Lagniappe: The courageous heat of the stars

The waxing moon tossed a dull glow on the surface of the clouds, but it was the scattered layers of stars that held my attention. I looked at them and tried to feel the courageous heat of their battle as they fought against the natural state of all things in the universe: dead cold.

Craig Johnson, Hell is Empty

I just loved how this is put. It makes me think of Hell in Dante's Divine Comedy ... where it is very cold.

What We've Been Watching: Jumanji, Coco

Both of these movies were tons of  fun. They have solid moral themes, as we would expect considering their intended family/youngster audience, and make nice light viewing.

Despite his family's generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead trying to get back to his family while not relinquishing his dreams.

Coco is very enjoyable, albeit with somewhat simpler theme development than could be hoped for (a la Cars). Satisfying messages of love, family, memory, and loss are anchored in a love letter to Mexican culture, especially the Day of the Dead (Ray Bradbury would approve). It is a feast for the eyes as well as the heart. Don't miss it.

Four high school kids discover an old video game console and are sucked into the game, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose. To beat the game and return to the real world, they'll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives and change the way they think about themselves - or be stuck in the game forever.

Welcome to the best possible version of The Breakfast Club. The performances from Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock) and Jack Black elevate this beyond story gimmick to a level of real entertainment. Neither ever lets you forget the inner nerd or beauty queen who inhabit their unlikely avatars. If you've ever played a video game then you're going to enjoy this one.

Lagniappe: Eccentric Houses

Houses, like people, are apt to become rather eccentric if left too much on their own; this house was the architectural equivalent of an old gentleman in a worn dressing-gown and torn slippers, who got up and went to bed at odd times of day, and who kept up a continual conversation with friends who no one else could see.

Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Worth a Thousand Words: Youngster

Remo Savisaar, Youngster

Well Said: The great democracy of the Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church was then, as it is now, a great democracy. There was no peasant so humble that he might not become a priest, and no priest so obscure that he might not become Pope of Christendom....What kept government alive in the Middle Ages was this constant rise of the sap from the bottom, from the rank and file of the great body of the people through the open channels of the priesthood.

President Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom, 1913

Worth a Thousand Words: Spring in Worpswede

Hans am Ende, Spring in Worpswede

Well Said: Private confession and the dignity of the individual

The practice of private confession also burned onto the Western soul a principle that is not native to the other influential civilizations of humanity: that the individual man, woman, or child is above the tribe, nation, state, and collectivity. Because men were willing to spend hours on end, in huge city cathedrals or tiny rural chapels, amid the coldness of winter and the heat of summer, attentive to the woes of both king and beggar, listening compassionately in order "to make known to his people their salvation through forgiveness of their sins, the loving kindness of the heart of our God who visits us like the dawn from on high...to give light to those in darkness, those who dwell in the shadow of death and guide...into the way of peace" (Lk 1:68-79), the concept of the dignity of the individual hit home. It because clear through this one-on-one dialogue that God, through his representative, loved each man as an individual—regardless of race or rank. ... all were equal as they waited for the sacrament, and if someone tried to alter this egalitarian state of affairs, priests were quite capable of calling the violator to order. One such incident from the seventeenth century occurred when a wealthy white lady in Cartagena, Colombia, jumped the queue, going ahead of a black slave, but found that it was all to no avail since the confessor, Father Peter Claver (1580-1654), insisted on hearing the slave's confession first.

William J. Slattery, Heroism and Genius

I really love this book although it is taking me a while to work my way through it.

Weekend Humor: Affirmation

From Despair.com

I was pleased to see that Despair.com is still in there coming up with posters to define our lives. This one, from their 2018 collection, is practically perfect in every way.

More is More: Hannah and Rose discuss robot genomes ...

Hannah & Rose discuss fathers and daughters, robot genomes, and the warning signs that your boyfriend may be too into your age difference as they watch Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

Another episode in the Transformers series from my favorite funny podcast. The movie is bad but Hannah and Rose are so good!

Lagniappe: The way bananas divide us

No fruit's ripeness seems to divide people the way that of the banana does. And it is not simply a question of soft or firm. Oh deary me, no, nothing so straightforward. Within the boundaries of soft and firm are further categories, mostly easier to feel than to describe, where the exact level of ripeness becomes almost an art form. Even before we get inside, there are pointers, mostly to do with the level of mottling and about which some aficionados could probably write an essay, if not a short story. The feel of the banana (go carefully here) is crucial. It must yield like fudge, butter, or, for some, be only just short of a smoothie. Some take it even further: their fruit must be the right shape. For heaven's sake. It's a banana.

Nigel Slater, The Kitchen Diaries II

Of course, then Slater goes on to say he likes his bananas almost crisp. So he would get along just fine with Rose and Hannah. Me, I go for some mottling so as to bring out the sugar. But we won't go on and on.

BeGolden - The Creepy Feel-Good Campaign

What's this make you think of?

Maybe a Star Trek visualization of a disease that spreads by touch and turns people into something weird and leaves their world in a state of grim post-apocalypse?

A perfume ad? A fashion ad?

This is part of the same campaign. Maybe a new version of Goldfinger?

I'm leaning even more into the Star Trek disease that morphs you into another creature.

Wrong!

It's a new Dallas campaign to be nice to immigrants! Didn't you get that from the pictures?

I feel as if it might be a Catholic initiative (Pope Francis is mentioned), but to be fair, no one's claiming that.

They don't tell us what to do, though there is a hat we can buy (not yet, coming soon).

But we should definitely be nice. Probably a hug for our immigrants, right? Or maybe a handshake? Definitely some sort of touching based on those pictures, so I'm going with a hug.

That way we can all feel good about ourselves.

Though this strange Star Trek disease makes me really want to lean away instead of lean into the hugging.

Really super creepy. A weird campaign.

Worth a Thousand Words: Gold Mining

Gold Mining, Belinda DelPesco

Well Said: Maps to Mythic Places and the Transcendent

My mind wanders. Maps to mythic places are a metaphor for mankind’s brushes with the transcendent. They are mystical directions that point characters to things that are amazing yet true. They are communication from somewhere else to here, and the conduit is the mapmaker.

What does a person bring to one of these maps? Like the inspired writer of scripture, a person brings himself to the map, and with him comes the transcendent.

I'd never have made the connection between those maps (and who does make them? how are they inspired?), scripture and the transcendent. Worth musing about, especially for those of us who love stories that need maps to Skull Island or Barsoom.

From a piece by Scott Danielson musing on a story about maps, a magic shoppe, and bean counters who want to make myths efficient. Go read it.

Well Said: Dare to speak of man as a living spirit

Our contemporaries need, whether they believe or do not believe, to hear from another perspective on man than the material perspective. They need to quench another thirst, which is a thirst for absolute. It is not a question here of conversion, but of a voice which, with others, still dares to speak of man as a living spirit.

This is from a really unusual speech given by the President of France, who's putting it out there in a way we don't see from politicians much these days. And he's calling on Catholics to do the same: speak up from the heart.

It resonated with me, of course, because that's what happens here and, to a more deliberate extent, what Scott and I do at A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Lagniappe: Non-fiction

Non-fiction? Non-fiction? Listen, reality is what got me into this mess in the first place.

Justin Alcola

Saw this on Goodreads and I have absolutely no idea what the writer's context was. But it makes me laugh. And love my fantasy and science fiction even more.

Where's Julie? Somewhere Zaney ... UPDATED again

 Zanesville, Ohio, that is.

I've got the high privilege of being asked to tell my conversion story on Marcus Grodi's show, The Journey Home.

They asked if I could talk for an hour. Ha! Just goes to show they've never been by here when I've been really impassioned.

I'm going to try to remember to take lots of pics and share them once I get back!

UPDATED
I'm back and it was a great experience. The episode will air on May 14, though I will remind everyone (of course) when it happens.

I will try to post some behind-the-scene photos soon!

UPDATED again
Turns out the episode will actually air on May 21.

Weekend Joke

Something for fellow language lovers.

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his English class one day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."

A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."

Worth a Thousand Words: Naples Sunrise

Naples Sunrise, taken by Valery at ucumari photography

Worth a Thousand Words: In a Red Dufflecoat

In a Red Dufflecoat, Edward B. Gordon

Lagniappe: The Baby or the Books?

Though I wouldn't go so far as to say that my library — a mere agglomeration of pulp, glue and ink — means more to me than living, breathing human beings, it's a near thing. I'd certainly rescue the baby, not the Mona Lisa, from a burning house. But that baby had better grow up to find the cure for cancer ...

Michael Dirda, Browsings

Almost the perfect quote. Though when it went from books to the Mona Lisa it lost the logic string. But the sentiment works ... and I've got to admit that my "you've got 15 minutes to abandon your house forever" has me, Tom, the dogs ... and then the contents of my "favorites" bookshelf.

Some people have a "go bag."

I've got a "go bookshelf."

And I've had it for a while.

I mean. You've lost your house. Wouldn't you need to read something like The Lord of the Rings or Uncle Tom's Cabin or Jane Eyre? I'm just sayin' ...