DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 31, 2020

Logan's Run (1976) Future government axes anybody over 30 so the young can live as hedonists. Some don't appreciate the progressive wet dream. TIL: C. S. Lewis noted, "Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive."

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Hands of Steel (1986) "The hand expresses what the heart already knows." - Samuel Mockbee

Sing A New Song: Blake Mills - Mutable Set (2020) Noted producer/guitarist takes a moment for some quality alone time. Sort of like a pared down, more melancholy Eno. Laudable Lyrics: Looking for goodness, for goodness, for goodness sakes, to suffer the fools we make.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 30, 2020

Rage (1995) There's some plot about an innocent guy on the run, but it's really just an excuse to indulge in some Blues Bothers level of vehicular destruction. TIL: A 2019 study commissioned by Great Britain found Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world.

Dad Rock Diary: Cocteau Twins - Treasure (1984) Romantic, ethereal, and dreamlike, but idioglassia abounds and many of the lyrics sound like a bad Google translation. Laudable Lyrics: We're covered by the sacred fire, and then you cut me to, you cut me to the bone.

And finally, it looks like my home parish made the news for reopening. Sort of. We'll be breaking out our lawn chairs tomorrow. And yeah, lots of folks in shorts. It's about to be June in Georgia. You only sit outside in dress shirts and a tie when somebody dies.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 29, 2020

Goatsucker (2009) Shot on video effort teases chupacabra, but mostly delivers weird stalker drama. Like most things, could be improved with more chupacabra. TIL: The Bible paints the devil as a stalker of sorts, prowling around like a lion looking for souls to devour. Creep.

Funny Book Philosophy: Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter - Guilty Pleasures 009 (2008)

Dad Rock Diary: Anthrax - Fistful of Metal (1983) Had to double check to make sure the setting wasn't on 1.5x speed. Nope, that's just how fast these guys play. Laudable Lyrics: So ruthless and vicious to have no remorse. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 28, 2020

Death Screams (1982) Regional slasher with great small town vibe, but can someone please tell me who the killer is and why the movie thinks we should recognize him? TIL: The only time the Bible mentions the apostles screaming is when they saw Jesus walk on water and lost it.

If you're looking for a time killer, you can always peruse the Letterboxd list: CONDEMNED!! Films Rated Morally Offensive by the Catholic Church! Actually it's movies the Catholic News Services found fault with, but that's not as attention grabbing.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 27, 2020

Carriers (2009) Masked survivors disinfect everything to avoid an apocalyptic plague. It doesn't work. Most of the movie doesn't either. TIL: St. Augustine said God would never allow any evil if he were not so good as to cause good to come from it. That goes for viruses as well.

Dad Rock Diary: Blackwater Park - Dirt Box (1972) Nascent German hard rock is neither as amazing or disappointing as either of its reps suggest. Pretty interesting Beatles cover, though. Laudable Lyrics: You can't take nothing with you, won't need it anyway.

And finally…

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 26, 2020

Troma’s War (1988) Castaway Tromaville citizens fight every terrorist in the world. Slightly less vomitous than other Troma stuff. Is that good or bad? TIL: The Church's teaching about the war on terrorism is just an extension of its broader just war theory. No difference.

Tinseltown Testaments: St. Vincent (2014) "I'm a Catholic, which is the best of all the religions, really, because we have the most rules. And the best clothes."

Dad Rock Diary: The Beatles - Revolver (1966) The ultimate no-skip album. Even when obvious filler like Doctor Roberts comes on, you're like, "No, no, It's all good. Just let it keep playing."  Laudable Lyrics: A lifetime is so short, a new one can't be bought.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 24, 2020

Deadbeat at Dawn (1988) Just when he thought he was out... they just have to kill his psychic girlfriend. No budget guerrilla film making at its most legendary. TIL: Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto warned that while God's "vengeance" is medicine, ours often destroys even the good.

Sing A New Song: Grimes - Miss Anthropocene (2020) That moment when you realize Bjork's music is old enough that lots of little girls were weaned on it. Laudable Lyrics: God's creation, so misunderstood. Pray to the divinity, the keeper of the key. One day, everyone will believe.

Still Voices - Metropolis (1927) "If Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy." - Adrian Rogers

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 23, 2020

Invention for Destruction (1958) The adaptation of Jules Verne's work is standard, but the animation/art-direction making everything look like moving wood cuts is brilliant. TIL: Pope Leo XIII was a fan of Verne's moral idealism and granted the author a private audience in 1884.

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) “We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.” - André Berthiaume

Dad Rock Diary: Change - The Glow of Love (1980) Chic-lite disco? Maybe, but a few shots of Luther Vandross and an intense synth-driven finale offer some good stuff all its own. Laudable Lyrics: Sipping wine, we try to find that special magic from above.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 22, 2020

Girl Gang (1954) Sleazeball gets kids hooked on drugs, crime, and prostitution. It's basically Reefer Madness but played dead straight and humorless. TIL: Leading someone else into temptation assists in that person's spiritual suicide, therefore doing so is a sin in itself.

Funny Book Philosophy: Avengers 052 (2002)

Dad Rock Diary: Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush With Ghosts (1980) Of course this pair would produce apocalyptic pan-religious sound collages. Laudable Lyrics: I'm saying I'm sorry, I made a mistake, I made... I committed a sin.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 18, 2020

O.C. & Stiggs (1985) Altman adapts National Lampoon. Artsy social satire meets 80's teen comedy is as schizo as it sounds. Still, Ray Walston rules. TIL: The Bible is full of satire and is fine with it, even if it stings, as long as the intent is to edify, not just tear down.

Dad Rock Diary: King Sunny Ade - Aura (1984) Irresistible Jùjú from one of the genre's undisputed masters. Stevie Wonder's guesting on harmonica is just the icing on the cake. Laudable Lyrics: Did you know that true love asks for nothing?

And finally, I ran across this old article on Comic Book Resources about their choices for The Five Best Catholic Superheroes. Any thoughts on why almost all of them resemble (or actually are) demons?

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 17, 2020

Spoiler (1998) Frozen felon escapes each time he's thawed so he can see his kid. Somewhere else this idea was probably handled much better. TIL: God never abandons us, so our response to sin should not be abandonment, but rather justice, contrition, reparation, and reintegration.

Dad Rock Diary: Styx - Paradise Theater (1981) Not sure what's better, the album, which is great for the most part, or listening to all the cool kids still try to crap on it all these years later. Laudable Lyrics: Even Pharaohs turn to sand like a drop in the ocean.

And finally…

DAD ROCK DAILY: MAY 16, 2020

Programmed to Kill (1987) Idiots turn terrorist Sandahl Bergman into an unstoppable cyborg. She eviscerates them. Not the worst Terminator ripoff. TIL: The desire for God is "progarmmed" in the human heart; man is created by and for God and He never ceases to draw man to himself.

Dad Rock Diary: The Moody Blues In Search of the Lost Chord (1968) Timeless or dated? Deep or hokey? Spiritual or spaced out? Masterpiece or... yeah. Laudable Lyrics: To have all these things in our memories hoard, and to use them to help us to find... God.

And finally…

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 15, 2020

Day of the Warrior (1996) Elvis Fu and the silicon-filled ladies of L.E.T.H.A.L. battle wrestler/crimelord The Warrior. Who else but Andy Sidaris? TIL: In 1972, the real and decidedly Pentecostal Elvis released the undeniably Catholic song Miracle Of The Rosary. Go figure.

Tinseltown Testaments: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) “You're 32 years old, and you've achieved nothing. Jesus Christ was dead and alive again by 33. You better get crackin'.”

Dad Rock Diary: Dave Bixby - Ode To Quetzalcoatl (1969) Newly minted Jesus freak quietly ponders how the spiritual path can be just as rocky as any other. Laudable Lyrics: World, can’t you see? That the Truth has set me free, and I am free indeed because He said so.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 13, 2020

Omega Cop (1990) In far off 1999, the only cop left in the world kicks mutants in the nads while arguing with Adam West. Standard VHS action fodder. TIL: The saying that God is the Alpha and Omega expresses the idea that He is eternal, the beginning and end of all things.

Funny Book Philosophy: Satan's Six 001 (1993)

Dad Rock Diary: The Troll - Animated Music (1968) "What if they had tuned in, turned on, and dropped out during the days of vaudeville rather than the 60's?" asked nobody, but here's the answer anyway. Laudable Lyrics: It's nobody's fault but my own, I've only myself to blame.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 12, 2020

Carnosaur (1993) Deranged Doc Diane Ladd plots to have her genetically engineered dinosaur puppets rule the Earth. This Jurassic Park cash-in had four sequels. Four. TIL: From a spiritual perspective, the extinction of the dinosaurs is an abject lesson in humility for the mighty.

Still Voices - Us (2019) "We have lost the invaluable faculty of being shocked - a faculty which has hitherto almost distinguished the Man or Woman from the beast or child." - C.S. Lewis

Dad Rock Diary: Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath (1983) One of the few "satanic" bands to have an actual LaVeyan Satanist as a member. Extremely influential image-wise. Musically? Well... Laudable Lyrics: Oh, they should have known not to play with the powers of hell.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 11, 2020

Flesh Feast (1970) Mad scientist Veronica Lake (I crap you negative) works with Florida Nazis to clone Hitler. Bad, but the crazed twist ending is worth it. TIL: Nazism despises the Church because it is an autonomous establishment whose legitimacy does not come from government.

\One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Dr Cyclops (1940) "A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop." - Robert Hughes

Dad Rock Diary: Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974) Excellent mid-70's Prog-Space Rock. You can really hear the Floyd in this one which, you know, is perfectly fine with me. Laudable Lyrics: You only get a single chance, the rules are very plain.

DAILY CALL SHEET: MAY 10, 2020

Night of the Devils (1972) Fine feature take on The Wurdalak tale first tackled in Black Sabbath, but modernized and more Lovecraft than Stoker. TIL: In Slavic folklore wurdlaks are compelled to convert their entire family. Christians are too, just without the blood and fangs

Dad Rock Diary: Paul McCartney - McCartney II (1980)Tracks cobbled together from screwing around in the studio should be terrible, but it's actually a fun listen. Laudable Lyrics: Samson and Delilah would have made a crazy pair If that silly woman hadn't shaven off his hair.

And finally, a little something from the archives in honor of the day. THE B-LIST: EIGHT MOVIE WOMEN WHO ARE NOT MODELS OF MOTHERHOOD.