A Movie You Might Have Missed #84 — The Admiral: Roaring Currents

It's been 12 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.

Based on a true story, this is the astonishing tale of a legendary battle against overwhelming odds: the embattled Koreans with 12 ships against the invading Japanese navy with 300 ships. And also of the extraordinarily talented Admiral Yi  Sun-sin who masterminded a victory. 

We'd never heard of this admiral or battle because it is from halfway around the world and long ago. It's always nice to find another fascinating story from history while you're watching a great movie. 

It was well acted, directed, and edited so that I could not only follow the naval battles but tell apart key characters who, to my unschooled eyes, were hard to tell apart because of unfamiliar uniforms. I especially liked the Admiral's son who is learning tactics and whose reactions mirror ours. The spy and his wife also were favorites of ours, especially as their importance to the battle was revealed.

Hansan: Rising Dragon  is a prequel of another of the younger Admiral Yi's lauded battles. The third and final movie is Noryang: Deadly Sea. Both are wonderful also.

We got the dvd from our library which had subtitles so we got the all the actors' original intonations. I understand that it originally streamed with dubbed English. It's available to rent on Amazon.

Summertime

Summertime by Mary Cassatt, c. 1894
via Wikipedia

There's something about Mary Cassatt's art. I simply love it.

The Painter's Garden

Der Garten der Malerin (The Painter's Garden), Edward B. Gordon

I've followed Edward B. Gordon for years and have featured many of his paintings here over the years. This lovely piece is made even lovelier by his reflection on it.

When my mother set eyes on this piece of land in 1999, there were only a few old oak trees and grass. If visitors were announced, you could see them on the horizon a week beforehand. Then she traded her paints, canvases, brushes and pencils for spades, Wellington boots, wheelbarrows and watering cans. The lines of her new drawings were bamboo grasses, birches and fruit trees, the perspective became an avenue, planes and shapes became bushes and leaves, the colours of her palette became the magnificent blossoms of rhododendrons, roses and lilies, dandelions and lavender. It fills my heart with deep humility and great joy to be able to paint all this 24 years on.

The world must be hungry

Eight out of ten letters about Cross Creek ask for a recipe, or pass on a recipe, or speak of suffering over my chat of Cross Creek dishes.

"Bless us," I thought, "the world must be hungry."

And so it is. Hungry for food an drink — not so much for the mouth as for the mind; not for the stomach but for the spirit.

... Food imaginatively and lovingly prepared, and eaten in good company, warms the being with something more than the mere intake of calories.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek Cookery

It really is the company that makes the meal come alive. Rawlings wrote this in 1949 so it is unsurprising she was getting so many letters about food, many of them from soldiers overseas. However, it inevitably calls to mind Proverbs 15:17, which takes it one step further "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."

The Importance of the Family Table

The table was the place for family business and for family quarrels as much as a place for eating. but most important, it was where we shared stories and learned lessons. I remember one night when the subject of managing money came up. Daddy took ten dimes out of his pocket and laid them out on the tablecloth. He said, "You give the first dime to the church. The second dime goes in your savings account. And you live on the rest." That, he said, was called tithing, and is how we should manage our money and our lives.

At that small white table in our hot kitchen, we learned the values and traditions that I later tried to teach — to recommend to — my own children.

Robert Khayat, quoted in A Gracious Plenty

This was my own experience too in raising our own children. The dinner table is where you catch up on everyone's day, hear about interesting things people have read or heard that you wouldn't have come across otherwise, and generally enjoy each other's company. Years later, with a grown daughter and my mother living with us, the dinner table serves the same function. It's a social time that I enjoy greatly and benefits us in ways we wouldn't otherwise experience.

June

June, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry

Harvest time - the peasants are moving the meadow in unison, with the Hotel de Nesle, the Duc's Parisian residence, in the background.

University of Chicago

Texas Bluebonnets 2023

Bluebonnets, Jason Merlo (shared by permission)

Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year by Eleanor Parker

Winters in the World is a beautifully observed journey through the cycle of the year in Anglo-Saxon England, exploring the festivals, customs, and traditions linked to the different seasons.

Drawing on a wide variety of source material, including poetry, histories, and religious literature, Eleanor Parker investigates how Anglo-Saxons felt about the annual passing of the seasons and the profound relationship they saw between human life and the rhythms of nature. 

It celebrates some of the finest treasures of medieval literature and provides an imaginative connection to the Anglo-Saxon world.

I expected this book to be interesting. I didn't expect to fall in love with it. Eleanor Parker weaves a tapestry of poetry, literature, history, religion, and language to go through the seasons and practices of the Anglo-Saxon year. The result is a masterpiece that gave me a real sense of connection with the people of long ago.

I was surprised to see how much I resonated with the Anglo-Saxon poetry. I've read Beowulf and really enjoyed it. The poems featured in this book were beautiful, nuanced, and had a depth of meaning. They spoke to me in a way that a lot of other poetry doesn't. I'll be picking up an anthology of them for future reading.

I also was surprised to see how integral the Catholic faith was in the Anglo-Saxon world. I'd expected to read a fair amount about pagan rituals but the author made it clear that this was a Christian world with only a glancing relationship with pagan religions. The way the faith was practiced then was, of course, different than now but there was enough in common to make me feel a connection with those times. In fact, I now am interested in getting my hands on some of Aelfric's homilies, many excerpts of which were featured in this book.

Most of all I felt a deep appreciation with the sacred cycle of time both then and now. I really love the Catholic liturgical cycles and how they connect with the natural world. This book brings that to the fore since the Anglo-Saxons were so much more in tune with nature and the seasons.

All this combines to make a work of rare value. It will be interesting to the history or literature buff. For me, I found my prayer life took on new focus and depth. As I went through my day or the recent liturgical seasons, I thought of those long-ago Catholic Anglo-Saxons doing the same thing, taking it seriously, knowing that prayer matters, that saints will rush to your aid, that God gives us all that is good in life beginning with the riches of the natural world around us.

Highly recommended.

Sister Wilhemina and When it comes to bodies, just how ‘incorrupt’ is ‘incorruptible’?

The Catholic internet is buzzing with news of the body of Benedictine Sister's foundress Sister Wilhemina seemingly being incorrupt. I mentioned it here.

The Pillar has a couple of great pieces about this. The first, When it comes to bodies, just how ‘incorrupt’ is ‘incorruptible’? is about what it means to be incorrupt and how the Church evaluates it.

The second is from JD Flynn who lives close enough to drive over and see for himself what's going on. It turns out he's not the only one. Thousands are flocking to Gower Abbey and a fascinating part of the story is how the locals are all pitching in to make the experience work smoothly, from parking to bathrooms to crowd control. 

Read I want to see for myself which has a really indepth piece including interviews with the nuns, pilgrims, and locals. Here's a bit:

Indeed, I am not an expert, but I spent a fair amount of time in the direct presence of Sr. Wilhelmina’s body, and I was astounded by what I saw: Her skin, though now covered with a light transparent layer of wax, appeared to be intact and preserved, and limbs and hands and feet seemed not to have decomposed at all. I was most astounded that as I knelt directly in front of her body, there was no odor at all of decay or decomposition.

Since the nun was not embalmed, buried four years ago, and found with a cracked coffin in wet and muddy earth, that seems extraordinary to me. Again, I am not an expert, and I allow that there might be some natural explanation of what’s happened to Sr. Wilhelmina’s body, but I was astounded — and as readers know, I’m often pretty cynical.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I drove to Gower Abbey. I half-believed there might be no one there at all. Instead, I came upon a crowd of thousands who had come to see the nun, and had come to pray. Some were devout Catholics, some were not Catholic at all. Some came skeptically, and some came hoping for a miracle.

Dinner at a Boarding House

A salesman who travels southern Georgia and Alabama was told of a boarding house in a small town in his territory that had great food. One day he saw some cars parked outside of a house that looked right and went in. There were about ten people sitting at a big dining table heaped with food. He took an empty chair. He was a chatty type, and so were they. They passed the platters, and he ate his fill. When he stood up and asked the lady at the head of the table how much he owed her, she said, "Oh, you don't owe anything. This is a private home. We hope you enjoyed your dinner.

Gail Greenblatt, quoted in A Gracious Plenty

This is the ultimate in gracious hospitality. I wonder what we would do if someone came walking in and sat down at the table, exuding bonhomie, and joined in as if he belonged there. I feel sure we wouldn't have handled it with the aplomb of that family.

Clock at Church of the Holy Spirit

Finely carved clock of the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn, Estonia,
work by Christian Ackermann (late 17th century)
Via Wikipedia

This is the oldest public clock in Tallinn, and reminds us how important the Church was for daily life: religious services, announced by a peal of bells, would have structured the day and the week. The central sunburst on the clock refers not only to the passage of the sun across the sky, but also to the light of God, which was often depicted like this in the 17th century. The Holy Spirit frequently appears at the centre of this light and His presence can be assumed here, from the name of the church itself.

Today we combine the art and inspirational quote. That is often the case in Richard Stemp's wonderful book The Secret Language of Churches & Cathedrals. Not only does it, as the subhead says, decode the sacred symbolism of Christianity's holy buildings, but the author's commentary often lifts my spirit higher as he connects the realms of art, faith, and place.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #83: The Outfit

It's been 12 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.

A gripping and masterful thriller in which an expert tailor (Mark Rylance) must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night.

This little film is like a puzzle in a box. Every time you think you know how the pieces fit, another twist comes up to throw the viewer (and our master tailor) for a loop.

I came for Mark Rylance and he didn't disappoint. The rest of the cast were perfect at being various "types" of gangsters needed. We've seen these gangsters before but not used precisely as they are here. We've not seen the tailor anywhere before. I liked the way the characters all had more than one dimension and could be almost likable at times.

I saw this described as an old school thriller and also as an unpredictable whodunit and both descriptions were right. Definitely worth a watch.

Stained Glass and the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Stained glass depiction of Jesus and His Most Sacred Heart, in Germany.
via Wikipedia

Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of your well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto you in the name of sinners. In your great goodness, grant pardon to those who seek your mercy, in the name of the same your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, world without end.

Looking at Light

In the same way that Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Light of the World, and yet remained a virgin, light can pass through glass without altering the glass. When the glass is coloured, the symbolism deepens: the light takes on the same colour as the glass, just as God had “passed through” Mary, and took on her nature, humanity, in the form of Jesus.

Richard Stemp, The Secret Language of
Churches & Cathedrals

Saint in Prayer

Saint in prayer, Joaquín Sorolla, 1887

I love Sorolla's paintings. This one must have been a favorite because he "always kept it in a special place in their house, as revealed by many of the photographs of the artist’s various studios and dwellings." Read more at the Museo del Prado's site.

I myself like the fact that we can't see the face. It could be any of us and, indeed, is what we should be striving for — to become a saint!

Juni (June)

Juni (June), Theo Van Hoytema

 

Ransomware and Rereading — The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

At the beginning of May the City of Dallas suffered a citywide ransomware attack. All city services had to learn to operate again without the computer. The police and emergency services went back to the time-honored practice of using radio dispatchers and a pen and paper. The courts have been closed because legal materials for each case were online and now are gone ... or buried in whatever there is left of the system. As far as we can tell, they're having to rebuild the whole system from scratch.

As library users, this has been almost the equivalent of when the pandemic hit. There is no computer access, of course. You can go to a local branch and peruse the materials. But you must just see what that particular branch has. There's no citywide access to the catalog or, for that matter, no catalog to check at all. 

You can check out materials. They enter the info into a Word file which will be reintegrated with the whole system when it is back. I have no idea how they're going to know what everyone already had checked out. They aren't accepting materials back in because they have no way to check them back in.

Of course, we figure the library will be the last system to come back to normal once Dallas systems begin coming back online. They're a pretty low priority in the big picture.

Which is a very long introduction to why I've been rereading so many goldie oldies from our own shelves. (Well, that and the flu.) It's been kind of nice being forced to fall back on our own resources and rediscover so many books I love.

This is the story of Corlath, golden-eyed king of the Free Hillfolk, son of the sons of the Lady Aerin.

And this is the story of Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl who became Harimad-sol, King's Rider, and heir to the Blue Sword, Gonturan, that no woman had wielded since the Lady Aerin herself bore it into battle.

And this is the song of the kelar of the Hillfolk, the magic of the blood, the weaver of destinies...

This another one that I loved when it came out and haven't reread for a long time. Consequently, I remembered the big beats but not a few of the twists toward the end. Likewise, I'd forgotten the many elements that made this compelling. I found it grabbed me by the throat and I couldn't put it down — what a great read!

To quote another review, this is "a near-perfect short fantasy novel" and "an original work fantasy lovers shouldn't overlook."

Captain Vincenzo Lunardi with his assistant George Biggin, and Mrs. Letitia Anne Sage, in a balloon

Captain Vincenzo Lunardi with his assistant George Biggin,
and Mrs. Letitia Anne Sage, in a balloon,
painted by John Francis Rigaud, 1785

From J.R.'s Art Place, where he has fascinating details:

Captain Lunardi was a pioneering aeronaut, who with his English assistant George Biggin put on several demonstrations of early balloon flight. This painting depicts one of the flights, but was painted in advance--during the actual flight, the weight of passengers proved too heavy and so only Biggin and Mrs. Sage took part. The painting was probably used to publicize the event.

The flight took off from London and lasted 90 minutes, followed by landing in a field, where Biggin and Sage had to be assisted by schoolboys in fending off an irate farmer angry at the damage to his crops.

As the first British woman to fly, Mrs. Sage later wrote an account of her flight titled "A Letter, Addressed to a Female Friend, By Mrs. Sage, the First English Female Aerial Traveller" that was printed and sold as a pamphlet.

Cistercian Architecture

Cistercian Architecture: Poblet Monastery, Catalonia
via Barcelona Photoblog

Isn't this lovely? I can just imagine slowly pacing along it, looking out at whatever is on the other side of those open arches.

Click through to Barcelona Photoblog for a bigger image and to see details about this architecture.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #82 — A Taxi Driver

It's been 12 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.

In 1980, a foreign journalist hires a down-on-his-luck taxi driver to take him to Gwangju, South Korea. They soon arrive to find a city under siege by student protesters and the military. A Taxi Driver brings a ground-level perspective and a refreshingly light touch to a fact-based story with sobering implications.

I'd never heard of this 2017 movie which was wildly popular in Korea and was their entry to the Oscar foreign film nominations that year. Knowing only the brief description above and having a vague memory of Korea as having military dictatorship issues in the 1980s we launched into the movie.

As with the Indian movie Airlift, we were introduced to a piece of history we had never heard of. It turns out that the taxi driver, Mr. Kim, is the perfect character through whose eyes we should view the military lockdown of Gwangju. He also had no idea of the violence being perpetrated upon the protesters and innocent civilians. Following the reporter as he follows leads to the heart of the riots, the depth of the violence and oppression gradually unfold. We get to meet other taxi drivers as they help first with repairs and then with more important things. As the story goes on,  the driver begins seeing a bigger picture than just his own interest and that everyone, however seemingly insignificant, plays a part in others' lives. 

Based on a real event, this is a combination of fact about the photographer and fiction about the driver.  Kim's identity was unknown when the film was made so his story is fictional aside from his time with the photographer. Nevertheless, it is very effective and provides both a much needed lighter approach and "everyman" view which takes the audience along.

I came away grateful for good reporters determined to get the truth to the people. I also thought of the war reporters who have been dying in Ukraine. And I was reminded of how desperate the Ukranians' plight is, even as they fight with all they have. Those trends were personified in this movie.

As I mentioned, this reminded me of both Airlift and also of Argo. Fans of those movies will not be disappointed.