LOL what a terrible title. Okay, so I did a couple speaking engagements last week, including one at the Catholic University of America (go whatever their mascot is! Doves?). At CUA I got a couple questions which I didn’t think I answered well, and which are general enough that I think it makes sense to say something about them on the blog. One guy connected my general support for Pope Francis’s call for the Church to apologize to gay people... Read more
reports, with good historical background: The Catholic church in the Philippines is operating a network that hides addicts and others targeted in president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war, priests have told the Guardian. More than 7,000 people have been killed by Philippine law enforcement officers and vigilantes in Duterte’s crusade against alleged addicts and dealers, often in hit-and-run style attacks by gunmen on motorcycles. Victims are occasionally tipped off in advance that they are on a “kill list” and attempt... Read more
at First Things: The most reactionary thing about King Charles III, the modern Shakespeare pastiche playing through March 18 at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, is that nobody kneels to the king. Charles, written by Mike Bartlett and directed by David Muse, takes place in the near future, between the obsequies for Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of her successor. Bartlett imagines a Prince of Wales who has been unwittingly training himself for dictatorial self-assertion. His conscience—and perhaps... Read more
A couple quick hits before we move to our main event, viz. a trip back in time to Gay 1986. Habit: Do you like artsy bisexual ’90s vampire movies, but found Nadja too cold, The Addiction too smart, and everybody too good-looking? Boy do I have a film for you. Habit follows a startlingly disheveled and run-down dropout type (writer/director/star Larry Fessenden) as he meets a cute early-’90s chick at a party and begins to wonder why people are disappearing.... Read more
for America: For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.” As James Franco vehicles go, “I Am Michael” may be the James Franco-iest. Directed by Justin Kelly and based on a true story, “I am Michael” follows a gay activist who finds Jesus and proclaims himself no longer gay. The film dedicates equal time to threesome makeout... Read more
Hello all. I have received permission to share the following fascinating thing with you: Several months later, I’m returning to the short documentary / doc series idea on monastic cooking and kitchens that I [told you about earlier]. The general gist behind the piece is that in spite of the increased interest in farm-to-table, locally-sourced ingredients, and cooking docs, very little attention has been paid to religious orders, who have been cultivating traditions of hospitality, agriculture, cheesemaking, and cooking for... Read more
So last weekend I got to visit Our Neighbor to the North, the magical land where when you say, “Toller Cranston,” people actually say, “Oh, the figure skater?” I learned many things there. Milk in bags is a REAL THING, people, it’s not just something made up for Gordon Korman fanfiction! Here are some notes, including bonus #CanCon in case there’s a subsidy for that. # I was there to do a longer version of my usual shtik about paths... Read more
on living as a sign of welcome without compromise: …Surprisingly, a few marchers spontaneously started collecting money for the church. It started with their passing around a hat. (I was told not to look at the text on the front, and I didn’t.) Over the course of about two hours hundreds of dollars were donated to the church without any prompting by the friars. Many were also fascinated by religious life and the habit we wear. The peculiar situation of... Read more
A little of everything here. Left Bank: Artsy Belgian psychological suspense flick about an injured elite-class runner who starts to doubt her boyfriend’s motives. Slowly shifts into a very different horror genre. I often dislike those genre switches–in theory I approve of them but I often end up wishing I could just see the movie I thought this would be–but here I loved it. Spooky and weird, and it commits to its bizarre worldview. Strong sense of place; hints of... Read more
I’m telling you, ClerkOfOxford is twitter mvp. Follow her! February 2 is Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification, so here’s a medieval Candlemas carol. Revertere, revertere, The queen of bliss and of beauty. Behold what life that we run in, Frail to fall and ever like to sin Through our enemy’s enticing; Therefore we sing and cry to thee: Revertere, revertere, The queen of bliss and of beauty. more! Read more
Eve Tushnet
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