Weekend Joke

Right now, I’m having amnesia and deja-vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.

Steven Wright

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

I have a review of this cookbook up at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen. I like it so much that I didn't wait until I was finished to talk about it, so check it out.

eBook Sale at Subterranean Press

We're down to the last few days of our ebook sale, where almost all of our titles have seen their prices dropped to the $.99 to $2.99 range. If you check out our ebook section, you'll find links to some honking big volumes (over 200,000 words each), including Cryptic (Jack McDevitt), The Best of Lucius Shepard, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox (Barry Hughart).

We haven't neglected the shorter gems. Our novellas, including The God Engines (John Scalzi), The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (Ted Chiang), and Muse of Fire (Dan Simmons), are part of the sale, as well.

Bridge of Birds is the most popular book I've ever read at Forgotten Classics (thank you again Barry Hughart for your generous permission). Now is your chance to pick up the eBook of his trilogy about Number Ten O and Master Li.

As well as a number of other great books. Just pick up anything by Ted Chiang. You can thank me later.

Subterranean Press's entire eBook list is here.

Now Mr. Ravioli just sits in the corner and reads ... while we talk about "Mary and Max"

And Scott is understandably confuzzled by the whole thing. So why did we watch it? Find out at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen

In which a Chinese emperor learns the value of one of his humblest subjects. Now playing at Forgotten Classics and read for us by Joseph from Zombie Parent's Guide.

Thanks to Joseph and Will, it's a regular smorgasbord of good listening over there! Don't miss out!

Confuzzlement* Abounds: Reviewing Mary and Max

Scott and I discussed Mary and Max for episode 43 of A Good Story is Hard to Find so I'm rerunning this review for anyone interested. The episode will air tomorrow.

Rose plucked this off the video rental shelf, saying she watched it after it showed up in her Netflix movie recommendation. She described it as being about a penpal friendship developed between a lonely 8-year-old Australian girl and an equally lonely 40-year-old New York man. They correspond for 20 years and we see how their lives are changed.

I would tell you more of the plot but that sums it up well enough. It probably is best categorized as a black comedy. There is plenty of humor, some of it rather subtle, although the movie often surprises with how serious some of the subject matter is and the depth to which the filmmaker is willing to explore it. This is all aided by the fact that Mary and Max are each, in their own way, complete innocents who write exactly what they are thinking, whether it will hurt or confuse the other person or not. This results in confuzzlement* not only for the main characters but also for the viewer at times. At one point I realized I was hanging on for dear life to the idea that the story would take a turn for the better. In fact, just like real life, the movie takes us through the comic and tragic which often are intertwined ... and does it brilliantly.

Although animated, this is not (repeat: NOT) a film for children. It is a stop-motion, claymation depiction of a story intended for adult audiences.

It also is the film that made me realize if the definition of an extrovert is someone who must discuss ideas aloud to understand them, then I am an extrovert. I was really not sure what I thought of this movie until after the entire family's animated discussion which followed for the rest of the evening. That conversation greatly clarified my thoughts, especially as everyone had been struck by different points.

At one point I asked, "Is it a movie to recommend to others?" Tom instantly responded, "It is a move that must be seen by anyone who values a richly told story." He is right. It is a film for those who are interested in stories exploring the heights and depths that imperfection, perception, and sheer humanity bring to our lives and the lives of those we touch (even if simply through letters). In fact, I imagine that at some point I will be watching this again to see more of the details and subtleties I missed the first time around. First though, I must have time to let this sink in more fully. It's that kind of a movie.


*Confuzzlement: confusion + puzzlement. Watch the movie. You'll see where it comes from. It is now a new household term for us.

Movie Talk: Six More Fast Ones

A few more of the movies we watched this summer.

• The Seahawk: Ferdy on Films (which any movie lovers should be reading) began an occasional series talking about "films of high adventure." This was a highly recommended movie and I highly recommend it as well. When you have Errol Flynn pirating Spanish ships for Queen Elizabeth then you've got good fun ... and high adventure. Grade: A.
  
  
• Hugo: Martin Scorses's film version of the very popular book for young readers. Although the look and acting were spot-on, about halfway through the movie suddenly took on another complete storyline. It felt as if there was too much trying to be said at one time ... or something. I got the book from the library and the movie did indeed seem to be faithful to the book. Perhaps that extreme faithfulness was the problem as film is such a different storytelling medium.  Grade: C.
  
  
• The Adventures of Robin Hood: starring Errol Flynn and many of the actors from The Seahawk, this was a much less successful movie from my point of view. It may have gone over well back in the day for Robin and his Merry Men to actually stand, fists on hips, chortling, "Ha, ha, ha!" when Little John tosses Robin in the stream and other such scenes of merriment. However it just seemed lame from our vantage point. Also, the story was less complex and much less engaging than The Seahawk. I have had Captain Blood recommended as Flynn's best swashbuckler so that has gone on my list.
  
  
• Witness for the Prosecution: a classic Agatha Christie novella (or play or short story?) focusing on a courtroom trial. I chose it for Charles Laughton's performance which was wonderful, as indeed was every performance in the film. The cast includes Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Powers so that isn't surprising. Unfortunately I remembered the twist ending from my many rereadings of Christie stories but Tom didn't see it coming and said that he was surprised, so it holds up well. Grade: A.
  
  
• The Mark of Zorro: After seeing Tyrone Powers in Witness for the Prosecution, I recalled that he was in many swashbucklers a la Errol Flynn and rented this 1940 Zorro movie. It was truly wonderful and I actually found myself remembering Flynn's performances as ... well ... much more wooden than I thought them at the time. In other words, Powers was subtler, funnier, and just plain better in his part. This is a great excuse to watch more swashbucklers in the future.
  
  
• Hanna: A teenage girl has been raised in isolation by her father somewhere Scandinavian. He's been emphasizing the lethal arts and when she says that she's "ready" to enter the modern world we find out why. Well, we actually don't find out "why" until much later but we can see that she needs her acquired skills as there are lethal forces out after this sweet looking teenager. I was interested in her encounters with real civilization and trying to make friends with a family she encounters, but the movie dashes on in favor of displaying more lethality. (I'm almost positive that's a word.) Ho hum. There were a few brief attempts to tie the story to fairy tales and many missed opportunities to do so. Had that been done more successfully this movie would have been deeper and more interesting. As it was, this is almost as bad as Taken. Let's leave it there.

Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest

"I'm not absolutely certain of my facts, but I rather fancy it's Shakespeare--or, if not, it's some equally brainy lad--who says that it's always just when a chappie is feeling particularly top-hole, and more than usually braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with a bit of lead piping. There's no doubt the man's right. It's absolutely that way with me. Take, for instance, the fairly rummy matter of Lady Malvern and her son Wilmot...."

Will Duquette reads for us at Forgotten Classics.

Weekend Joke: Mrs. Jesus

Someone asked me last week what I thought of the news reports that "Jesus was married." My first reaction, like The Curt Jester's it turns out, was surprise that the story wasn't saved to report near Christmas or Easter which seems to be when most of the ridiculous stories about Christ are reported as "news."

Honestly, a scrap of papyrus from the 4th century refers to this and it is treated as "news?" Meanwhile, people feel free to pull apart the Gospels which were written during the lifetime of those who followed Christ.

The best part was the jokes, some of which the Wall Street Journal printed this morning.

What would Jesus do? Whatever Mrs. Jesus told him to!
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Didn't the man suffer enough as it was?

And The Curt Jester is not to be outdone. Here is my favorite of the quips he made.

If Jesus had a wife she would never have allowed him to go out all night with the boys at the Garden of Gethsemane.

Go read the others and have a good laugh because that's all that so-called "news" is worth.

Blogging Around: The "Everything Old Is New Again" Edition

Eat Dinner With Your Kids Every Day

The older I get – I’m 62 now – the more I appreciate what my Mom and Dad did for us Dolan kids. We had dinner together every night when Dad got home from work. The meals weren’t elaborate (we couldn’t afford elaborate!) but they were vitally important for us to talk with one another, listen to one another, and, yes, be accountable to one another and to my parents.

I'm evangelical on this subject. It doesn't matter so much if you're eating chicken nuggets as it does that you sit down together around the dinner table to do so. Just do it.

Archibishop Dolan has a lot to say about this also. He links it to attractive statistics like helping your kids stay drug-free. And all that is true, I'm sure. But my point is to be a family, you must act like a family. Families have dinner together.

Give Your Kids Chores. And Make Them Do Them.

... Chores not only teach children important life skills that will prepare them for living on their own, and impart a pull-your-own-weight work ethic, but recent studies show that starting chores at an early age gives children an enormous leg-up in other areas of their life as well.

Unfortunately, very few children today are getting the training at home they need to become industrious, responsible adults. Studies show that children in the West spend little time helping around the house.

The Art of Manliness puts this under their Dadliness category but it works for Momliness too. Again, to be a family, you must act like a family. Everyone in a family does chores because it is nicer for everyone in the end.

A "Rising Tide" of Threats to Religious Freedom

Speaking to politicians, diplomats and religious leaders (including representatives of all four major branches of Islam in Lebanon -- Sunni, Shi'ite, Druze and Alawite), the pope insisted that "religious freedom is the basic right on which many others depend."

A new report released Thursday by the Pew Forum illustrates why, at least in this case, it's impossible to argue that the concern is misplaced.

Based on analysis of 197 countries and territories, here's the sobering conclusion: "A rising tide of restrictions on religion spread around the world between mid-2009 and mid-2010."

John Allen ponders the topic. Me, I heard someone talking about Oliver Cromwell the other day and was horrified to find that his tactics sounded familiar in my life as an American.

The Unforeseen

We've begun reading this eerie book at Forgotten Classics. It's old but we're giving it new life.

Movie Talk: 6 Fast Ones

Over the summer we began watching three movies every weekend. I've been meaning to give a brief rundown of them but just now have gotten the time. This isn't all of them, but it is a beginning!

• Last Action Hero: A young movie fan suddenly is pulled into the movie world of his favorite action hero (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger). Not bad but not great either. I was urged to watch this by a thoughtful movie-loving pal. To be fair, I believe it was on his list of guilty pleasures, so I won't hold it against him that we were less than enthralled. I think if we'd have seen it when it came out we would have had a much more positive response. Grade: C.
  
  
• Love in the Afternoon: a classic starring Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper, written and directed by Billy Wilder. Hepburn plays a detective's daughter who is fascinated by a womanizer (Cooper) on whom her father (Maurice Chevalier) has extensive files. Frothy, fun, and it works despite the age differences. Grade: A.
  
  
• Only Angels Have Wings: Cary Grant plays an unusual role, that of a pilot running a South American airline. He eschews serious relationships because his heart broken back in the Big Apple. Jean Arthur is interested in changing his mind. I picked this up because it was huge in it's day and directed by Howard Hawks. Hawks isn't afraid to kill off a character to enhance the sense of adventure and I was literally on the edge of my seat a couple of times. Plenty of plot twists make it a fun movie, if something of a soap opera. Grade: B.
  
  
• Bill Cunningham, New York: A documentary about Bill Cunningham and his obsession with documenting the way people dress on the streets of NYC. He's 80, has been taking photographs for decades, and has New York Times photographer has two New York Times style columns. I'll cover this one more later but we were quite surprised by how inspirational we found Bill himself. Grade: A.
  
  
• Happy Go Lucky: a highly praised British film about Poppy and how cheerful she is in all circumstances. After 30 minutes I truly hated Poppy. Watching her giggle and grin after having a painful back adjustment I was wondering if she was either psychotic or a drug addict. Poppy  might have been bearable had a plot of any sort been included. We didn't finish it. Grade: F.
  
  
• Lost City: a wealthy family living in Havana in the 1950s is caught up in the revolution that places Fidel Castro in power. It actually was about a cabaret owner trying to keep his club open, but unfortunately we got dragged through every travail of all his family members while that was happening. Bill Murray's character was really out of place throughout. Overall not bad and I truly empathized with parts of it, but too long and rambling. Grade: C.

6 True Stories That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

#5. Random Acts of Kindness from People Who Had No Reason to Care

...Then we have Virginia Saenz. Let's say one day you get a wrong number phone call from a total stranger. It's a woman who leaves a nonsense message on your voice mail, addressing a person who doesn't live there, with a message that goes something like this: "I can send you money for groceries, but that won't leave me enough to pay my mortgage this month, and the house is already in foreclosure."

Saenz, a real estate agent whose only connection to these people was that her phone number was a couple of transposed digits away from theirs, could have just deleted the message. Or, if she was motivated to be a good Samaritan, Saenz could have called the person back to let her know she had gotten the wrong number, so she'd know that the person she had intended to call would never hear her message.

But instead, Saenz called the stranger back and said, "I'll take care of the groceries, don't worry about it." The lady, Lucy Crutchfield, had meant to leave a message for her daughter. Saenz contacted the daughter and bought her and her family enough groceries to get them through the end of the month, allowing Crutchfield to pay her mortgage.

That is only one of the examples given in #5. Imagine how good you'll feel after reading all of the true stories at Cracked.

Remember, this is Cracked which means it is salted with bad language. But if that doesn't bother you then you're going to like these stories.

The Power of Vulnerability

Brené Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share

We watched this TED Talk at work today ... hey, when we offer enrichment, we don't stop halfway. It is indeed an idea worth sharing and I hope you will take the time to watch.

Highly recommended.

The Catholic Things We Do: Reviewing "Catholicism" by Robert Barron

This review originally ran almost a year ago. Showing up to help with our parish's RCIA program, I was delighted to find it is occasionally going to be featuring a DVD from the Catholicism series that this book accompanies.

Watching the first one last week brought this marvelous book to mind. Surprised to find that no one had heard of it, I thought I'd rerun the review to remind all of us about it. I am inundated with new books these days and have fallen out of my former habit of rereading. That's a shame since a fast-reader like me often needs more than one reading to gain insights. I may have to pick up this book again. In the meantime, I recommend it to you.

============================

This review is also appearing in my A Free Mind column at Patheos.

Since my conversion, I have read many a book about saints, angels, prayer, virtues, and all those good Catholic subjects. Reviewing the list, however, I was surprised to see how few of them covered Catholicism as a whole.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, of course, is a reference I use regularly. The impeccable logic of Peter Kreeft's Catholic Christianity helped settle my mind about Catholic teachings on controversial issues. Catholicism for Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Catholic Catechism are favorite references.

None of them, however, are designed to be engaging, uplifting reading (although the Catechism certainly can perform that function).

Enter Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith by Father Robert Barron. Barron has the knack of articulating Catholic theology in a way that makes one sit up in astonishment and delight as well-worn concepts take on fresh, new life. Look at his presentation of what the Incarnation means to us, as human beings.

In their own ways, Marx, Freud, Feuerbach, and Sartre all maintain that God must be eliminated if humans are to be fully themselves. But there is none of this in the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation. The Word does indeed become human, but nothing of the human is destroyed in the process; God does indeed enter into his creation, but the world is thereby enhanced and elevated. The God capable of incarnation is not a competitive supreme being but rather, in the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the sheer act of being itself, that which grounds and sustains all of creation, the way a singer sustains a song.

And the Incarnation tells us the most important truth about ourselves: we are destined for divinization. The church fathers never tired of repeating this phrase as a sort of summary of Christian belief: Deus fit homo ut homo fieret Deus (God became human so that humans might become God). God condescended to enter into human flesh so that our flesh might partake of the divine life, that we might participate in the love that holds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in communion. And this is why Christianity is the greatest humanism that has ever appeared, indeed that could appear. No philosophical or political or religious program in history—neither Greek nor Renaissance nor Marxist humanism—has ever made a claim about human destiny as extravagant as Christianity's. We are called not simply to moral perfection or artistic self-expression or economic liberation but to what the Eastern fathers called theiosis, transformation into God.

God's noncompetitive love and our transformation into the divine are touchstones that Barron returns to throughout the book. As he presents Catholicism in all its complexity—from Jesus as warrior to Mary and the saints to the Eucharist and beyond—readers begin to grasp that love and transformation are indeed the core of the Catholic faith.

Barron's enthusiasm is palpable and his examples vivid. I especially enjoyed the way he wove imagery throughout his text, only to suddenly expand it to make larger theological points. I already was familiar with Noah's ark as an image of the Church, as a place of safety for all. However, it was a revelation when he took it one step further and pointed out how medieval architects reinforced the connection by endeavoring to make cathedrals look like great ships. He gave me potent, mind's-eye images that stuck with me through the rest of that section.

Here, Barron makes a similar leap, bringing the gospel to life, and into our immediate lives, with great enthusiasm.

Saints are those who have allowed Jesus thoroughly to transfigure them from within. Paul caught this when he observed, "yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). In chapter 5 of Luke's Gospel we find an odd story about Jesus and Peter. As the eager crowd presses in on him, Jesus spies two boats moored by the shore of the lake. Without asking permission, he gets into the boat belonging to Peter and says, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch" (Lk 5:4). What followed, as we have seen earlier when analyzing Mark's version of this scene, is the miraculous catch of fishes. Read with spiritual eyes, this story reveals the essential feature of sainthood. For a Galilean fisherman his boat was everything; it was his livelihood, his work, the means by which he supported his family. Peter's fishing vessel represents, therefore, his professional creativity, his link to the wider world, the key to his survival. Jesus simply gets into the boat and commences to give orders—and the result is the greatest catch Peter the fisherman ever made. Jesus' uninvited boarding of the vessel represents the invasion of grace, the incoming of the divine love into someone's life. Precisely because God is noncompetitive with creation, precisely because he wants human beings to come fully to life, this inrushing of grace does not destroy or interrupt what it invades; it enhances it and raises it to a new pitch. Peter, one presumes, had been successful enough as a fisherman, but now, under Jesus' direction, he goes out into the deep and brings in more than he could ever have imagined possible. This is what happens when we cooperate with grace, when we allow Christ to live his life in us.

The saints are those who have allowed Jesus to get into their boats and who have thereby become not superhuman or angelic but fully human, as alive as God intended them to be. The entire purpose of the church, as we have seen, is to produce saints.

The book is not perfect. Over a hundred black and white photos are included and they are well enough in their way, but color would have packed a greater punch. I would have traded the eight-page color plates at the center for colored photos scattered throughout the book, instead. Too many shots of great art were rendered unremarkable in black and white, which is ironic, as the book is a companion to a ten-part Catholicism television series. A key point of the series is the beauty of the Catholic faith as expressed through the work of human hands. While the book stands alone, it fails to amplify that beauty for its readers.

I also found that Barron occasionally couldn't resist diving instantly into complex concepts that might have done better with a more extended simple introduction. This is especially true in the chapter about prayer. He moves too quickly into the prayer lives of Thomas Merton, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila, all of whom may intimidate even seasoned Catholics with their far-reaching concepts. While Barron does address the sort of basic petitionary prayer that is the cornerstone of most people's experience, he quickly jumps to Merton. I was thoroughly confused halfway through and had to reread the chapter. Barron would have done well to recall that some readers may be completely new to prayer or may come from Christian backgrounds that might view the mystics with deep suspicion.

These points aside, Barron's book is a real treasure. His development of Heavenly imagery into a place I could actually imagine myself inhabiting has charged me with excitement about getting to Heaven. His points about Jesus as a warrior reminded me that I, too, am called to never give up, never surrender. His guide to Dante's Divine Comedy invested layers of meaning in the books about Purgatory and Heaven I completely missed when I read them.

Catholicism is a wonderful guide to the heart of the Catholic faith. It will no doubt explain the faith to many, and light the imaginations of those already on that journey.

Just Because I Like It - the Pope in Lebanon

From the Pope's visit to Lebanon. Something about this brings tears to my eyes ... it is that kind of jubilant feeling. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be inside the car?

This is from Margaret at ten thousand places who also excerpted three quotes from Pope Benedict's addresses so far. My favorite:

Why so much horror? Why so many dead? ... Those who wish to build peace must cease to see in the other an evil to be eliminated."

Pope Benedict XVI

Margaret links to a place with a lot more coverage. Drop by and browse.

Elsewhere ... Cooking and Booking

Here are some things I've got going on elsewhere.

Neapolitan Pizza Dough - at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen

The Unforeseen, chapter 1 by Dorothy Macardle - we begin an eerie novel by the author of one of the most popular books ever read at Forgotten Classics (The Uninvited).

Leave It To Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse - Bertie Wooster is in New York but he still needs Jeeves to consult for sticky problems. Read for Forgotten Classics by Will Duquette from The View From the Foothills.

Ora et Labora et Zombies - the first three letters read aloud at Forgotten Classics. Just a little something extra.

Latest Find: The Booth at the End

A mysterious Man sits at a booth at the end of a diner. People approach him because they've heard The Man has a gift. He can solve their problems: A parent with a sick child, a woman who wants to be prettier, a nun who has lost her faith. The Man can give these people what they want. For a price. The Man makes a proposition. In exchange for realizing their desires, these individuals must complete a task, return to The Man, and describe every step in detail. The trick is that these tasks are things that would normally be inconceivable to them. But The Man never forces anyone to do anything. It's always up to the individual to start - or stop. The Booth at the End asks the question: How far would you go to get what you want?

Seasons 1 and 2 are showing on Hulu now. Tom and I watched season one in one evening since there were only five 23-minute episodes. It was like a movie length show that way.

This is a fascinating premise that gives the writers opportunities to examine choice, free will, destiny, and similar questions. I was interested in the way that people's stories wound up being intertwined and the contrasts it showed in what everyone focused on once they were in the middle of trying to complete their tasks. I was also fascinated by The Man's relationship with The Book.

Rose turned us onto this although once I began looking around the internet I realized that this show has been intensely discussed by its viewers. And somehow I completely missed Joseph Susanka's column about it although I thought I'd read all his pieces.

That's ok, I don't mind coming late to the party and pointing the way for those who haven't come across it yet.

What I Learned During My Time Off

It wasn't the blogging time that was distracting me nearly as much as the reading time. I dumped my RSS reader and went back to an old idea, using my blog roll.

It's been updated from the reader I was using and it is infinitely more restful to click through to the places I want to read and not feel the pressure of all the posts that have been collected for me to read.

Just thought I'd pass that along.

I'm Baaack!

I missed you!

I'd find neat stuff and want to share it ... so let's catch up!

Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time

As a Community fan I love this!  It also will be enjoyed by Dr. Who fans, or so I'm told.

Inspector Spacetime Poster

In related news, via Dan Harmon, go see this fantastic Inspector Spacetime poster.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Jerry Seinfeld's new series. Tom discovered this. Good thing he's following a film news website now that Rose is living in L.A.

The show is fairly new and there are seven episodes. Each is around eight minutes long. You can watch them on your computer at the site above or on Youtube or, since we have a Roku box which has Crackle free, on your TV.

Jerry Seinfeld sets off, each time in a different car which he tells us about, to pick up a comedian pal. Guess what? They go get coffee. And sometimes lunch. While chatting and cracking each other up. Some are funnier than others but we found them generally entertaining.

I don't think of Alec Baldwin as a comedian. In fact, this episode actually establishes him definitely as an actor but I loved this conversation between him and Jerry since they are clearly very old friends.

Prayer Request

Dropping in quickly to ask that you pray for a fellow who has been in the hospital since April.

SINCE. APRIL.

They don't know what it is. They just know that it's bad.

He says: I have infections that i can't shake cos the antibiotics hold onto proteins that my body won't keep. And the big drugs are now moving into the experimental category ...

I know that you don't have to know who he is to pray for him, but I call him Jonathan Harker because he was the superb narrator of that part in Dracula by Bram Stoker for the CraftLit podcast.

He's asking for prayers. Let's storm Heaven for him.