Banded Demoiselle

Banded Demoiselle, Remo Savisaar

A Movie You Might Have Missed #44: Ink

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.

The power of dreams is stronger than you think.

As the light fades and the city goes to sleep, two forces emerge. They are invisible except for the power they exert over us in our sleep, battling for our souls through dreams. One force delivers hope and strength through good dreams; the other infuses the subconscious with desperation through nightmares.

John and Emma, father and daughter are wrenched into this fantastical dream world battle, forced to fight for John's soul and to save Emma from an eternal nightmare. Separate in their journey, they encounter unusual characters that exist only in their subconscious. Or do they?

This is actually a movie that almost everyone missed. I know I did. I never heard of it until Mom showed me the dvd. Intrigued by the description, she'd had it for a long time and hadn't watched it. It has a slow start (just let the first 20 minutes wash over you) but then the story pulls you in. We both found ourselves emotionally invested by the end of the film and talked about it through dinner afterward.

Part of the slow start is necessary to explain the world you are dropped into. The story is ultimately a tale about free will, how our choices affect those around us, and, ultimately, the power of love. I also really appreciated that this was made on a shoestring ($250,000) and the way they managed locations and special effects without affecting the otherworldliness of the film. Lastly, I liked the storyline effects with different color themes telling us whose eyes we were seeing through. The filmmakers did a good job with telling an inventive story in a way that kept us engaged.

The Fortune Teller

The Fortune Teller, Georges de la Tour

Anyone who has truly known God

Anyone who has truly known God can never be cured of him.

Francois Mauriac

The Storm Spirits

The Storm Spirits (1900). Evelyn De Morgan (English, 1855-1919).

Rain, thunder, and lightning are beautifully personified in this painting. Via Books and Art where there is more about the artist and painting.

Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living by Charles J. Chaput

Time has a purpose. The meaning of a sentence becomes clear when we put a period at the end of it. The same applies to life. When we talk about things worth dying for, we're really talking about the things worth living for, the things that give life beauty and meaning. Thinking a little about our mortality puts the world in perspective. It helps us see what matters, and also the foolishness of things that, finally, don't matter.

This was a good series of reflections on big questions of life (and death) written by Archbishop Charles Chaput after his resignation upon turning 75 was accepted by Pope Francis. He gives us the benefit of  his years of experience as he comes close to the end of his own life. 

Each chapter is a series of connected reflections which rather threw me off until I realized that it wasn't intended as one coherent narrative driving toward a goal at the end of each chapter. Each chapter has a single topic like friendship or memory or leadership. Each ties up nicely at the end but the middle leaves one time for reflections and pondering, just as the author intends.

I liked this a lot and was interested to see how many current happenings and cultural touchstones Archbishop Chaput incorporated from COVID-19 shut downs to The Lord of the Rings to Fortnite. As well he includes plenty of ancient wisdom from both pagans and Christians. It is an easy read and one that I recommend.

State Tree, State Nut, State Pie — Pecan!

Texas State Horticulture Society, January 1916

From Traces of Texas, where we learn:

Traces of Texas reader Blair Krebs is the Executive Director for the Texas Pecan Growers Association and of course he loves studying the history of pecans in Texas. And why not? After all, it is the state tree, state nut, and state pie. This year the Pecan Growers Association is celebrating their 100-year anniversary and has been going through their archives to celebrate at their show from July 18-21 in San Marcos. They found the attached photo of the Texas State Horticulture Society meeting that took place in January 1916. The group merged with others to become the Texas Pecan Growers Association.

This is particularly appropriate since we were sure to take smaller highways when we went to Fredricksburg last weekend. One place we always enjoy driving through is San Saba, the "Pecan Capital of the WORLD!" 

The pecan orchards around town are impressive and the "Mother Pecan Tree" has been used to produce many great pecan varieties. I love knowing where some of the pecans may have come from that I use year-round.

Psalm 19 (part 1) — The Glory of Nature and the Law

As you wonder at the order of creation, the grace of providence and the sacred prescriptions of the Law, sing Psalm 19

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

This is my favorite psalm so I've got more to say than usual. Once upon a time, I thought I'd memorize some Scripture and when I flipped the Bible open I was at Psalm 19. I partially memorized it before I began looking at different translations and just falling in love with it. I'm a nature love so that spoke to me and I, too, love the Word (and God's law) so that spoke to me too. Linking them up was the sun — is it the law, is it Christ, or is it just a transition from nature to man and the Law? Obviously, I could go on and on.

That was years ago and I really need to get back to memorizing it. But I do read it all the time!

We'll look at it in three parts — and we still won't be saying everything that can be said about this beautiful psalm.

Today, we're going to let C.S. Lewis take center stage. It was one of his favorite psalms too! He says it all succinctly and much better than I do.

Harmony of the World (1806)
showing a heliocentric universe; Psalms 19:2 is one of four verses
quoted at bottom of the illustration

My other great favourite is XIX.  First, the mere glory of nature (between the Psalms and Wordsworth–a long gap in history–you get nothing equal to either on this theme). Then the disinfectant, inexorable sun beating down on the desert and ‘nothing hid from the heat thereof’.  Then–implied, not stated–the imaginative identification of that heat and light with the ‘undefiled’ law, the ‘clean’ fear of the Lord, searching every cranny. Then the characteristically Jewish feeling that the Law is not only obligatory but beautiful, ravishing: delighting the heart, better than gold, sweeter than honey. Only after that, the (more Christian like) self examination and humble petition. Nearly all that could be said before the Incarnation is said in this Psalm. It is so much better Paganism than the real Pagans ever did! And in one way more glorious, more soaring and triumphant, than Christian poetry. For as God humbled Himself to become Man, so religion humbled itself to become Christianity.

C.S. Lewis, Letter to Mary Van Deusen

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

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds, John Constable

The Phantom Carriage (1921)

I came for the special effects. I stayed for the gripping drama.

What made me want to watch this silent movie was that it was ahead of its time in using multiple superimpositions and double exposure to create ghostly effects. I was expecting a ghost story with lots of over-the-top horror. I didn't expect there to be multi-layered stories within stories, nonlinear timelines, and some of the most affecting, subtle acting I've seen in any movie. It was also Swedish which gave the story a different pace and feel.

On New Year’s Eve there is a legend that the last person to die in a year, if he is a great sinner, will have to drive the Phantom Carriage for a year,  picking up the souls of the dead. That's where the special effects come in. Most of the movie, though, tells us the story of David Holm who is a bitter and cruel drunkard continually in a loop of being both a victim and victimizer. A Salvation Army sister believes that he's got a kernel of goodness buried somewhere which can lead to his redemption and repeatedly tries to help him.

This is a really good drama, although the middle section was hard to  follow sometimes as the narrative switched between timelines without many title cards. By the end I was on the edge of my seat, horror-stricken by the possibilities being alluded to by something as simple as a glance, and by the end I was moved by genuine emotion.

And, I'll just say that there is not doubt that Stanley Kubrick was well acquainted with this film based on a very recognizable scene that we all know from one of his famous films. I'll let you experience the surprise for yourself when it turns up.

Gene Autry playing baseball

From Traces of Texas where we learn:

Gene Autry playing baseball in Childress, Texas, 1937. Check out those boots! Gene was a Texan, of course, having been born in Tioga, Texas in 1907.

This photo courtesy the Childress County Heritage Museum via The Portal to Texas History.

I couldn't resist since it is the perfect accompaniment to the James Bond quote today.

James Bond and Texans

[James] Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people and most of them seemed to come from Texas.

Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

On Vacation ...

We're just taking a short trip for a belated anniversary celebration. It is our first trip since Mom came to live with us and the COVID pandemic. Needless to say, I've been looking forward to this a lot!

We're going to Fredricksburg in the Texas hill country. It's a flourishing tourist town with that German flourish you find in so many hill country towns. There are two things we know we'll visit. First, St. Mary's (a painted church of Texas). Click through to get an idea of how wonderful these churches can be. We stopped in once when we were driving through on the way to San Antonio. I'm looking forward to a chance to worship there as well as look around more. Second is the Admiral Nimitz museum (he grew up in Fredricksburg) or as it is properly titled The National Museum of the Pacific War. However, part of the fun of visiting somewhere is seeing what you come across unexpectedly.

As always, I'm really looking forward to the long car trip with Tom. We listen to music, sample audiobooks, I knit, and we talk. The sort of talking you do over several hours (or days) has such a different quality than normal conversations during everyday life. The changing landscape, the music and stories, and even roadside experiences all weave in together to bring out subjects you wouldn't think of otherwise.

It can be a golden time. At least it is for us.

The USCCB, Abortion, and the Eucharist

 The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been in the news lately because of a document they voted to draft on the Eucharist — specifically because it will call a lot of attention to President Biden. He's got a determinedly pro-abortion stance while still regularly attending Mass and taking Communion. 

A couple of pieces on this caught my eye and I thought you might be interested too.

GetReligion, which is excellent for observing how the media covers religion, pointed out that although Joe Biden and Pope Francis are routinely lumped together as being "liberal" (per the NY Times, etc.) so that it sounds as if they are in complete agreement, the Pope is consistent about abortion being gravely wrong. Here's a bit but read it all here.

Any short list of classic Pope Francis remarks about abortion would have to include the 2018 speech in which he asked, using a Mafia image: “Is it just to resort to a contract killer to solve a problem?”

There was more: “Interrupting a pregnancy is like eliminating someone. Getting rid of a human being is like resorting to a contract killer to solve a problem.” While some people support abortion rights, Francis added: “How can an act that suppresses innocent and defenseless life as it blossoms be therapeutic, civil or simply human?”

Or how about this quote, drawn from a 2020 address to the United Nations?

“Unfortunately, some countries and international institutions are also promoting abortion as one of the so-called ‘essential services’ provided in the humanitarian response to the pandemic. … It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child.”

While there is no question that Pope Francis is a progressive on many issues linked to economics, immigration and other political topics, he has continued — sometimes in blunt language involving evil and the demonic — to defend the basics of Catholic moral theology.

Ed Condon over at Pillar Catholic News, which I've begun reading and like a lot, has a good point about what might be needed before a Eucharistic document can really be taken in properly. How about reminding us Catholics that sin is real and has consequences for our souls? Which made me begin praying harder for Joe Biden because with great power comes great responsibility for moral choices in our nation. Here's a bit but read it all here.

During this past week’s debate, many bishops spoke about the context of sin and reception of Communion. Several of them were at pains to emphasize that “we are all sinners” and “no one is worthy” to receive the sacrament. This is true, to a point, and the reason why penitential rites are a central part of the Eucharistic liturgy.

But the Church, like any reasonable parent, makes clear distinctions between kinds of wrongdoing. A child sneaking chocolate is in need of correction, yes, but a child playing with fire needs a dramatic intervention to prevent graver harm.

...

Within the context of the conference’s discussion on Eucharistic coherence, the real problem, it seems, is not the number of pro-abortion politicians receiving Communion. It is the number of Catholics who don’t seem to acknowledge there’s actually such a thing as the state of grave sin, still less a terrible spiritual harm attached to it.

How to address this crisis may now become the elephant in the conference room at future USCCB meetings. One possible way forward, though, seems to suggest itself.

…

The bishops may find their efforts to revive belief in, and devotion to, the Eucharist prove a non-starter, unless Catholics can first be convinced why they need its salvific power. While a teaching document on the Eucharist is now being drafted, the bishops may find they need to first issue a similar document on sin and the sacrament of penance.

What is More Pleasing Than a Psalm?

We take a bit of a break from looking at a specific psalm to consider this quote from Saint Ambrose. It was one of the readings from a recent Liturgy of the Hours and really hit me where I live. That in itself is a nice milestone for me since I used to be able to take or leave the psalms. Hopefully our considerations of them has brought you a bit closer too.

Also, here's a painting of the author, Saint Ambrose, that I find very beautiful.

Giovanni di Paolo, Saint Ambrose

What is more pleasing than a psalm? ... It is the voice of complete assent, the joy of freedom, a cry of happiness, the echo of gladness. It soothes the temper, distracts from care, lightens the burden of sorrow. It is a source of security at night, a lesson in wisdom by day. It is a shield when we are afraid, a celebration of holiness, a vision of serenity, a promise of peace and harmony. It is like a lyre, evoking harmony from a blend of notes. Day begins to the music of a psalm. Day closes to the echo of a psalm.

In a psalm, instruction vies with beauty. We sing for pleasure. We learn for our profit. What experience is not covered by a reading of the psalms?

St. Ambrose, bishop
Explanation of the Psalms

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

Goodachari (The Spy)

Gopi, alias Arjun, is the son of an ex-RAW agent Raghuveer. Brought up by his uncle Satya, he wants to be an agent just like his father and uncle. But Satya wants him to lead a normal life and not be killed like his father was. What happens in Gopi’s life that turns everything upside down?

Goodachari is a super solid spy movie made in a very Western style with good production values. Its Indian heart showed in the hero's tearful, sentimental love for his father and country, as well as the many flashbacks along the way. It surprised us several times In very satisfying ways with plot twists. 

This is a "Tollywood" movie, meaning that it is from the Telugu-language film industry. It is clear that the director of this movie learned a lot, possibly from the Baahubali movies (the second of which is the second top grossing film of all time in India). The Baahubali movies are the ones that really sent us into the Indian film world in a big way. Those movies featured tight stories, and kept us on the edge of our seats. Goodachara, though completely different, doesn't disappoint on those points.

Here's hoping the sequel gets made soon. I'm ready to see Agent 116 save India again. Jai Hind!

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

Sizing Up

Sizing Up, Karin Jurick

Another from Karin Jurick's long running series of people looking at art. She has a great story from Jamie Wyeth, the artist of the original pig painting about his encounter with it and what happened in the end. Do go read it at the link above.

Tower of Jericho

The 8000 BC Tower of Jericho at the site of Tell es-Sultan.

Jericho as an image of the world

This was a recent reading in the Liturgy of the Hours and it blew my mind.

The capture of Jericho

Once Jericho was surrounded it had to be stormed. How then was Jericho stormed? No sword was drawn against it, no battering ram was aimed at it, no javelins were hurled. The priest merely sounded their trumpets, and the walls of Jericho collapsed.

In the Scriptures Jericho is often represented as an image of the world. There can be not doubt that the man whom the Gospel describes as going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and falling into the hands of brigands is an image of Adam being driven out of paradise into the exile of this world. Likewise the blind men in Jericho, to whom Jesus came to give sight, signified the people in this world who were blinded by ignorance, to whom the son of God came.

Jericho will fall, then; this world will perish. Indeed in the sacred books the end of the world was proclaimed long ago. How will the world be brought to an end, and by what means will it be destroyed? The answer of Scripture is: By the sound of trumpets. If you ask what trumpets, then let Paul reveal the secret. Listen to what he says: The trumpet will sound, and the dead who are in Christ will rise incorruptible. The voice of the archangel and the trumpets of God will give the signal, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Then the Lord Jesus will conquer Jericho with trumpets and destroy it, saving only the harlot and her household.

Jesus our Lord will come says Paul, and he will come with the sound of trumpets. He will save only the woman who received his spies, that is, his apostles, in faith and obedience, and hid them on the roof of her house; and he will join this harlot to the house of Israel. But let us not bring up her past sins again or impute them to her. She was a harlot once, but now she is joined to Christ, chaste virgin to one chaste husband. Listen to what the Apostle says of her: He has determined to present you to Christ as a chaste virgin to her one and only husband. Indeed, Paul himself had been born of her: Misled by our folly and disbelief, he said, we too were once slaves to our passions and to pleasures of every kind.

If you wish to learn more fully about how this harlot ceased to be a harlot then listen to Paul once again: And such were you also, but you have been cleansed and made holy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. To assure her escape when Jericho was destroyed, the harlot was given that most effective symbol of salvation, the scarlet cord. For it is by the blood of Christ that the entire Church is saved, in the same Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom belongs glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

From a homily on Joshua by Origen, priest
(Hom. 6, 4: PG 12, 855-856)

Gochujang Chicken and Tortellini

 This is a real hybrid recipe. I  couldn't imagine the final dish, coupling as it does the unlikely combination of cheese tortellini with Korean chile paste. And some honey. And some fontina cheese.

But it works. Really well.

Find out more at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.