I want to introduce you to my friend Kreed, and I wish I could do so under happier circumstances. Please, if you can find the 26 minutes, do me a favor and watch this whole video. Besides his autism, Kreed suffered from about nine different serious medical conditions. He had hyperinsulinism, severe sleep apnea which required a Bipap machine, a degenerative nerve condition, food allergies and other struggles. He spent most of the past year in the hospital, and I’ve... Read more
I know I’ve got readers from all different faiths here, but I want to talk just to the pro-life Catholics for a moment. Guys, I am also a pro-life Catholic. I used to picket my local clinic. I got Coke bottles and sandwiches thrown at me; I was nearly run over. I want to talk to you as one of your own. I want to beg you to help me with something. For the sake of Life, we need to... Read more
I tried hard to like High-Rise. I really did. I was pleased to see that Amazon had it on demand ahead of its May 13th US theater release. I love strange and surreal films; I even love violent films, and films that deal with the darker, more animalistic parts of human nature. I love movies that deal with Dystopias, possible futures and bizarre alternate presents. I love Tom Hiddleston, who does an excellent job as the main character, a dapper yet... Read more
(imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and this is my flattery of The Toast.) You’re confronted in the woods by a deceitful satyr who offers you sardines on toast. After the satyr admits he meant to have you murdered, you meet him several days later for lunch. Your sister’s lunch date has been dragged off to prison by a werewolf, and you feel you want some dinner. A total stranger entices you with a roomful of Turkish Delight, if... Read more
Let me tell you another story: a story about two people I didn’t like, and my sin. I used to have this friend; you have probably had this friend at some point yourself. When I call her a friend, I don’t mean that she and I were chums, bosom buddies, devoted companions like two petals on the same flower. I mean the other kind of friend: she went to the same Catholic college my husband and I attended, she married an acquaintance... Read more
I am a bit of a snob about books, and about books of a religious nature especially. I’ve admitted this in my now-famous rant about poorly made and kitschy art for Jesus. I think that a book of meditations on God needs to have a good “tooth” to it, to be beautifully written but also stimulate the intellect, for it to be worth anything, and I’ve been disappointed far too many times by popular books of this sort. Imagine my apprehension when... Read more
Captain America: Civil War is now available in the usual assortment of digital and disc formats. I was excited about this one. I enjoy Marvel movies; I admire the way the take the rather outlandish and often stylized world of comic books and weave it into the relative realism of live action films. I like how a character who’s played a part in hundreds of complicated comic book plots is presented to the audience so clearly, so quickly that we... Read more
So, it’s mothers’ day again this weekend. Great. I’ve already shared with you folks about my motherhood, and how painful a subject it is. I’ve suffered more than some mothers, and far less than many others. My daughterhood is a thorny subject as well. My mother stopped being able to accept me when I was in the first grade. I won’t go into the details here; I respect her privacy, and I recognize that a person’s mental health is not... Read more
I’ve got to admit, this is a day that stumps me. I don’t know what to say about the Ascension of the Lord. Take a look at this responsory, from tomorrow’s Office of Readings: During the forty days after his passion, he appeared to them and spoke with them about the kingdom of God. As they watched, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight, alleluia. While he was with them, he told them not to... Read more
In case you’ve been living under a rock since last fall: GET BACK UNDER THE ROCK. You’re a lot safer down there. We up in the United States have been having a knock-down drag-out bare-knuckled cage fight of a primary season ahead of November’s presidential election. It’s a sight to behold. It’s like the Wars of the Roses, if the Wars of the Roses had been fought on a sound stage with unbelievably kitschy red, white and blue decoration. It’s like The Terror, if during The... Read more
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