevent the government from enforcing portions of the health-care law mandating insurance coverage for contraceptives the company's Christian owners consider objectionable.

The Oklahoma City-based company and a sister company, Mardel Inc., sued the government in September, claiming the mandate violates the owners' religious beliefs.

In his ruling, Judge Heaton said that while churches and other religious organizations have been granted constitutional protection from the birth-control provisions, "Hobby Lobby and Mardel are not religious organizations."

Associated Press story via The Wall Street Journal

I read this last week but the point about the dangers of a nanny government are clear. Only "religious organizations" are allowed to express their religious beliefs. And employees couldn't possibly decide whether or not they want to work for Hobby Lobby based on their insurance coverage. We knew this was coming but it's another step down that slippery slope. Thank you so much President Obama for taking care of us whether we want it or not, whether we need it or not. Kudos to Hobby Lobby's owners for standing up for their religious rights.

Weekend Joke

Many thanks to xkcd for allowing me to share this.

In which a young girl goes in search of fire from a horrible witch!

The Sea Hag at Forgotten Classics. Many thanks to Joseph for this folk tale. I love hearing the stories he chooses and his insightful comments.

Fog at Julie's house, fog at Scott's place.

Nonetheless they manage to grope their way through a conversation about Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

Get it now at A Good Story is Hard to Find where they also discuss the movies they saw last.

Life of Pi

The Writer: You're a Hindu Catholic?
Pi: We get to feel guilty before hundreds of gods.

When I entered the theater I knew virtually nothing about the movie, except that there was something about a boy on a raft with a tiger. As it turns out, that is all I needed to know for this astonishing, thought provoking movie.

Pi (Suraj Sharma) is a sixteen-year-old Indian boy, who survives a shipwreck only to find himself adrift on a lifeboat with a 450 pound, ferocious Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. Pi's intelligence and ingenuity are stretched to the limit in surviving on the open seas while figuring out how to coexist with a tiger who is getting hungrier every day.

This story is told by the middle-aged Pi (Irrfan Khan) to an aspiring writer (Rafe Spall) who has been told that Pi's story is worthy of a book. He also has been told, "you had a story that would make me believe in God" which is not quite tossed out as a challenge, although he hastens to add that he does not believe in God. This framework provides a neat parallel to the story Pi tells, which begins with young Pi's constant search for God as he grows from a little boy to a teenager.

Obviously we know that Pi survives the shipwreck because he is telling the story. However that soon becomes forgotten as we are swept up in Pi's struggles. Wound around and through this are amazing images of the world all around him. Using 3-D technology, we are shown vertical views from the bottom of the ocean to the heavens above, with all the inhabitants in between. These views through ultra-clear water add to the wonder and mystical tone of the entire story, as Pi's despair and hope alternate while he surrenders himself to God's will.

Meanwhile, viewers wonder what in this tale will be compelling enough to convince the writer to suddenly believe in God. The answer to that question is one that kept us thinking and discussing the movie the rest of the evening and the day after.

I was really surprised to find a movie with such emphasis on faith and God from such a famous director. I suppose that shows that it really is revolutionary these days to have faith. As I watched, I kept thinking of the stories of Job and Jonah from the Old Testament. This story is a modern version of those tales because it is an examination of modern attitudes to faith, free will, and our response to God. Kudos to Ang Lee for providing an incredible adventure story that didn't soft pedal the religious elements of the book from which it was derived.

PG rating on this movie and I'd say that as long as your kid is ok with animals acting like animals (nature red in tooth and claw), then you're good to go.

SPOILERS

The key to the movie, and especially to the puzzling dual story solution given at the end, is the family dinner when Pi's father talks about the need to be rational. Pi's mother says that he is right if one wants to know the truth about the outside world. However, she adds, faith is good for knowing the truth about what is inside you.

This duality is continued through elements like Pi's name. Piscine is named for the French swimming pool his uncle loved because it was full of such clear water. That name shows Pi's connection to the natural world and his ability to look through the depths for what is really there.

His shortened name, for the number Pi, shows a more rational side, but also Pi is an "irrational number" as the narrator told us ... which made me think that pi is actually a stunningly good way to refute people who want to solely believe in facts, without considering that "truth" comes in many ways. The idea that a number just keeps going and can't be "solved" is in itself a sort of refutation of those who want everything nailed down. Do you chop it off at a few decimal places or do you let the numbers keep spinning out and keep searching the bottomless well for truth?

This also demonstrates Pi's intelligence and that he understands how others think and how to influence them. As well, we are shown he is well versed in the natural world when we see his father teach him with the tiger and the goat.

These elements raise the possibility that Pi's "other story" told to the Japanese investigators is completely fabricated to tell them what makes sense to modern ears and will fit into a report.

In the end, we are left with a new version of "The Lady or the Tiger?"

Either story may be true or false. The interpretation we resonate with is an indicator of our own souls.

The Life of Pi is much like the Old Testament, full of stories of daring and danger which do not make sense to our modern souls which like to weigh everything against concrete, understandable scientific measures. We are ready to call such tales Myth, but does our interpretation see the whole story? We accept the Big Bang, measurable echoes of which still linger, if we know what to listen for. However, Genesis says that God spoke the universe into being.

Creation begins with sound in both cases; one is measurable by science, one by the human heart who looks deeper, is willing to be vulnerable, and who is willing to chance all on God's love. Neither negates the other although there are those who will choose one and call the other false.

As we are reminded, none of us knows why the ship sank (or how the universe began). All we know is what happened afterward from our own vantage point.

Such is the story of Pi. It is not about what you choose to believe, as much as it is about where one finds Truth. Much in the same way that Genesis is a story of faith and not about the Big Bang, we can hold that both stories are true or that only one is. Which one do you choose?

Odds and Ends

10 Sci-Fi Fantasy Shows That Were Canceled Too Soon

A fun list from Paste Magazine which counts down ... and ends up with a show that any frequent visitors here will recognize as a much mourned cancellation. I was pleased to see Better Off Ted, Angel and Wonderfalls included since I enjoyed them greatly in their day. And Carnivale is a show I've always meant to watch, even with the lack of resolution when it was canceled. I can take it.

LibriVox Saved My Sanity

A love letter to the free audiobook resource that volunteers (and love of books) built. Like Gaëtan L. Charlebois, I also love LibriVox as you may have gathered. His praise of Elizabeth Klett is well founded, but allow me to direct your attention to my own favorite LibriVox readers.

Adventhology

Ryan Trusell from Ora et Labora et Zombies doesn't rest upon his laurels. Adventhology is a new "micropublishing adventure that brings together four short pieces by four well-known Catholic bloggers, united by the common theme of the season of Advent and its culmination at Christmas. Each piece is published separately, as its own small booklet, of fine paper with a hand-printed softcover." Written by Dorian Speed, Brandon Vogt, Dan Lord, and Simcha Fisher. Read more at Adventhology.

By the way, Ryan has got a new look for his website and begun blogging. Check it out.

The Life of Pi and Movie End Cards

I can't give a review of this movie until Nov. 21, when it opens on the week of Thanksgiving, but I can highly recommend it.

Hard to imagine Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Brokeback Mountain) doing a movie that is so completely infused with faith and the search for God, but that is the crux of the movie.

It is PG and we were told at the screening that it is a "family movie."

Be aware that it is a family movie as done by Ang Lee, which is to say that it takes nature seriously and treats it realistically as much as can be done in this tale.

Think "The Yearling," "Old Yeller," or "Bambi" (remember that even Walt Disney killed off Bambi's mother; the book was much more realistic). I wouldn't advise taking small children to see this film.

Don't be afraid to see the 3D version. This movie is gorgeous.

Just wanted to give movie goers a chance to fit this into their schedule.

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On the way out we scored one of the above movie posters.

However, the image from the very end of the credits was one that we applauded. The Life of Pi's card had a plain black background, but you get the idea. We'd read about this initiative to show why movie piracy is important to stop and that the reason your movie ticket costs what it does. I like it.