Recently in Contemporary Culture Category

I'm hot and cold on the Coen Brothers. Well, mostly warm and cold. 'Hot" is too strong. I liked...(everyone ready with your list - it's a pastsime) Raising Arizona, Fargo and No Country for Old Men the best, although with the last, I was more intrigued with the differences between the film and book more than anything else. I'll put The Big Lebowski on there in honor of Michael, who was somewhat of a devotee. One of the most most memorable note I received in February was from David Scott, who knew Michael at OSV and wrote something very affecting in reference to the movie. No, it wasn't The Dude Abides - I can't find it right now.  But it was near-perfect, and Michael would have nodded in agreement. And laughed pretty loudly.

Anyway.

What I don't like about the Coens is pretty much what others don't like: the mannered artificiality that is pretty to look at, entertaining, but most of the time soulless. The in-jokes and regular cast of characters.

So. May I say that their next film features (it seems) neither George Clooney, John Goodman nor (even spouse) Frances McDermond?

And it looks...interesting?




A Serious Man  is a movie loosely based on the Coen brothers' childhood ....."Imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behaviour, dental phenomena, academia, mortality and Judaism" via the protagonist's taking of his problems to three different rabbis.

Eh, I'll probably be disappointed. But one can always hope.

Finally, Barnes and Noble frees up the Wi-Fi signal in its stores. Long overdue  - anyone who steps into a Panera Bread midafternoon will be struck by the number of folks w/open laptops, together or in groups, obviously doing work-related stuff.

Now, if either of them would ditch Pepsi for Coke products, we're really be in business.

Nicholson Baker takes a look at the Kindle in the New Yorker

Although Baker is predisposed against the Kindle, this isn't a Luddite screed. It actually contains an absorbing account of how the Kindle was conceived and how it is made - plus Baker ends his piece singing the praises of using an IPhone/ITouch for reading. (And at the very end - gets sucked into a book on the Kindle despite his misgivings.)

As I've said before, I don't have an interest in reading e-books - odd since I read so much on the computer -  but when it comes to even longer magazine articles, I like the paper in front of me - the computer evokes an odd feeling of both freedom and imprisonment. But neither am I philosophically opposed to them. My friend Dorothy is an avid reader and has sworn by her Sony EReader for a couple of years now - she just loves not having to cart a bunch of books around with her when she travels and so on.

I should be seeing my Loyola royalty check in the next couple of months, and I'll be interested to see the impact of Kindle sales. Both saints' books continue to do well there.

Oh, speaking of Wi-Fi, there was a question in the comments a week or so ago about how I finally resolved the internet issue for Sicily. The Barcelona apartment had wi-fi, but only one accomodation in Sicily did (out of three).

(And save - the "you're on vacation...get off the grid...relax" exhortations. I *like* the Internet, even with the odd feelings it provokes. It's like a portable library/newsstand. Traveling alone, with people on the other end who want and need to stay connected it is a *good thing* for me to have access to a means of quick communication. I don't have a smartphone of any type, so my little netbook was my friend. People deal with these things differently. It's really okay.)

What I did was just buy an internet key from TIM at the Milan airport - and sign up for 30 days/100 hours. (Remember, these are not just leisure expenses...this is my job, to write about what I do and where I go. An investment. A deduction. What have you. Plus I can use it again and/or give it to my son who is probably going to be in Italy for another year.)

It worked fairly well, although the thick stone walls of two of the accomodations rendered the key far more usable outdoors than inside, which was fine anyway. I would have been reading on the front porch anyway. It was essentially functional from Scopello to Cantalnissetta to Cava D'Aliga - north, middle and south - and functional as we were driving along, too, and I needed Katie to get online and figure out exactly where that B & B in Cava D'Aliga was because I sure wasn't finding it at the moment.

Oh, and the Kindle book-grab? That was interesting, wasn't it? I think the fact that Amazon could just remove it from everyone's devices raised some interesting questions about sort of scary possibilities, but at the same time, they didn't have the rights so...

This film, based on a true story, will be released next week. The film's Facebook page is a good source of information and links.

Jim Caviezel, who has a role in the film, is interviewed here:

Is there anything else about the new movie you want to talk about?

Some [people] have walked out on the movie. I said, "Understand that it might be hard to watch this, but understand that that lady and many of those women that have gone

through this, suffered a little bit more than we did." It's good to bring attention to things that are highly immoral. In this case, I think it's more immoral not to do anything about it.

Weren't there similar responses to "Passion of the Christ"--where people couldn't bring themselves to finish watching it?

I think that people understand what the story is. It's about whether they see it or not. This one, they'll hear about it, and it's the same thing. We're all playing the story out of the Bible right now. Many of us are different characters. We always try to think of ourselves as the saints and the good characters, but many of us are playing the Pharisees, Pontius Pilate, Judas. There are good and there are bad in this world. But our job is not to figure that out. We just know who we are and try to take as many people we can to Heaven by how we live our life.

And I think stories like this, moral reminders, they're powerful. If we cower in the movie, we'll probably cower in life. If we cower in the movie, then we say, "I'm not ready. I've got to get ready." Something might come up where people are going to run from or walk away from, and I know I'm not there yet.

It's a humility thing. And eventually, that's when greatness happens [and] you're able to do courageous things. Movies like this help you see where you're at. Yes, it's very difficult to watch, but also, have you ever watched a move at times and you feel like you'd run? Well, you probably will in real life, too.

And so, playing it out is kind of a trial run--a practice for the real thing that might come to your doorstep one day. We all are going to have to make that, and it'll be different ways. It'll be different things. It'll be a trial like that and different ways to prove our love for God. Eventually, that will happen. I can promise you this much: It will take everything out of you, and it will demand nothing less than courage from God. If you won't have it within you--if you don't have it within you--we won't be able to do it when it really counts.

...by making me look at Tom Hanks in a Speedo.

Okay, so it was through a layer of water, but still. What was that supposed to accomplish in my psyche?

So, yeah, went to see it. It's showing every half hour  or so in probably three of the theaters in the multiplex down the street. Theater for the 7:30 was maybe half full. But the place in general was fairly empty, I thought. 7:30 on a Saturday night and no line at the concessions?

I really see no need to repeat what most other people are saying. Some brief comments (and remember, I still haven't read the book. And won't. There's 1.99 of my hard-earned money down the drain...)

There's spoilers down below in the very next paragraph so don't whine that you weren't warned.


Did you hear me? You were warned. Okay, I'll stick a photo here so your eyes won't wander before you click away.




 He's wearing clerics. Really!

(And maybe a Speedo he didn't have time to remove since he was airlifted from Cambridge to Rome on the "Vatican Jet." How come the Pope gets stuck with Alitalia and the Harvard guy gets the Vatican Jet?)

• The plot is preposterous to the point of madness even when you realize that what you thought was the plot wasn't the plot at all. That is (and here ya go), the plot says that the Illuminati are trying to explode the Vatican, when it's not, in fact, the Illuminati - it's an Irish priest who is afraid of a rapprochement between science and religion and who has...(deep breath) ... killed the "progressive" Pope  - who was his dad, right? - who wasn't all scared of the anti-matter issue and then paid a guy to steal anti-matter from CERN, learned all about the supposed trail of the Illuminati through Rome, which he pays the guy to follow as he  (the guy) very elaborately tries to kill four Cardinals  - after branding their chests with Illuminati signs - and who (the Irish priest)  ultimately saves the Vatican from being exploded by the antimatter when he flies a helicopter with the antimatter in it up to the sky where it explodes and he parachutes down and might have, as a result, been elected Pope on the spot if it were not for Tom Hanks.

Who was not in a Speedo at the time.

Got it?

(Question for those that have seen/read it - none of it makes much sense, but the whole - grab the anti-matter and fly it up into the sky makes the least sense. What am I missing? Did he plan that part of it? Did he want it to explode down in the Scavi and blow up St. Peter's? Or was he planning the savior-then-be-elected pope thing?  Should I even bother to ask this question?)

• Very nice production values. I am really interested in how they did the scenes in St. Peter's and the Pantheon, in particular, since they were not allowed to film in those churches, of course, and they had some pretty wide shots that looked very convincing. My sons says there are really good ...what did he call them...compilers? I don't remember..out there, who do just this kind of work with CGI and so on. I suppose that's it, but it was still interesting.
  
• The movie is just full of dumb mistakes about Catholicism even before we get to the science issue. Mistakes which have been amply documented everywhere, including..er, no the Carmelengo would not be a fresh-faced Ewan McGregor non-Cardinal priest, no there is no such thing as a "Grand Cardinal Elector" and no there are no "Preferiti" Cardinals who are the front-runners for the papacy. I do love the super-secret Vatican Archives with clear vacuum-sealed rooms labeled "Bernini" and such with a black papal Mercedes sitting in the middle of it all, though. Sweet! I want to go to there!
• I never knew that protesters  had a habit of getting into fistfights about stem-cell research while waiting for white smoke in St. Peter's Square. Huh.
• That Robert Langdon is super-good at figuring out deep mysteries by just looking at stuff, like what direction a statue's finger is pointing and thinking about a cool number.  Maybe I'll ask him to do my taxes next year.
  
• I find the whole time issue incredibly irritating. I can't buy any of it anyway, but, as with DVC, the fact that these characters are doing things in the space of four hours that would take, you know...at least six...just bugs me.
  

It's hardly ever because I don't have anything to say. It's because I have too much to say, and I can't sort out how to say it best, and am letting it sit.

So, okay, I'll do the easy stuff first. Went to see A & D tonight. I realized as I was sitting there with my popcorn that the anxiety I have been experiencing about going to see this movie - and I have been pretty uptight about it and my uptightness was disconcerting and bothering me  - has nothing to do with Dan Brown, Tom Hanks or Ron Howard, and everything to do with Michael Dubruiel, who's not here to see it with me and mock it, and without whom I haven't seen a grown-up movie in a theater for a decade or so.

So there's that.

But I made it, naturally, since all things being equal, there are much greater problems in the world, and the homily I heard at Mass earlier sustained me, as, I am more and more convinced, do the prayers that surround me from all sides (redoubling my desire to add to that embrace for the sake of others who are suffering. I am constantly being taught.)...

And the next thought that came to me as I endured the promos for Terminating Transformers and whatnot was...wouldn't it be fantastic if some theater operator had the cojones to blow this up and slip it in...I mean...I've no interest in Transforming Terminators, but My Little Pony: Reign of Buttercup Sprinkles? Giddy-up.

 

Okay, one more. Thanks to Cheryl in the comments (see...it is possible to enter a comment succesfully!) for pointing out Liz Lev's piece at Zenit on her interactions with the A & D crew:I spent almost two years with the...

Well, I think the derision dripping from all sides is doing the job, so perhaps I won't have to. I really don't know what I can add to A.O. Scott, Steven Greydanus and a lot of other reviewers, detailed at...

Okay, I haven't watched Lost since February, and I haven't bothered to catch up. I figure I'll do that this summer at some point. Plus, tonight, I had to great pleasure of hanging out with Dorian and Paul for a...

And a flock of cardinals! Duck!Yeah, I bought the book - secondhand, so no royalties were exchanged - but it's still sitting on my desk. I can't even be bothered to crack it open. The movie's coming, and I think...

I've not commented much on the cult of personality surrounding the Obamas because while it was evident during the campaign and in the press, I'm never really certain how extensive or deep these sort of things actually run. But this,...

You knew this was coming, didn't you?For several years, exhibits of preserved human bodies have been popular draws. Gunther von Hagen originated the concept and his "Bodyworlds" exhibits are the most extensive, although I think there are others who are...

I agree with something in the Huffington Post. This is pretty classic:Only in America would the notion of a nearly-naked fundamentalist Christian beauty queen tossing her processed hair as she parades brand new, pageant-bought plastic breasts across a Las Vegas...

....and probably soon to fall, like everything else.But for the momentThe Twitter handle, http://twitter.com/usccbmedia, has over 900 followers and is maintained by Don Clemmer, Assistant Director of Media Relations at the USCCB. Clemmer uses the Twitter feed to drive traffic...

Eh, an easy, no-brainer to get me going this week while I sort out weightier matters.At Big Hollywood, Andrew Leigh separates fact from fiction in Angels and DemonsThis last falsehood bears further examination, because the Illuminati are so integral to...

Time has a piece on churches encouraging Twitter-use during services: Voelz and David McDonald, the other senior pastor at Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, Mich., spent two weeks educating their congregation about Twitter, the microblogging site that challenges users to...

From Maureen, (of Aliens in this World and invaluable podcasts at Maria Lectrix) in the comments below:If you're against capital punishment, you must be more against capital punishment against babies, which is carried out without trial or jury or appeal...

Mollie Hemingway has a very useful exploration of the recent survey on Christians and their levels of approval of torture, as well as the broader issue of press coverage:So all these many paragraphs to say that I think that while...

It was the best of reads, it was the worst of reads.I'll move backwards through that sentence. "Worst" because it hit hard on issues of loss and absence, and how that resonates through one's entire life. Best - for the...

...and not Sally Field. No wait, she flew. Not Debbie Reynolds, I mean.Anthony Sacramone at Strange Herring has the details on a new film which relates the sad reality behind the chipper little tune:Jeanine Deckers, or Sister Luc Gabriell, was...

Here's a CNS report on a follow up to the "religious landscape" survey of a while back, focusing on why people change faiths. For this story, natural emphasis on the Catholics: The reasons cited most often by those who have...

Thanks to a reader who pointed out this FAQ from the European Organization for Nuclear Research on the "science" In Angels and Demons:Does CERN own an X-33 spaceplane?Unfortunately not. As I added in the comments, years ago, I was giving a...

Dawn Eden has a fantastic post that begins with reflections about her book tour in Poland and continues by examining the words of one back in this country virulently opposed to the whole notion of attaching morality to sexual activity,...

Marcel LeJeune of AggieCatholics has alerted me to the fact that Catholics Come Home is now allowing their videos to be embedded. They produce fantastic videos that have apparently had a profound affect in areas in which they have been...

Should Amy Read Angels And Demons?(online surveys)...

Well, duh!The good thing is that the racist, xenophobic, classist convictions of Margaret Sanger just might be slowly creeping into the mainstream. I mean...slowly. Every time Hilary Clinton professes her love for Sanger, another opportunity pops up to make the...

Deal Hudson has a piece on Andrew McNabb over at Inside Catholic - I am anxious to get my hands on Andrew's new short story collection: Such a writer is the 40-year-old Andrew McNabb, whose first book of short stories...

CBS is airing a made-for-television film tonight about Irena SendlerAs a Polish Catholic social worker in the early 1940s, Irena Sendler created and led a conspiracy of women who moved in and out of Warsaw's Jewish Ghetto disguised as nurses...

Catholic News reports: But Father Basil Clark, who watched the show on television at his home in Broxburn,Scotland, was not surprised. He has seen the situation unfold many times before, having regularly accompanied Boyle, 47, on the annual Legion of...

Christopher Hitchens cheerfully travels about the country debating people on atheism - he was here at Samford University about a month ago, and I really meant to go..wanted to go..but I ended up forgetting.He recently debated William Lane Craig at...

A commenter below asked about the best-selling book The Shack. I've been asked about it before, but have to declare, "No comment" because I haven't read it. Another commenter - who's a perfesser of something religious - answered the query:in my...

Well, actually there is no book. And guess there's no "letter" either. Or is there? I got pretty confused about that, but I gather that it was a fake - that Roman had been generating this documents for years and...

A wrap-up of sorts. I was trying to wait to see if Bishop D'Arcy had a statement today, but nothing yet, so here goes.(Update: John Norton at OSV reports that D'Arcy's statement will come Tuesday morning.)I didn't do a massive...

As I noted below, Dr. Mary Ann Glendon will be the very deserving recipient of this year's Laetare Medal, presented by the University of Notre Dame:Established at Notre Dame in 1883, the Laetare Medal was conceived as an American counterpart...

...After which we will stop TVBlogging for a week, since I have completely lost track of Lost and there is nothing else I watch.Well, well - they showed the Endowment ceremony, and I have to say, concerns about some sort...

I first heard about this show - miniseries? - a while back, but it had flown off my radar until today when my daughter said, "Hey that Kings show starts tonight." The concept is intriguing, as is the cast. Well,...

What's going to be dramatized on this weekend's Big Love is still not completely known - the basic plot is that Barb, who was raised traditional LDS, is brought up for excommunication. The image from the episode that was published...

This past week's episode of Big Love didn't rock the way the previous two eps did, but it was still very good, with several great moments - the creepiness of the funeral with the deceased Kathy's twin in attendance, Wanda...

(At some point I will start thinking of nifty titles. In order to garner a lot of hits through searches, I imagine many will need to include "Britany Spears" or "Brangelina" or perhaps even.."Obama!")So, Big Love has been terrific this...

Why am I the only person I know..or even "know" in the Internet sense of "knowing"  - who didn't hate it? I didn't love it, either. There was a lot wrong with it. Weak characterization. Miscasting. Anvil-wielding mentally ill prophets.But...