DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 25, 2024

 

The Dead Talk Back (1957) Do they, though? You wouldn't know it from this excruciatingly slow non-thriller about a scientist who claims, but never proves, to have a radio that lets him speak with the dead. He does use the dubious device to help solve a crossbow murder, so I guess that's something. Even if you're one of the few fans of the tell, don't show technique of filmmaking, this blab-fest will defeat you.

TIL: In the Church, Tradition is all about letting the dead talk. As G.K. Chesterton put it, "Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death."

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Continuing to doodle my fourth trip through Fr. Mike Schmitz & Ascension's Bible in a Year.

DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 22, 2024

 

Deadly Prey (1987) Backwoods militia kidnaps random people to hunt down for the purpose of honing their fighting skills. However, they goof big time when they snatch mullet-topped Michael Danton, the most dangerous killing machine on the planet. Dun dun dunnnn! Look, there's no pretending this is good by any standards of film craft, but if you were scouring the shelves of Blockbuster on a Friday night back in the day looking for some Z-level 80's action, this is exactly what you were hoping to find.

TIL: Mentions of hairstyles approximating the mullet date back to The Iliad, which raises the horrifying possibility that some of our favorite Bible characters may have worn one. Not Jesus, thankfully, who most likely sported either neatly trimmed hair, a peylot (it's possible), or the nice long locks suggested by the Veils of St. Veronica, the Divine Mercy image, and the Shroud of Turin. No mullet messiah, thank you very much.

Dad Rock Diary: Head East - Flat as a Pancake (1975) The opener, Never Been Any Reason, is a bona fide classic. The rest is solid enough rock suitable for popping the T-top off your Camaro, piling in with the guys, and cruising around looking for a kegger. Laudable Lyrics: You've been dealin' with the devil and cast your soul away. The only part that you have to doubt Is where it says you don't have to pay.

I HAVE SOME NOTES:

More off-kilter observations from my notepad inspired by my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 18, 2024

My latest for Aleteia takes a look at the Netflix series 'Mysteries of the Faith', a mostly earnest exploration of how Christian relics have impacted the lives of various individuals.

THE LONG DARK NIGHT GALLERY OF THE SOUL #005: A SHOW OF HANDS 

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." - Leonardo da Vinci  

For this pencil exercise I wanted to practice hands, and what better way to do that than with musicians. Truthfully, I usually suck at drawing real people, but these turned out okay. Kudos to the original photographers whose work I sourced.

DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 16, 2024

 

The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967) Another James Bond wannabe, only this time he comes with a super-forced sense of nonchalance and a simpleton sidekick played by Frankie Avalon. Naturally, there's a world conquering villain as well, a feminine faux-Fu Manchu who goes by the name Sumuru. Also, apropos of nothing, Klaus Kinski shows up in brown-face. The whole thing is like a motion picture variation of that old meme that goes, "Hey, mom, can we go see 007?", to which mom relies, "No, we have 007 at home." This film is the 007 you get at home.

TIL: Sax Rohmer, creator of both Fu Manchu and Sumuru, claimed to be part of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Rosicrucians, organizations that peddled warmed over Gnosticism to elites who believed only they could comprehend the hidden truths behind the Christian religion. As St. Paul wrote, however, “Avoid profane babbling and the absurdities of so-called knowledge [gnosis]." True Christianity hides none of its teachings, putting it all out there to be accepted or rejected as one sees fit.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More dashed out doodles on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Funny Book Philosophy: Poison Ivy 014 (2024)

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More sketchy sketches on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 10, 2024

 

The Black Cat (1989) Things go poorly for a film crew adapting the same book that inspired Argento's Three Mothers movies when a real life pus-covered witch shows up to raise hell. For many, this unofficial sequel to Suspiria and Inferno does a better job of closing out the trilogy than Argento's own belated attempt in 2007. It certainly nails the same non-sensical dream logic of its predecessors. What it has to do with Edgar Allen Poe's story, however, is anybody's guess.

TIL: Pope Benedict XVI was pretty enamored of cats, owning several. It was said that every time he met one, he would engage it in a long conversation, after which the feline would follow him around for awhile. In an interview, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone recounted that one time about 10 cats trailed the Pontiff into the Vatican, causing one of the Swiss Guards to declare an invasion.

Dad Rock Diary: The Wizards From Kansas - The Wizards From Kansas (1970) By this point, the 60's had sputtered out, leaving behind a legacy of bad trips, hangovers, and addictions, and these guys were feeling every bit of it, wailing to God like Job on his dung heap. So yeah, some really good psychedelic blues rock to be had here. Laudable Lyrics: And Lord look at me (yeah), I'm rooted like a tree (Oh yeah, yes, I am now). I've got those sit down, can't cry, oh Lord, I'm gonna die blues (yeah, yeah).

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More oddball observances on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 7, 2024

Bedtime for Bonzo (1951) A researcher hires an attractive, soft-hearted nanny to care for his chimpanzee in hopes of proving that nurture is stronger than nature. However, after getting a look at her, the doctor's fiancé calls shenanigans. Yes, future president Ronald Reagan comes across as a little bland, but to be fair, a simian is always going to steal the scene no matter who else is there. I bet if you put a monkey in a Meryl Streep movie, nobody would even notice the perennial Oscar winner.

TIL: The Church acknowledges that nature, that which a thing is at birth, and nurture, that which is acquired or added from external sources, can both heavily influence human behavior. However, by maintaining a moral viewpoint founded on human reason illumined by faith and consciously motivated by the desire to do the will of God, a Christian should eventually be able to overcome both.

Dad Rock Diary: The Birthday Party - Prayers on Fire (1981) Debut studio album from Nick Cave and his post-punk pals in which they make noise. It's kind of like a jazz band continuing to play as their bus with no brakes hurtles down the side of a jagged rock quarry while a poet in the back seat screams out lines that came to him in a fever dream. Laudable Lyrics: I gagged it with a pillow but awoke the nuns inside my head. They pounded their Goddy-Goddy fists (from the inside - so from the outside). I got good: I stuck it. Dead.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Penciled ponderings on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: FEBRUARY 2, 2024

The Boneyard (1991) Oddball assortment of comedic character actors the likes of Norman Fell and Phyllis Diller find themselves trapped in a morgue with evil zombie children and a giant mutant poodle named Floofsums. Kind of a were-poodle, really. In reverse, though, since it starts off as a dog. Whatever, it's fun, as is most of the rest of the film once you get past the slog of the first fifteen minutes or so.

TIL: Though the Church insists that the ultimate resting place of human remains be in a sacred space (not on a shelf or anything), the Catechism notes that prior to burial or cremation, autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research, and organ donation is considered legitimate and meritorious.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More memo pad musings on my daily Scripture readings.