Rough Sea at Naruto

Hiroshige, Famous Views of the 60 Provinces: Rough Sea at Naruto in Awa Province
via Arts Everyday Living

I do love Hiroshige. Coincidentally just the other day I came across my book of 100 Famous Views of Edo which I'm now going to reread. I love the sense of motion in the sea above.

A Word From Our Sponsor: For they search busily among his works, but are distracted

Foolish by nature were all who were in ignorance of God,
and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing the one who is,
and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;

[...]

But yet, for these the blame is less;
For they have gone astray perhaps,
though they seek God and wish to find him.

For they search busily among his works,
but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair.

But again, not even these are pardonable.

For if they so far succeeded in knowledge
that they could speculate about the world,
how did they not more quickly find its Lord?

Wisdom, 13: 1, 6-9

The Temptation of the Catholic to Intellectual Pride

The great temptation of the Catholic in the modern world is the temptation to intellectual pride. It is so obvious that most of his critics are talking without in the least knowing what they are talking about, that he is sometimes a little provoked toward the very unchristian logic of answering a fool according to his folly. But we must never despair of explaining the truth, nor is it so very difficult to explain.

G.K. Chesterton, quoted in My Name is Lazarus by Dale Ahlquist

Little Pond

Little Pond, Edward B. Gordon

The artist tells us: I built this little pond next to my studio. Next to it blooms the oleander. In the evening, the reflections of the few lights are especially beautiful.

Ginger-Turmeric Potatoes and Green Beans (Aloo Faliyan)

This is an easy Indian vegetable dry curry which is absolutely delicious whether at room temperature or hot. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God by Jonah Blank

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God

Retracing the Ramayana Through India

The three-thousand-year-old epic Ramayana chronicles Lord Rama's physical voyage from one end of the Indian subcontinent to the other and his spiritual voyage from Man to God. In Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God, Jonah Blank gives a new perspective to this Hindu classic -- retelling the ancient tale while following the course of Rama's journey through present-day India and Sri Lanka.

I've gotten a basic overview of the Ramayana from all the Indian movies I've watched. Including bits of holy day celebrations while acting out the story is highly cinematic, after all. Wanting to actually read it and see what Sita Sings the Blues skimmed over I came across this book which seemed like an easy way into the story.

What a wonderful, easy-to-read book. The author tells the story in pieces and then looks at an particular aspect of India physically, spiritually, and culturally. So you have topics like Fate, Kings, Caste, Rites, and Love and it works to show the reader about what it means to be Indian ... as much as anything can. This meshed really well with what I'd gleaned from Indian movies and the research we'd undertaken after viewing them in order to be sure we understood context.

I benefitted from it in practical ways as well as getting a good look at the Indian national character. Turns out wrestlers venerate Lord Hanuman. As did the main character in Bajrangi Bhaijaan - who was trained in wrestling! Just another little bit of cultural context.

I read it in four days and kept quoting bits of it to the rest of the family, who are now taking their own turns at it. Keep in mind it was published in 1992 because a few bits are dated (especially about war and terrorism), although they still apply to different parts of India these days. You don't have to care about Indian movies. It is an entertaining and interesting travelogue aside from all that. Definitely recommended.

"I never feel so reflexively patriotic ..."

I never feel so reflexively patriotic as when I hear my nation disparaged abroad. Perhaps that is because, when traveling in the Third World, I am constantly associated with every good and bad action of the American government. Punjabis have berated me for giving military aid to Pakistan, Burmese have thanked me for saving them from the Japanese army, and in the Sudan I was nearly turned back at the border for failing to justify my secretary of state's Middle East policy.

Jonah Blank, Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God

Patriotism Personified

Allegory of Patriotism in the Monument to the Fallen for Spain in Madrid (1840)
by sculptor Francisco Pérez del Valle

Collage of Six Cats

Collage of Six Cats

Cats and Sculpture

There's no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.

Wesley Bates

Haider

A young man returns to Kashmir after his father's disappearance to confront his uncle - the man he suspects of playing a role in his father's fate.

This is a brilliant synthesis of Hamlet and a statement about police action and terrorism in Kashmir in 1995. There are even two song and dance numbers, albeit properly adapted to the grim tone, but they are brilliant as one would expect when the director has a deep music background as this one does. The gravediggers dance is genius.

The movie is not all grim. The Salman and Salman videostore owners who live, breath, sing, and dance all Salman Khan movies, all the time (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) are a bit of comic genius. The Chutzpah jokes both entertain and make a point. All the acting is spot on, especially Tabu whose talent I appreciate anew every time I see her.

I'm not sure how the director did it but - wow.

Very violent, though, so be warned about that. I probably will rewatch it but will have to let it settle for a year or two first. I do really find the ultimate message that revenge is wrong to be unusual for Indian movies.

Having now seen all of this director's Shakespearean adaptations I can say that my favorite is Omkara, which is in line with general criticism, but Haider is definitely worth watching.

Rating — for advanced viewers. (You've got to be willing to let this one wash over you, enjoying the ride for what it is ... )

Hannah and Rose discuss Haider in episode 43 of An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

The Light of Christ by Thomas Joseph White

The Light of Christ provides an accessible presentation of Catholicism that is grounded in traditional theology and engaged with a host of contemporary questions and objections. Inspired by the theologies of Irenaeus, Thomas Aquinas, and John Henry Newman, and rooted in a post-Vatican II context, Fr. Thomas Joseph White presents major doctrines of the Christian faith in a way that is comprehensible for non-specialists: knowledge of God, the mystery of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the atonement, the sacraments and the moral life, eschatology and prayer.

Do you want a good dose of philosophy with your Catholic faith? Here's the book for you. Looking for something lighter than Edward Feser, but that still had intellectual depth, I noticed this title continually popping up in my searches. So glad I did because it is exactly what I wanted ... though the discussion of the Trinity caused a bit of brain paralysis, but that's no different than my reaction to any other deep look at the Trinity. It's been a long time since I've had to think in such a different way. All this is without ignoring the questions that Catholicism raise in modern life. Truly this is a great book.

"You just start by being greedy, by wanting more than you're going to have."

"The trouble is," said Miss Marple, "that people are greedy. Some people. That's so often, you know, how things start. You don't start with murder, with wanting to do murder, or even thinking of it. You just start by being greedy, by wanting more than you're going to have."

She laid her knitting down on her knee and stared ahead of her into space. "That's how I came across Inspector Craddock first, you know. A case in the country. Near Medenham Spa. That began the same way, just a weak amiable character who wanted a great deal of money. Money that that person wasn't entitled to, but there seemed an easy way to get it. Not murder then. Just something so easy and simple that it hardly seemed wrong. That's how things begin... But it ended with three murders."

Agatha Christie, 4:50 From Paddington

From my quote journal and a book that I highly recommend to any mystery lovers. It is one of Mom's favorites so, of course, the quote had to go up today!

Lady in Waiting

Karin Jurick, Ladies in Waiting III
(part of her Ladies in Waiting series, click the link to see more)

We are not put into this world to avoid danger

"It was very dangerous for her."

“Yes, it was dangerous, but we are not put into this world, Mr. Burton, to avoid danger when an innocent fellow-creature's life is at stake. You understand me?”

I understood.

Agatha Christie, The Moving Finger

Want Your Heart to Soar? Watch This.

From way back in 2013, I happened across this and loved watching it all over again.

Use full screen mode and enjoy. It is only 10 minutes.



Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, "Paperman." Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Paperman" pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction.

Don't Call It Bollywood by Margaret Redlich

When you are the only people you know who watch Indian movies, it can feel a little lonely. You meet others who say, "I love Bollywood movies" only to find they have watched a total of one whose name they can't recall, or they like the idea of Bollywood, or they love those colorful dances but that's all. Whereas you've watched about 50 and that's not the sharing you were hoping for. At least our Bollywood love is shared within our family so there are five of us living the dream.

You wish you could make an Indian best friend who could guide you to movies Westerners could understand, and explain what is so great about the blockbusters you thought were bonkers. (3 Idiots I'm lookin' at you.)

Then I discovered Margaret E. Redlich's starter book, Don't Call It Bollywood, so I nabbed it. It's a quick, enjoyable and informative introduction to the world of Indian movies.

This is where I learned that the wind blowing on someone means they're falling in love. That Christians are the good-natured friends in a movie, who are perfectly ok with dropping by a Hindu temple for a bit of quick worship. (Well, that cleared up some confusion for us.) We get a quick overview of the Hindi film industry and why everyone in it is related to everyone else. Except for those outsiders who manage to work the system to become stars (thank you, Shah Rukh Khan!).

We also are given pieces of Margaret's own journey into Indian movies and blogging, begun to fill her own lonely void of fellow lovers of Indian movies.

I first read this when we'd seen about 50 movies and had put a few cultural pieces together (though why people pinch their throats when they make a solemn promise still eludes us — just like if we crossed our hearts, but do they have a little childhood "promise poem" they're thinking of the way that we do when we make the gesture?).

I reread this now that we are nearing the 100-movie mark and pondering what epic to view as an appropriate homage. (Mother India? Mughal-E-Azam?) The book helped more of the pieces fall into place now that I had additional experience. Don't Call It Bollywood is a little gem if you want the basic scoop on Indian movies.

The Baltic Sea

Edward B. Gordon; The Baltic Sea, the beach, the island of Rügen, and the summer.

I love the seashore, but this is as close as I'm going to get this year!

Well Said: Jezebel's Real Sin

This highlights again what happens when our eyes are opened by experience and context and we then turn them upon something old and familiar only to see it in entirely new light. It is from Agatha Christie's memoir of trips to Syria with her archaeologist husband shortly before World War II, Come Tell Me How You Live. It's one of my favorite books.

An immense dinner materializes in next to no time, and after it, tired and comfortable, with special delicacies in honor of holiday and Mac's arrival (Turkish Delight, preserved aubergines, bars of chocolate and cigars), we sit and talk, for once of subjects other than archaeology.

We come to the question of religions generally--a very vexed question in this particular part of the world, for Syria is full of fiercely fanatical sects of all kinds, all willing to cut each other's throats for the good cause! From there we fall to discussing the story of the Good Samaritan. All the Bible and New Testament stories take on a particular reality and interest out here. They are couched in the language and ideology which we hear daily all around us, and I am often struck by the way the emphasis sometimes shifts from what one has commonly accepted. As a small instance, it came to me quite suddenly that in the story of Jezebel, it is the painting of her face the or tiring of her hair that emphasizes in puritanical Protestant surroundings what exactly a "Jezebel" stands for. But out here it is not the painting and tiring--for all virtuous women paint their faces (or tattoo them), and apply henna to their hair--it is the fact that Jezebel looked out of the window--a definitely immodest act!

Thank you for the prayers

The Beyond Cana retreat went really well, with 11 couples refreshed and renewed in their marriages. As well, we always experience many blessings while we are helping put the retreat on and this time was no exception.

Our thanks to everyone who supported us in prayer!