Well Said: Defending Patience and Solitude in Reading

Over the course of a year or so, the slow process of reading these fifty great books, and the other two, gave me back my life. The actions I describe here, inspired by a particular volume or a passage of writing, were often the result of chatting with no one except myself. ... And therefore, as you read this book, please consider it a passionate defense of those two elements I consider most at risk from our neophiliac desire to read fashionably, publicly, ever more excitedly: patience and solitude.

Andy Miller, The Year of Reading Dangerously

This made me think and greatly inspired my Lenten fasting from GoodReads, Facebook, and other such places. Such a fast proved surprisingly difficult at the beginning but as it has continued I find I miss them less and less. And it makes me concentrate such comments as I do have in the place where my online presence began ... right here. Which feels right.

Jesse wants a Tom Bombadil Bed and Breakfast.

But don't we all, really?

I join Jesse, Seth, and Maissa for a discussion of the first book of The Fellowship of the Ring (which itself is the first book of The Lord of the Rings, of course) at SFFaudio.

I wouldn't have thought there was more to talk about after the discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find last year (part 1, part 2), but I was wrong.

The Lord of the Rings - its a book that just keeps giving!

Worth a Thousand Words: Mating Season

Mating Season
taken by Remo Savisaar

There are few better places to see excellent nature photography than pildiblog where Remo Savisaar displays his work. Lately he's been outdoing himself. Be sure to stop by and browse the photographs there.

History Repeats Itself. Or At Least Echoes Loudly.

Writing about World War I, before America entered the war:

Americans were horrified by the slaughter in the trenches in France. Not only had the Germans initiated submarine warfare against passenger ships, but they were the first to introduce poison gas. Hundreds of miles of the beautiful French and Belgian countryside were reduced to a hellish moonscape, a "no mans land" where rats fattened on corpses. The Germans used their powerful artillery to batter quaint towns and villages into rubble. "Big Bertha" was a forty-three-ton monster howitzer produced by the Krupp company and incongruously named for Gustav Krupp's wife. It fired a 2,200-pound shell more than nine miles.

The Germans also rained death from the air. Their hydrogen-filled dirigibles—called zeppelins after Count Zeppelin—dropped bombs on civilians in London. In all this, the kaiser's High Command consciously pursued a policy of schrecklichkeit ("frightfulness") to terrify their enemies.

[President] Wilson addressed the war in Europe in another controversial speech in 1916 in which he called for a "peace without victory" and offered to mediate. Germany spurned the offer. Once again Republicans and other supporters of the Allies were deeply affronted.

William J. Bennett, America: the Last Best Hope, vol. II

Sound familiar at all?

I was reading about Woodrow Wilson's presidency last night and kept having the a vague feeling that it somehow sounded familiar. It took specific examples during times of conflict to bring it into focus.

Here I thought that President Obama had taken neutrality and peace-seeking to new levels. Nope. He follows directly in the footsteps of a president from 100 years ago. Also, it was a time when the populace was sharply divided in their opinions about social and economic issues and about what to do about the armed conflict that did not yet directly attack America but threatened to do so.

Well, well. And here we are again.

As with the first volume, Bennett's history is even-handed and thorough, clearly written and engaging. One of the things that drew me to embarking on these books is reviews from people with widely diverse political views called these books fair and impartial. These days that ain't easy to earn.

A Few Fun Things

SFFaudio Podcast: Fall of the House of Usher

We had an engrossing discussion of one of Edgar Allen Poe's most famous stories. I have to say that until I read it for this podcast I simply hadn't appreciated Poe's genius. Listen here.

Catholic Catechism: Stephen Colbert and Father James Martin

If you're Catholic it don't get much better than this!

Why "Star Trek" — And Mr. Spock — Matters

"I have been, and shall ever be, your friend" Mr. Spock says to Captain Kirk in that greatest of all Star Trek films, The Wrath of Khan. (For more on that movie, we talked about it in 2012 on A Good Story is Hard to Find.)

I think that's how a lot of us felt about Mr. Spock. He was the one we copied. When I was a kid I painstakingly learned to do the Vulcan hand sign with both hands and practiced until I could raise either eyebrow interrogatively. Something about Mr. Spock spoke to us. And something about the whole show did.

I was sorry to see earlier this week that Leonard Nimoy died and pray that he rests in peace in God's presence. I liked Steven D. Greydanus's piece on Spock and Star Trek as a fan and as a Catholic. You can find it here.

Worth a Thousand Words: Perfect Camouflage

Perfect Camouflage
taken by Remo Savisaar

I had to really look to find the non-tree element in this photo. Perfect camouflage indeed!

I'm Back!

I was visiting my mother in Florida. I find that the same weather seemed to follow me. It was gray and rainy in Florida (though pretty warm) and it is gray and rainy here (though considerably colder ... and evidently going to get much colder still tomorrow).

Nonetheless, this makes me wish for a transporter more than ever. I'm so happy to be home but I miss mom and her sweet Corgi Emma. Emma and I bonded when I'd help her into my sister's SUV to go back and forth every day from her house to Mom's place.

But as I say, I am very happy to be back!

The Lord by Romano Guardini — "But love does such things!"

Speaking of the Incarnation, Guardini says:

However, this journey of God from the everlasting into the transitory, this stride across the border into history, is something no human intellect can altogether grasp. The mind might even oppose the apparently fortuitous, human aspect of this interpretation with its own "purer" idea of godliness, yet precisely here lies hidden the kernel of Christianity. Before such an unheard of thought the intellect bogs down. Once at this point a friend gave me a clue that helped my understanding more than any measure of bare reason. He said: "But love does such things!" Again and again these words have come to the rescue when the mind has stopped short at some intellectual impasse. Not that they explain anything to the intelligence; they arouse the heart, enabling it to feel its way into the secrecy of God. The mystery is not understood, but it does move nearer, and the danger of "scandal: disappears.

None of the great things in human life springs from the intellect; every one of them issues from the heart and its love. If even human love has its own reasoning, comprehensible only to the heart that is open to it, how much truer must this be of God's love! When it is the depth and power of God that stirs, is there anything of which love is incapable? The glory of it is so overwhelming that to all who do not accept love as an absolute point of departure, its manifestations must seem the most senseless folly.

This book is my Lenten reading this year. However, it is rich enough, requiring slow absorption, and big enough that it will likely last past that time. I'm reading a library book but realize that it is a book for owning as I would benefit from many rereadings.

Interestingly, it is somewhat like reading G.K. Chesterton's nonfiction. Chesterton always does you the compliment of assuming you know all the basic facts about a subject. It is like entering a conversation between friends who have left mere facts behind long ago and are now delving deeper into underlying themes.

In that way The Lord is a great relief. I don't have to hear yet again, line by line, what Jesus "really meant" by each line of the beatitudes. Instead Guardini brings Jesus' words to life by diving straight into the heart of what lay behind the bigger picture. This may sound odd but consider the above passage, excerpted from his discussion of Christ's incarnation. It dives right to the heart of why believers and nonbelievers alike may struggle with the concept of God becoming man.

The italics are my emphasis of the lines that struck straight to my own heart. It is the basis for so much of Christianity, of learning to answer Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am?" Certainly it is a wonderful expansion upon that maddening word "mystery" which often is my only fallback when trying to answer questioning non-Christians about something which just "doesn't make sense."

Out of Town for a Week

I may check in if I get a chance but it is likely that I won't be posting until I return next week.

Heads Up on Upcoming Film: Alison's Choice

Alison's Choice is a film about a teenager, Alison, who is pregnant and seriously considering having an abortion, but while she is waiting at the abortion clinic, the janitor starts up a conversation with her. This janitor happens to be the manifestation of Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Alison's Choice doesn't quite fit in the typical "Christian" movie box, but we believe that it will be a powerful tool that can be used to save lives.

Alison's Choice was written and directed by Bruce Marchiano and it is currently in post production.

We have a great team of filmmakers working on this movie. Bruce has been an actor for a long time, and our DP is Phil Hurn, who has worked in many films, and our editor is Scott Conrad, who won an Oscar for his work on the original Rocky film. I say all that to let you know that we have a team with the experience and the tools to make this not another low budget "Christian" film, but a high quality and powerful film.

For one thing, I like it when something isn't "typically Christian" and this set up makes me think of Joan of Arcadia which I really liked a lot. Also, the editor from Rocky! C'mon. Now we're talking.

There won't be a trailer for a while but I thought I'd let everyone know about it. There is more info at the link above. And they have a Facebook page you can check out.

Well Said: Buying Time

It would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them; but one usually confuses the purchase of books with the acquisition of their contents.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Oh, that's why I have big stacks of books and still keep buying more. I forget to pick up a little time while I'm at it.

Movie Review: The Drop Box

They’re not the unnecessary ones in the world. God sent them to the earth to use them.

Pastor Lee Jong-rak

Many years ago Pastor Lee's son, Eun-man, was born with crippling cerebral palsy. He and his wife cared for their baby at home, which is so unusual in Seoul, South Korea, that it led a frightened mother to abandon her disabled infant on his doorstep one cold night. Luckily he found the baby before it froze but this prompted him to build The Drop Box. On any given night the "doorbell" may sound in the Lee home signaling that another desperate, anonymous mother has chosen to surrender her baby.

Too often, in a society like South Korea there is only one answer to the social stigma attached to unwed motherhood and aversion to any child born with disabilities. Babies are abandoned and often die before they are discovered. Pastor Lee and his wife and their Christian community care for about 18 disabled children. He has rescued hundreds of babies thanks to the drop box.

The Drop Box is told in a straight forward way but it is not a simple film.

Not only do we see Pastor Lee's ministry but the value of life becomes the central theme of the film. This is only to be expected but what I didn't expect was that the drop box ministry has opponents. Here is where the director's patient story telling pays off. The presentation of both sides of the arguments is handled delicately but compellingly.

Perhaps the most powerful statement about the film is that it changed the film director's own life.

Ivie said, "These kids are not mistakes. They are important." He went on to say, "I became a Christian while making this movie. When I started to make it and I saw all these kids come through the drop box – it was like a flash from heaven, just like these kids with disabilities had crooked bodies, I have a crooked soul. And God loves me still. When it comes to this sanctity of life issue, we must realize that that faith in God is the only refuge for people who are deemed unnecessary. This world is so much about self-reliance, self-worth, and self-esteem. It's a total illusion that we can be self-sufficient. Christ is the only thing that enables us."

This documentary is a wonderful look at a Christian who is changing the world the only way he knows how: through actively loving those around him. Pastor Lee lives in the best tradition of the first-century Christians who bore witness to the pagans around them by taking in abandoned infants, caring for widows, and staying with the sick when everyone else was fleeing.

It's a movie that stuck with me long afterward and had me reexamining parts of my own life.

This film will be in theaters March 3-5.

Don't miss it.

Worth a Thousand Words: Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern
taken by Remo Savisaar

Blogging Around: The What-Caught-My-Eye Edition

Tips for Mid-Lent Penance Adjustment

Jennifer Fitz reminds us that our chosen penance isn't set in stone. If we need adjustments, she's got three good tips.

The Importance of Rough Housing With Your Kids

The Art of Manliness has reasons, good guidelines, and a book to check out.

Decent Films Website Redesign

Normally I don't care about such things enough to point them out, but this one really does make it easier to see what Catholic film critic Steven D. Greydanus has been writing.

Bread, on the table ... s'il vous plait

David Lebovitz talks about where the French put their bread in restaurants and many other aspects of bread and French meals. Fascinating.

Well Said: Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hater
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Robert Frost

Elegantly said.

And insightful. Yet another quote perfect for Lenten reflection.

Audible's Daily Deal - Cabin Pressure, season 4

One of my favorite BBC radio series is Cabin Pressure.

It tells the hilarious exploits of an oddball crew of a struggling charter service with a single airplane that is in none too good repair. As they take all sorts of items, people or animals across the world, we learn about the crew and their lives.

It is clever and humorous in the way that the best sitcoms can be. There is wordplay, build up to final jokes, and, of course, we learn to care about even the most unlikable characters. One of my favorite touches is that the crew is often playing games to while away the time. And they are simultaneously funny and engrossing, while often moving the plot along.

The daily deal is for season 4, but season 1 is pretty cheap and you really should begin at the beginning. None of the seasons are more than $10. I promise they pay off with high levels of entertainment.

What I didn't realize until I saw the photo accompanying the daily deal is that Benedict Cumberbatch played Martin. Or perhaps I should say that by the time Benedict Cumberbatch became famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, Cabin Pressure just wasn't on my radar any more. At any rate it is fun to hear him as Martin.

I also never picked up on the fact that the places they visit in each episode are in alphabetical order. They begin with Abu Dhabi, proceeding then to Boston, Cremona, and onward until the last episode, "Zurich." It is those little touches that make it a complete listening pleasure.

I'll relisten with extra relish.

Well Said: God and St. Catherine

In a vision, God summarized all of divine revelation to St. Catherine in two two-word sentences: "I'm God. You're not." Why is it so easy for us to forget that second thing?

Peter Kreeft, Practical Theology

I don't know. But it really is, isn't it.

Just one more reason we need Lent every year.

Well Said: On the Palm Branches

Let's spread the thoughts and desires of our hearts under his feet like garments, so that entering us with the whold of hhis being, he [Jesus] can draw the whole of our being into himself, and place the whole of his being within us. ...

Receive him, then, with open, outstretched hands, for it was on his own hands that he sketched you. Receive the one who laid your foundations on the palms of his hands. Receive him, for he took upon himself all that is ours except in sin, so he could destroy the sin that is ours in the sinless nature that is his.

St. Andrew of Crete,
Oration 9 on the Palm Branches

I read this in A Year with the Saints by Paul Thigpen. I got to the end of that book and just turned back to the beginning and began rereading it a page per day. It beats me how those saints can say things that hit me right between the eyes, especially when I don't recall reading them the first time through the book.

In this case, St. Andrew of Crete provided me with some really lovely images for reflection, leading to thoughts about Jesus himself. I thought you might like them also.

What We've Been Watching: The Hundred-Foot Journey, Chef

The Hundred-Foot Journey 2014 ★★

Ho hum. This is a beautiful piece with a talented cast. Unfortunately it had a highly predictable plotline.

Watching it I was struck by the fact that this is the director who gave us What's Eating Gilbert Grape at the beginning of his career. I also greatly enjoyed his later film Chocolat. This piece of eye candy does not live up to either.

Chef 2014 ★★★½

This is a happy little movie that I enjoyed a great deal more than I thought I would. That's probably because I had recently suffered through the predictability of The Hundred-Foot Journey and thought this would be more of the same.

Chef ain't rocket science but I greatly enjoyed the father-son bonding and how each teaches the other something important to them. I also really liked the way they illustrated social media, going viral, and other such modernities. I watched it with Mom and we agreed that it was like a tutorial in how such things work. As well as food trucks.

It is an honest little, indie-style movie that gave me a great deal of pleasure. And sometimes that's all a movie needs to do.

Well Said: Private Life

You have the right to a private life, but you do not have the right to a secret life.

Cardinal Thomas Collins,
Lectio Divina on Mark