Close Reads and The Lord of the Rings

I've been listening to the Close Reads podcast for several years off and on, depending on what they're reading. They discuss books indepth from a classical education perspective which feeds into a homeschooling, Christian audience. That is reflected in their Facebook page which has varied and lively discussions and I regularly check in there too. I especially enjoyed their discussions of True Grit, Death Comes for the Archbishop, Anne of Green Gables, Frankenstein, and Rebecca (a book I detest but which they loved — the discussion was so interesting I just kept listening). They've covered a lot more ground than that so definitely check them out.

Their Patreon subscriber episodes got me through Crime and Punishment, for which I am duly grateful. Russian novels and I don't mix, but the Close Reads conversation pulled me into mostly enjoying that book. 

When they announced they were going to read The Lord of the Rings  I was planning on skipping it. I've read many commentaries on the book and have never found anything that I liked better than Corey Olsen's masterful classes at Mythgard Academy (free!). After all, Olsen's original Tolkien Professor classes were the ones that made me pick up LOTR for a fourth time and finally get through it. Now I consider LOTR the best book ever written, so that's a debt I will never forget. Naturally, I figured between all those other references I'd heard most of the takes on it. 

Then I started seeing outbursts of praise in the Facebook group which piqued my interest so I bit. Finishing up their six-episode discussion of The Fellowship of the Ring, I must add to that outburst of praise. Their conversation is not afraid to dip into Christian viewpoints which resonate with my own take and deepen it considerably. The classical viewpoint also adds richness to appreciating the wisdom J.R.R. Tolkien has woven into the story. The Close Reads discussions equal and complement the Mythgard classes in the best possible way.

Mostly, I thrill to the love and admiration for this work which so clearly emanates from Heidi White and Ian Andrews. They have enhanced my own love of the book which I already thought was the best book ever written. (The host, David Kern, clearly likes the book but he doesn't match the geeking out and love that Heidi and Ian show).

If you're a Tolkien fan and a Christian you're going to want to try this out. The $5 Patreon subscription gets you access to both the LOTR and Crime and Punishment series. They are over halfway through The Two Towers and I look forward to having my mind blown regularly as I journey alongside.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #38 — Internal Affairs (Hong Kong)

It's been 11 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Martin Scorsese remade this as The Departed. Watch the original instead.

This stylistic, smart movie takes the classic crime plot of police versus criminals and turns it into an exciting battle of wits.

Police Superintendent Wong takes his best police cadet, Yan, and has him go undercover to become a mole in the drug-running Triad gang. Unbeknownst to them, the Triad’s leader, Sam, is doing the exact same thing with a young gang member, Lau, who has a clean record and will be accepted into police cadet school.

After years pass both Lau and Yan have become accepted, valuable members of their respective groups. During a drug bust, both the police and the Triad gang become aware that each has been infiltrated by a mole. In an ironic move, the moles are both so trusted that each is tasked by his superior with discovering who the mole is within his own group. Simultaneously, each is contacted by his real boss and told to discover who the mole is in the other group.

What follows is a fascinating plot twist in which each mole struggles to retain his anonymity. while discovering the other’s identity. This movie is gripping until the very end and keeps you guessing the entire time. Everything is masterfully brought together in the last ten minutes with a denouement that gives the entire movie unexpected depths.

This movie was so popular in Hong Kong that it inspired two sequels, Infernal Affairs II which actually was a prequel, and Infernal Affairs III which continues the story begun in the original movie. We watched this movie in the original Cantonese with English subtitles. It was fascinating to hear the large quantity of English scattered through regular conversation. “Channel,” “sorry,” “entrance,” “ok,” “bye,” and “sir” are just a few of the words constantly breaking the pattern of Chinese dialogue.

Spring in Texas

Spring in Texas, Jason Merlo Photography

 

Easter Chick

Chick, N Puttapipat Illustration

 

Prayer is an offering that belongs to God

Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has asked for, the offering he planned as his own. ...

Of old, prayer was able to rescue from fire and beasts and hunger, even before it received its perfection from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer. No longer does prayer bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or close up the mouths of lions, or transport to the hungry food from the fields. No longer does it remove all sense of pain by the grace it wins for others. But it gives the armour of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed. It strengthens the power of grace, so that faith may know what it is gaining from the Lord, and understand what it is suffering for the name of God.

Tertullian, On Prayer

Reptiles

Reptiles, M.C. Escher

The link above is to Lines and Colors where you can see pieces of this painting blown up and really enjoy the creativity Escher uses. There is also a lot more info about Escher and a link to an article about him.

Three Worlds

Three Worlds, M.C. Escher

 

Hand with Reflecting Sphere

Hand with Reflecting Sphere, M.C. Escher

Up and Down

Up and Down, M.C. Escher

 

Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (The Man Who Feels No Pain)

Surya has a rare condition of Congenital Insensitivity to pain meaning he can not feel pain. Hearing that most children with this condition never live past the age of four, his grandpa uses martial action movies to train him to be like Bruce Lee. This seems counter intuitive, but actually works. Surya and  his childhood friend, Supri, who has her own problems, set out to right wrongs.

That's just the first part of the movie and when the story heads into Surya's adulthood is when the real action begins. Surya really believes the good guys win, any obstacle can be overcome, and that true love triumphs over all. He doesn't have a cynical bone in his body. That sweetness and earnestness  make us love Surya, his oddball team of justice fighters, and this movie. 

In many ways it made us think of Amelie and Edgar Wright movies for a story with sweetness, quirkiness, and heart. It is loaded with fantastic action scenes and pop culture. There were many Western cultural references and from reading  reviews I know there are tons that we missed from Indian culture and old martial arts films. The two lead performances were from newcomers who acted with complete confidence and this has what must be the best double role of all time from Gulshan Devaiah.

It is fun and funny, goofy and heart-felt, and shouldn't be missed. Let you think it sounds too crazy, I will add that my 86-year-old mother loved it and was using movie references around the house the next day. 

 Streaming on Netflix.

Rating — for viewers with medium to difficult Indian film experience. (It's not rocket science, but without any cultural background at all you might feel kind of lost.)

Portrait of Catherine II before a Mirror

Portrait of Catherine II before a Mirror (1762). Vigilius Eriksen.

I found this at Books and Art (link above) where there was this interesting info.

This Danish artist, who worked at the Russian court between 1757 and 1772, produced some 30 portraits of Catherine II with different programs, compositions, and purposes. He was the first in Russia to use this type of portrait with a mirror, making it possible to show the two sides of the subject’s character - the imperious monarch and the sensitive woman.

Psalm 12 — The Promises of the Lord are Pure

When you see the arrogance of the crowd and evil spreading everywhere so that there seems to be no one left who is pleasing to God take refuge in the Lord and say Psalm 12.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

I am fascinated by the fact that in this psalm all the threat comes from words. And all the protection comes from words. It lets us see how powerful the Hebrews considered words. And we ourselves know that words do have special power to wound or to heal.

Silver nugget

 These two quotes are from my hand-written prayer journal.

The Effective Word

The spoken word in Hebrew was fearfully alive. It was not merely a sound dropped heedlessly from unthinking lips. It was a unit of energy charged with power. It is energized for weal or for woe.

John Paterson, quoted by William Barclay

The word of God is living and active sharper than any two-edged sword.

Hebrews 4:12

With those two quotes in mind, let's look at what that concept really means and what it reveals of God himself.

The Effective Word and Divine Transparency

In Bible times ... properly chosen and configured [words] were thought to accomplish what they said. for this reason, on the one hand, curses were not simply cathartic venting of inner rage, as we might think of them today, but were dangerous attempts to injure another that had to be countered or protected against by some ritual or amulet. On the other hand, words spoken in blessing were not just expressions of wishful thinking but really added to the well-being and health of the one blessed.

[...]

The "flawless" character of Yahweh's word, refined like the finest silver seven times, is more than an illustration of the ultimate effectiveness of the divine word. The point of the psalm is not just that God will have the last word. The purity of the divine word also illumines a certain transparency in God. What Yahweh says reveals his true character. God does not dissemble or deceive. he says what he means and he does what he says. Therefore, not only can one trust Yahweh, one can also understand who god is by attending to his words.

Psalms Volume 1 (NIV Application Commentary)

One last thing comes from the Church Fathers who are paying close attention to what the psalmist is actually asking for — a change of heart on behalf of the enemy. That's not something you see every day in the psalms.

12:3 Flattering Lips

Prayer Against the Sin. St. John Chrysostom: Do you see the solicitude of the inspired author, how he prays for them? The remark is not against them, no but on their behalf. He did not ask for them to be destroyed, note, but for the evil to be done away with. He did not say "the Lord will destroy them," note, but the "deceitful lips." Again he asks for the destruction not of their being but of their tongue, their folly, their deceit, and for an end to be put to their arrogance. Commentary on the Psalms

Cassiodorus: Note his piety as he says this, for he inveighs not against people, for many of them were to be converted, but against the vices themselves. Explanation of the Psalms

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here. 

Night in the Desert

Night in the desert by Maxfield Parrish.
From “The Great South West” by Ray Stannard Baker (1902)

Clearing out the world's sins in the fire of suffering love

On the Cross we meed what Balthasar described as the eternal, Trinitarian project in history: "to clear out all the refuse of the world's sins by burning it in the fire of suffering love." At Calvary, the burning passion of God, which is both the divine wrath at the world's evil and the divine mercy determined to heal what sin has broken, coincide. In the power of the Spirit, the Son offers the perfect act of atonement to the Father, and by that act of obedience, the burning fire of divine love reaches into history and immolates everything in the world that cannot bring forth love, including suffering and death.

George Weigel, Roman Pilgrimage

Tarashana by Rachel Neumeier

Tuyo, the first book in this series, is one I read in record time. I loved the old school fantasy set in a wonderfully imagined world. It was fresh, imaginative, and original. I also really enjoyed watching two men from very different peoples and cultures become friends.

Tarashana is a great sequel. We have the chance to investigate a completely new land when Ryo's people ask if Aras's mind reading ability can help them understand a mute woman asking for help. She is from the starlit land where the people all mysteriously disappeared. Naturally enough, Ryo's people worry about anything that powerful coming after them next. Not only is it an interesting question, but it's perfect timing because Aras has a big problem he can't solve, but that he can avoid by doing this quest instead. So he and Ryo take off for what turns into a huge adventure.

I also read this book in record time and enjoyed the heck out of it. Some of the themes from Tuyo are further developed thanks to the contrast between three different peoples. Ryo's own people are further revealed as a lot of time is spent in the winter country. It would really be impossible to explain this book without spoiling it but Neumeier makes the world a big one with epic battles, friendships, and live-or-die moments.

If you liked Tuyo, you're going to love Tarashana. I was glad to see in the end notes that a novella (?) and a proper sequel to this book will show up in 2022. Woohoo!

Pink (2016)

 

Three men rush to a hospital because one is suffering from a serious injury to his head and eye. One of the men says they'll get revenge on those women. Meanwhile, three shaken and upset women are returning to their apartment in a taxi. They have spots of blood on them and we can tell they are the women who the man was talking about.

And we are off and running with one of India's biggest film hits from 2016. Although we're dropped into the middle of the story, we all know that one of these women had to take extreme measures to defend her virtue. 

This is a serious movie about a topic that Americans have had held up to the public eye for decades. But in India, that isn't the case and this movie was made to point out the double standards applied to women and the violence that can ensure.

 As the story continues we see the escalating forms of revenge the men attempt, the helplessness of the women,  predictable keepers of the status quo, and unexpected acts of kindness. Something the girls don't expect is when an old, possibly creepy, neighbor comes to their assistance as their legal counsel. Anyone used to Indian films knows from the beginning this will happen because he is played by acting legend Amitabh Bachchan. Of course he's the lawyer. 

However, the story really belongs to the young women and it is artfully and sensitively shown through small vignettes as they must come to terms with the relentless siege they suffer and their limited ability to fight for their voices to be heard. Indian films are usually very good about inferring sensitive topics rather than showing them and this does a good job at that.

We avoided this for some time because, as Americans, we've seen this sort of story told many times and I also don't like movies with victimization. However, it was a very good film in its own right, well told, and a fascinating look inside Indian society at a condition that their films are now exposing to the light of day.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!) 

Hannah and Rose discuss Pink in episode 53 of An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

The Pyramids Road, Gizeh

The Pyramids Road, Gizeh by Edward Lear, via Gandalf's Gallery

Cutting One From the Herd

Cowboy cutting one from the herd on the LS ranch, 1907.
Via Traces of Texas which consistently has great Texas images.

Louise Hollandine

Louise Hollandine - self portrait

This is via J.R.'s Art Place on Facebook, which consistently features great art. In this case, there is a fascinating story about Louise Hollandine's journey from Protestantism to Catholicism.

Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate was the daughter of Frederick V of the Palatinate and King of Bohemia, and Elizabeth Stuart. Raised in a Protestant household in the Netherlands, she showed great artistic talent. Her family arranged for her to study under one of the greatest artists of the time, Gerard van Honthorst.

The painting shown here is a self-portrait by her circa 1650. It was in 1657 that she, for unknown reasons, fled the Netherlands with the aid of her aunt Henrietta Marie de Bourbon, the widow of Charles I of England. In France she converted to Roman Catholicism and entered the Cistercian Abbey of Maubuisson. In retaliation, she was left out of her mother's will.

In 1664 she became Abbess of Maubuisson. She continued painting after entering the Abbey, mostly of religious subjects.

The most perfect of prayers

The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers ... In it we ask, not only for the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica