End of Hiatus

Hello friends,

I have finally returned! Hopefully as break continues I can build up a pretty sizable queue so that I can produce a fairly regular stream of posts. I'm not very good at blogging, I admit, but I think if I force myself to keep up the practice it will be good for me, academically speaking. I do have several reviews in the works (books and movies) and I will have some more philosophical and theological things to post as soon as I start working on my paper again. I figure submitting one for a conference will be good practice and look good on grad school resumes right? Tomorrow I'll start officially posting again! Until then please enjoy these ridiculous pictures with no context:

 

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Until tomorrow.

All Saints Day

Happy All Saints Day (observed) to you all. This is my first time ever celebrating it, and it has been an amazing experience :) Some business: due to a busy school schedule I haven't been very consistent in posting on this site. I plan to build up a queue over Christmas break, but until then, if you want to, you can check out my new tumblr account here. It;s like a smaller version of blogger that allows me to post my thoughts and interesting things I want to share with a time commitment that's friendly to busy college kids. Other than that I have nothing much to say. Please enjoy this quote from the Venerable Bede's All Saint's Day sermon:

"But above all these things is the being associated with the companies of angels and archangels, thrones and dominations, principalities and powers, and the enjoyment of the watches of all the celestial virtues—to behold the squadron of the saints, adorned with stars; the patriarchs, glittering with faith; the prophets, rejoicing in hope; the apostles, who in the twelve tribes of Israel, shall judge the whole world; the martyrs, decked with the purple diadems of victory; the virgins, also, with their wreaths of beauty. But of the King, who is in the midst, no words are able to speak. That beauty, that virtue, that glory, that magnificence, that majesty, surpasses every expression, every sense of the human mind. For it is greater than the glory of all saints; but to attain to that ineffable sight, and to be made radiant with the splendor of His countenance, it were worth while to suffer torment every day—it were worth while to endure hell itself for a season, so that we might behold Christ coming in glory, and be joined to the number of the saints; so is it not then well worth while to endure earthly sorrows, that we may be partakers of such good, and of such glory?"

Books to read before you die.

I have several friends who were making lists of this sort, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon!

The Faerie Queene Book 1 - Edmund Spenser

Songs and Sonnets of John Donne

Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allen Poe

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Prince and the Pauper, Short Stories - Mark Twain

Beowulf - Anonymous

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Four Quartets, The Journey of the Magi, Christianity and Culture, - T.S. Eliot

The Confessions, City of God - St. Augustine

The Divine Comedy - Dante

Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll

Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie

Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graham 

A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, The Tempest, Macbeth, Hamlet, Sonnets - William Shakespeare

On Virtue - St. Thomas Aquinas

Proslogium, Monologium, Cur Deus Homo - St. Anselm

After Virtue - Alasdair MacIntyre

The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Children of Hurin, The Unfinished Tales - J.R.R. Tolkien

The Wonderful Fool, The Samurai, Silence - Shusaku Endo

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Poetics, Politics - Aristotle

The Republic, Timeaus - Plato

Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

Treasure Island, The Black Arrow, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Hard Times, A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

The Consolation of Philosophy - Boethius 

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley  

Any Mythology, but especially Norse and Celtic (and Japanese)

Paradise Lost - Milton

The Bible (especially Job, Hebrews, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Genesis, John, and James)

Harry Potter (I had to do it)

The Mabinogian,  The Death of Arthur (Mallory), Arthurian Romances (Troyes), The Once and Future King (T.H. White), and any other Arthuriana 

Fairy Tales (Especially Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson)

Total Truth, Saving Leonardo - Nancy Pearcey, 

The Knight's Tale - Chaucer

The structure of Scientific Revolutions - Thomas Kuhn 

The Father Brown Stories, The Man Who Was Thursday - G.K. Chesterton

Foxe's Book of Martyrs 

There are probably a billion other books that deserve to be on this list, but for today these are the ones I find to be the most important for everyone to read (/ these are the ones I like best).

The Work of God/ Opus Dei

    

     This week I was invited to attend a talk given by Dr. Scott Hahn. If you don't know who he is, that's ok, I didn't either (if you want to know you can look here). I went, and I have to say it was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Now, let me be clear, I've grown up Protestant, and more specifically low Protestant. My childhood haunts included the halls of many a Baptist and Evangelical church. Recently I've made the jump from my Baptisty past to the REC (Reformed Episcopal Church), which, for all intents and purposes, doctrinally was not that big of a leap (although in terms of format I'm still reeling). This speech, however, was given by a Roman Catholic for a Roman Catholic audience.

     For the first time in my life I know what it feels like to be a homeschooler in a room full of public schoolers. Or, on the flip-side, one of my Catholic friends at my Baptist university. Now, let me be clear, I enjoyed the speech, and I have no problem with our Catholic brothers and sisters, it was just strange to be one of four Protestants in a room filled with Catholics. I knew things would be different when the opening prayer included a mass recitation of the Lord's prayer ('Oh good,' I thought to myself, 'I know this one'), but was completely lost at the end when there was a recitation of a Hail Mary ('Oh' I don't know this/ don't feel inclined to say it') . It was also a bit uncomfortable at times during the speech. A good speaker makes jokes, and Dr. Hahn did, they were just jokes targeted at a demographic that I'm not part of. Usually if I hear a joke about Protestants and Catholics, the Protestants come out on top. Not so in this auditorium! Some of the theology was different as well and often I noticed that even when we believed in the same answers the path we took to arrive at those answers was very different. And often, with beliefs shared by both parties, the emphasis on what was important was different for each party (for example, on the subject of homosexuality, the Protestants emphasize the unnaturalness of the action, and a greater focus is on how the sin is wrong. Catholics, on the other hand, focus more on the person. God loves the person as they are, but he doesn't want them to stay as they are, he wants them to become better. The sin is still wrong, the main focus of the response is just shifted).

     The most interesting (and strange) thing, however, were not the differences I felt between my Protestant beliefs and their Catholic ones, but similarities of goals and purposes. The point of the meeting was to talk about the 'New Evangelization' - the Catholic focus on re-evangelizing lapsed Catholic people and nations. The focus was, not just to share the gospel, but to make sure that those who believed were mentored and discipled in a way that strengthened their faith, and allowed them to continue their Christian growth. This is very similar to a recent Protestant emphasis on discipleship. It's no good to just covert people if you don't help them grow. It was also interesting to hear a Catholic speaker talk about the importance of living a wholistic Christian life, expounding on the idea that you don't have to be a missionary or a minister to evangelize - that you are meant to be a witness both by your life and your words. A theme important to Protestants as well. Dr. Hahn is also apparently a Catholic apologist, defending the faith from a Catholic point of view, a movement heavily parallel to the booming Protestant Apologetics sphere.

     The vocabulary was different, the format was different, the emphasis and the jokes were different, but the core of beliefs and the mission was the same as what I'd been hearing my whole life. Being constantly surrounded by Protestants I hear a lot of misconceptions concerning the Catholic church and practice, and at this speech I heard misconceptions about Protestant beliefs and practice (For the record, Protestants do believe in sacraments (ordinances), we just have two instead of seven, and we're all aware that the 'New Testament' refers to the new covenant instituted by Chris,t and is not really mean to refer to a collection of 27 books. We know that the title is really 'The books OF the New Testament'). I won't say that I don't hold any misconceptions myself, but what I was most struck by was the fact that Catholics and Protestants really are fellow members of the catholic (as in universal, not the institution) body of Christ. We believe in the same God, we have faith in the same Son, and we are all led in the same mission by the same Holy Spirit. Dr. Hahn gave out a book that dealt with what he called the opus dei, the work of God, and this is what all Christians are called to do. Whether Catholic or Protestant we are all called to do the work of God here on earth, to reach out to our fellow humans and share the gospel with them. It made me think that the Church would be better served if there was less of a focus on the differences between the two Christian powerhouses and more cooperation. We are all Christians, and I see no reason why we can't do the work of God together.  

On a purely unrelated note, I finally posted something! Yay! I have more things, I don't know when I'll get to them, but I'll post them whenever I feel like I have enough time to finish them :)

New Blogging Idea

   

    I thought that it might be fun for me to do a Blog series centered around animated shows that are every bit as good as the best live-action shows on T.V. today. I've found that people tend to dismiss animated shows off-hand as being simply 'for children.' However, in my experience, many animated T.V. shows deal with incredibly complex issues, and often combine stunning artistry with great story-telling. Just like comic books I believe that cartoons, anime, etc. are incredibly impactful and receive far too little credit with the public at large. We live in a world where Geek culture is gaining increasing importance, and I know many self-proclaimed Geeks who would agree that these shows helped to shape their lives. So, anyways, I thought for a while I'd post reviews of shows that helped to shape me, and that I believe are simply incredible and need more love.

     I don't really have a name for the series yet, and I don't have any posts, but I have plenty of ideas and plenty of shows I think deserve a review, so I guess I'll reveal the rest of the information with the first post in the series. We'll see how this goes, should be fun.

Hero Week: Despicable Me

Story Girl is hosting a Hero week this week, and I thought I'd throw my two cents in with a character review of Despicable Me (in celebration of Despicable Me 2). I'll be the first to admit that, when it comes to Dreamworks movies, I'm initially very skeptical. I mean, the company's no Pixar right? Well, sure, but lately I've felt that Dreamworks has been outpacing the Pixar powerhouse (How to Train your Dragon anyone?). Despicable Me is certainly not on par with Toy Story or Finding Nemo, but with that being said, as far as heartwarming stories go, it's hard to beat this one.

First there's the movie's protagonist, the not-so-super villain Gru. Gru desperately wants to be one of the best baddies there is, but compared to recent developments in the criminal world, his villainy is pretty small scale. It's always fun to love a bad guy, and its even more fun when, deep down, you're pretty sure that the bad guy isn't so bad after all. Gru gets some pretty adorable character development as he makes the transition from aspiring super villain to dad.

Margot is pretty great. She's not may favorite character, but she's a wonderful big sister to Edith and Agnes. She's also not afraid to call Gru out when he's a terrible person, which is helpful. Also, she's wearing a Lorax shirt, which I just now noticed, and that's pretty boss.

Edith is pretty hilarious. For a girl who wears a lot of pink and does ballet she's pretty tough. I think of all the sisters she has the least screen time, but I do hope we get to know her better in the second movie. 

AGNES!!!! She was my absolute favorite. If anyone could melt Gru's heart it was this kid. She's so sweet and adorable, and totally has one of the best lines in the whole movie. She's one of those kids that you wish you could know (like Calvin and Hobbes, but in a good way).

Gru's Minions were pretty fantastic too. I loved them. They are responsible for the movie's cruder humor, but I honestly didn't think that it detracted from the story at all. Plus, they just get themselves in to ridiculous situations, which is great.

     I didn't want to watch this movie when it came out, my family made me. I swear to you I've cried every time I've watched it since. It's incredibly adorable, and even if it isn't as great as Pixar, whenever I feel sad I'd rather watch this than a Pixar movie. True story. I'm not sure what that says about me, but there you go. :)

Two Sentence Movie Reviews

     

    

    I had an idea at work today. I originally intended one of the main components of my blog to be for movie and book reviews. I realized that I hadn’t been doing much of that, and there were so many movies I’d seen since I started this, but that I didn’t have a whole post to write about. So, instead, mostly because of my laziness, I’ll start doing two sentence movie reviews where I pick 10 movies or T.V. shows that I’ve seen and give a brief synopsis of my reactions to them. Occasionally I’ll do a real review for a movie, but only if I feel like there’s a real reason to! So here you go – 10 movies I’ve seen reviewed in two sentences with a starred review as well! :)

Oz: The Great and Powerful

This movie was a painfully campy, overacted, candy colored, mockery of the original which created as many questions as it sought to answer. Strangely enough I wound up enjoying it. 3 flying baboons out of 5.

Whisper of the Heart

Miyazaki truly shone in this incredibly adorable G rated coming of age story, which, coincidentally, is best watched in the original Japanese (the English dub changes key plot points), about a young girl who seeks to discover who she truly is, and the boy she’s come to admire. I cannot convey with mere words how much I’ve come to love this movie. 6 cat statues out of 5.

Doctor Who series 7

I really really really love this show, and I really wanted to love this season (I’ve been trying super hard to get over Ten’s departure) but I didn’t. I didn’t hate it, but I just really hope that the 50^th anniversary steps it game up (Moffat, I’m talking to you). 3 mysterious companions out of 5

The Last Unicorn

As a child I passed over this movie many times at the rental place. I would pick it up, look at it, and then rent Sky Dancers – that was a mistake. 4 butterflies out of 5.

There’s No Business like Show Business

My mom and I wanted to watch a musical together and Ethel Merman seemed like a good choice. Coincidently my first musical introduction to Marilyn was not a disappointment in this super cute and quirky vaudeville tribute. 4 scandalous costumes out of 5.

Inuyasha

I’ve known about this anime for a long time, but finally decided that I should watch it, and I’ve not regretted it. It’s pretty hilarious, and it’s been a fascinating introduction to Japanese mythology!  4,000,000,254 Lost Jewel Shards out of 50 kazillion.

Quigley Down Under

My family made me watch this with them. The scandalous aborigines were the best part after Alan Rickman. 2 ½ dead bad people out of 5.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

I had super high expectations for this Star Trek sequel, and I was not disappointed. All the actors were fantastic, heroes and villains alike, plus Mickey, from Doctor Who, had a role! 4 ½ Sassy Vulcans out of 5.

The Aristocats

My friends and I watched this after we couldn’t get into a pre-screening of Monsters University. I’d forgotten how fantastic this movie was. 5 scat cats out of 5.

Stardust

When this came out in 2007 I loved it so much I saw it twice, twice. Upon further reflection, the book is better and the fact that I’ve grown up is a little sad to me. 3 ½  fallen stars out of 5.

Well there you have it, 10 movies I've seen semi-recently and my thoughts on them! Tell me what you think. (p.s. two posts in two days!?! Madness!).