Bread

Bread, Duane Keiser

God wrote not a poem but rather a play

According to most philosophers, God in making the world enslaved it. According to Christianity, in making it, He set it free. God had written, not so much a poem, but rather a play; a play he had planned as perfect, but which had necessarily been left to human actors and stage-managers, who had since made a great mess of it.

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Gathering Dead Leaves

Gathering Dead Leaves by Ernest Biéler
Via J.R.'s Art Place

Sliding Standards and Job Hunting

My standards were sliding swiftly. At first I had insisted I would only work at a company with a mission I believed in. Then I thought maybe it would be fine as long as I was learning something new. After that I decided it just couldn’t be evil. Now I was carefully delineating my personal definition of evil.

Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Spooky Listening

Something to remind us that Halloween is coming at the end of the month!

A short audio program celebrating our creepiest holiday. Hosted by the Halloween Haunter. History, customs, traditions, as well as spooky stories and poems.

I've been listening to this for years and it is always entertaining. It has a great blend of material and usually isn't much longer than 7 or 8 minutes. It hasn't been updated since 2018 but there is so much material there that you won't run out or get bored.

Here you will find stories from master storytellers such as HG Wells, MR James, Edgar Allan Poe, and HP Lovecraft, and hopefully be introduced to new authors and stories you may not have encountered before. As well as short fiction, we will also present assorted weird verses and poems, and retell some old folk-tales and legends .

Mr. Jim Moon is a wonderful reader of spooky tales. From the Great Library of Dreams is a spin off of his Hypnogoria podcast where he delves into the history of the weird so that's also a good Halloween choice.

Spooked features true-life supernatural stories, told firsthand by people who can barely believe it happened themselves. Be afraid. Created in the dark of night, by Snap Judgment and WNYC Studios.

Snap Judgment has featured spooky shows since the beginning. Here they are broken out into half-hour segments, usually with a couple of stories in each episode. This has become a Halloween tradition.

The Moonlit Road features Southern ghost stories, folktales, myths, legends and other strange tales from the dark backroads of the American South, told by the region's best storytellers.

Classic ghost stories, with a few original ones mixed in, that are usually around 10 minutes long and well told. Another one I've listened to for years. You can also read them at the website.

Ready for the Dance

Ready for the Dance. Augustin Jules Bouvier.
Via Books and Art

 

L'élégante au livre d'éstampes japonaises

L'élégante au livre d'éstampes japonaises (1879). Jules-Emile Saintin.
An elegant lady reads and studies a book of Japanese prints.
Via Books and Art

 

Psalm 25 — He teaches sinners and the humble His way.

When enemies surround you, lift up your soul to God in Psalm 25, and you will see these evildoers put to flight.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

This psalm is all about finding the way or path of the Lord. God teaches and leads even the guilty sinners. This is one we all need.

Verses 1 to 7a of Psalm 25 in the 12th-century St. Albans Psalter

I tend to forget that when I'm not being humble, it's as if I'm telling God I know better than he does.

25.9 God Teaches the Humble

Instructing the Humble. Augustine. [God] will teach his ways not to those who want to run on ahead, as if they could rule themselves better than he can, but to those who do not strut about with their heads i the air or dig in their heels, when his easy yoke and light burden are set on them. Expositions on the Psalms.

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

25:21 Wait for God

Love by His Strength. Cassiodorus. The church says that the innocent and upright have adhered to the church because it waited on the Lord; otherwise it could not love such people if it was not seen to be confident of such strength. Explanation of the Psalms.

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

I like the fact that it is the humble sinner who is beseeching God. No matter how hard I try I will never be perfect. It is God's grace to us as we are which gives hope and love.

Those humble sinners who fear Yahweh also hope and trust only in him. It is important to note that it is "hope" and "trust" that link the humble sinners to the covenant with God, not sinless obedience. Here is a clear statement of the gospel of grace in the heart of the Old Testament. When the psalmist declares that "all the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant", we immediately think of the law and the necessity of keeping its commandments. But the broader context of this psalm chips away at our traditional view of an Old Testament covenant of law and sharpens our vision of a covenant of grace offered to sinners in both Old and New Testaments. The Torah is then the guidebook by which "sinners" are led into a covenant of grace, acknowledging their sinfulness and relying wholly on the gracious mercy of God for salvation.

Psalms vol. 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

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

Rama Rama Re

A mesmerizing and often humorous road trip with an escaped convict, an old man with a mission, and an eloping couple fleeing their enraged families. As happens with such journeys they encounter other people on missions of their own and in the end the encounters interweave to a connected tale. This is a movie to take in as it washes over you.

It was put into perspective by the opening song from Sita to Lord Ram about her dharma. This is followed up immediately by a police official watching a TV show where Sita is walking into the fire, the result, she says, of a bad choice and of having to carry out her dharma (the duty she was assigned to fulfill in life). I'd forgotten about that by the finale until the singers encountered at the end closed the circle and made the conclusion perfect. Sita, Ram, and dharma are part of the Ramayana which is an epic tale that we have encountered many times in other movies. 

As a result, this made us think of favorite movies which depend heavily on Christian religious symbolism for deep layers of meaning below the obvious surface story such as The Mill and the Cross, Babette's Feast, and Tokyo Godfathers.

As Americans we have at best a basic understanding of the Ramayana and Hinduism, so we know we missed tons. We are now in need of a thoughtful Indian viewer who could explain more of the symbolism and underlying themes. But we loved what we did understand and will be watching this again.

RATING — VERY ADVANCED. As you can tell from the review, this is probably too advanced for us, but like all good movies it stands on its own as a story. We certainly liked it. If you are adventurous, give it a try. 

 If you want a basic telling of the Ramayana go watch Sita Sings the Blues free on Tubi. You'll also get to see a delightful movie that way!

Hannah and Rose discuss this in episode 50 of An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

Mental Arithmetic

 

Mental Arithmetic, Thomas Cooper Gotch
Via My Daily Art Display

The Canadian Nights by Katharine Campbell

The president of the United States has a giant red button on his desk. If he ever chose to push this button, it would send the world into chaos. This button is for emergencies only and is designed to break the internet.

How do I know this button exists? Please, everyone knows it exists.

In The Canadian Nights, this infamous button is pressed while the Canadian prime minister is live streaming a hockey game. Without hockey to vent his pent-up aggression, the Canadian prime minister snaps. He stops saying "please" and "thank you". He pushes past people without saying "excuse me". He even litters. That's right he drops a gum wrapper on the sidewalk and doesn't pick it up.

Worst of all, he has all US citizens on Canadian soil arrested and declares he will throw one to a horde of angry beavers every day until the President restores the internet.

But one brave US citizen, Amala Patel, comes up with a plan to stop the carnage. She volunteers to be the next victim on the condition that the prime minister listen to her tell a story before her mauling. The bored, internet-starved prime minister agrees and becomes so enthralled by her fables that he continually postpones her mauling so he can hear more. The Canadian Nights is a compilation of Amala's sixteen best fables.

Katharine Campbell uses this idea as a framework to showcase some truly hilarious short stories. There's a modern twist in all of them but they all hearken back to the traditional fairy stories whose premises we know. Some stories had a pointed message, albeit one that you can easily ignore*, and some were just funny takes on familiar tropes. That makes them work on two levels. My favorites were Elves vs. Elves: A Christmas Miracle and The Smart Home Rebellion but all of them were good.

I first encountered Katharine Campbell's writing in her fractured fairy tale Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors which was also funny and which I also enjoyed a lot. It had a very different feel from this and I'm looking forward to seeing what genre she chooses to skewer next. 

 

* Although ignoring the pointed message about insider trading may cause cancer in the state of California.

Crested Forest Tit

Crested Forest Tit, Remo Savisaar

 

So Much Fun: Lupin, Only Murders in the Building

Only Murders in the Building follows three strangers, played by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, who share an obsession with a true crime podcast. After a murder in their building, the three neighbors decide to start their own show that covers their investigation of the murder.

We were attracted to this by seeing Steve Martin in the ad. We've watched two episodes. It is clever and funny and the performances are great. Somehow it is like a throwback to the old murder mystery shows while being thoroughly modern. If you haven't heard of this, try it out. The first season of six episodes is on Hulu, with a second season in the works.

 

Lupin is a French mystery thriller series starring Omar Sy in the role of Assane Diop, a man who is inspired by the adventures of master thief Arsène Lupin. The first part, consisting of five episodes, is subtitled Dans l'ombre d'Arsène (In the Shadow of Arsène), referring to the primary character's inspiration. The series became the most-watched non-English series on Netflix.

A lot of people know about this one but we've liked it so much that if you are waiting to try it out, just jump in! It was recommended to us a lot of times but we had other things we had to finish first! Now the time has come and it was worth the wait. 

Omar Sy, Paris, and a crusade to redeem his father's reputation (tarnished at the hands of an evil millionaire, of course) are a combination made to please. We fell in love with Omar Sy in Intouchables, a movie I've pushed a lot around here. His charm and talent are undeniable and a pleasure to watch. I'd read and enjoyed the whimsical tone of the Lupin mysteries, a French series that ran long ago around the same time as the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. These mysteries only slightly intersect with those long ago tales, but the tone is the same — whimsical, ingenious, and Lupin (or Diop) always wins. Paris is almost another character because it adds so much atmosphere to the show.

Two seasons of five episodes each are on Netflix, with a third season in the works.

Learning to Knit

Ernst Bieler

There was no title for this painting that I could find. The loving look on the mother's face, the intent expression of the little girl, and the knitting itself all make this a painting that I love.

Three Sisters

Three Sisters by Yamakawa Shūhō, 1936.
Via J.R.'s Art Place

A Journey with Jonah by Paul Murray, OP

Jonah is the only ancient prophet with whom Jesus identifies in the Gospels. But when we turn to read the book of Jonah itself, we discover that this so-called “book” is only two pages long―and that Jonah’s prophesying is limited to one short sentence. And yet, around this small book, as if it were around Jonah’s own troubled ship, high waves of controversy and mystery have swirled for centuries. In A Journey with Jonah: The Spirituality of Bewilderment, Fr. Paul Murray strives to uncover the great lesson of this story.

This was more scholarly than I expected but was still very readable as a deep dive into the Book of Jonah. Word on Fire has bundled together three short pieces to form a meditation: 3 chapters from Father Paul Murray which were first published in 2002, a 2003 lectio divina from Cardinal Ratzinger (who was later Pope Benedict XVI) In English for the first time, and the Book of Jonah itself (which I thought was a nice touch).

Murray's reflections range through a lot of sources while keeping the focus on the deeper meanings found beneath the surface. Both it and Ratzinger's examination provide lots of food for thought. I liked both and recommend the book.

You may think past ages were good ...

Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings? And yet you hear people complaining about this present day and age because things were so much better in former times. I wonder what would happen if they could be taken back to the days of their ancestors — would we not still hear them complaining? You may think past ages were good, but it is only because you are not living in them.

St. Augustine, Sermon

Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene

I can't remember where I heard about this take on Don Quixote by Graham Greene but it sounded like a fairly cheerful introduction to an author whose books always sound depressing. And it was. Father Quixote is a descendant of the famous book's hero. Yes, he knows the book is fictional. When he's promoted to Monsignor he goes on a road trip in his aged car Rocinante, with his friend Sancho who is the newly deposed Communist mayor of the town. 

I know just enough broad plot points from Don Quixote to see where Greene uses them in his own updated way for this charming book. The rambling trip and conversation are amusing, thought provoking, and inspiring.

Cheese Pennies and Classic Chess Pie

 When my book club gathered to discuss Uncle Tom's Cabin I wanted to do a bit of a theme for refreshments. Researching classic Kentucky dishes (that's where Tom's story begins for us, on the Shelby's farm) I found Cheese Pennies and Chess Pie come from way back. The pennies are cheese crackers and the chess pie is very lemony, without being a lemon pie!

I'm just sure that's what Aunt Chloe would have served to the Governor when he came for dinner. Try them and see what you think!

Air-King Radio

Radio [1930-33] Air-King Products, New York
Via the Brooklyn Museum

Why can't our things be designed like this any more?