DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 30, 2024

 

#OnThisDay in 1985 the American Ninja snuck his way into theaters. Surly rebel Joe Armstrong (of course that's his name) chooses to enlist rather than go to prison and finds himself immediately shipped off to Southeast Asia. After his new colonel's daughter is kidnapped from the army base, Joe uses his martial arts skills to kick the entire Philippines' butt. Sure, it's hardly the first of its kind and it sure as heck isn't the best, but this Cannon (of course it's them) cheese-fest looms large in the 80's ninja-craze because it's just so stupidly enjoyable.

TIL: Speaking of crazes, author William George Jordan once warned, "A fad lives its life in a few weeks; a philosophy lives through generations and centuries; a principle, forever." Sure, the 80's ninja thing lasted for years rather than weeks, but it still ended up in the dust bin right next to all those parachute pants. Christians fall for ephemeral fads too, be it WWJD bracelets, the prayer of Jabez, or even (shudder) clown masses. They would be better served grounding themselves in the Church's dogma instead (yeah, I said it), as that's eternal.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Still scribbling down thoughts on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 25, 2024

 

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: The Spider Labyrinth. (1988) "The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themselves and others, in experiments. Their joy is self-conquest: asceticism becomes in them nature, need, and instinct. Difficult tasks are a privilege to them; to play with burdens that crush others, a recreation. Knowledge-a form of asceticism. They are the most venerable kind of man: that does not preclude their being the most cheerful and the kindliest." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More hastily penciled perspectives on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 24, 2024

A crew of medical specialists are shrunk to microscopic size and injected into the bloodstream of a dying scientist to remove the blood clot in his brain from the inside. The catch, they only have one hour before they expand back to normal size, creating a messy situation for all involved. All these years later, the practical effects definitely show some of their seams, but the overall creativity on display combined with the 60's palette and style overcome any shortcomings.

TIL: Bad science alert! At microscopic size, a human’s eyeballs would actually be smaller than the wavelength of visible light. That means, unless they figured out a way to counter that problem, any byte sized bozo on a fantastic voyage would be blind as a bat. If only Jesus hadn't been speaking metaphorically about the conscience when he told us, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light.” In situations like this, it would be nice to have a built-in light source that magically shrinks with you.

Still Voices: Fantastic Voyage (1966) "Habits are to the soul what the veins and arteries are to the blood, the courses in which it moves" - Horace Bushnell

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 21, 2024

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master divided Freddy fans forever. On one side were those who grokked with Renny Harlin's MTV-ification of the razor-clawed child killer, appreciating the increasingly imaginative set pieces and stylized visuals. On the other were those for whom Kreuger's final transformation into a delivery mechanism for hammy one-liners was a sure sign the franchise had jumped the shark (almost literally given the scene where Freddy's finger knives form a fin slashing through the ocean). Which side you fall on may be determined by whether or not you can get past the fact that Freddy is resurrected this time around by a dog peeing fire on his grave.

TIL: The book of Sirach (unwisely removed from the Bible by Luther) warns, "Divination, omens, and dreams are unreal;  what you already expect, the mind fantasizes. Unless they are specially sent by the Most High, do not fix your heart on them. For dreams have led many astray,  and those who put their hope in them have perished." The key here is that if God sends a dream, He'll unambiguously let you know it's from Him. Otherwise, no matter how long disturbing dreams may linger after waking, it's best to shake them off and move on.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More rambling reflections on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 17, 2024

The Beastmaster made only a brief stop in theaters before moving on to take over cable TV for years to come. Its perpetual showings on HBO and TBS made it one of the essentials for Gen-X. For subsequent generations, probably not. Oh, what's it about? Having been magically transported from his mother's womb to the uterus of an ox, the virile barbarian Dar is born with the ability to communicate with animals, a talent he uses to fight evil. Truthfully, it does drag a bit, but the Conan-lite goings on are tailor made for old school D&D players, and the ferrets are natural born scene stealers.

TIL: As the Catechism notes, God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. That means us. So, it's legitimate to use animals for food and clothing, and to domesticate them as workers and pets. We're stewards, though, not masters of the beasts, so we can't just do anything to them. Stuff like medical and scientific experimentation on animals must remain within reasonable limits and contribute to the caring for or saving human lives.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More random ramblings on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 16, 2024

Upon its release in August 1986, Cronenberg's remake of The Fly caused a buzz amongst unprepared moviegoers. This tale of a scientist whose experiments in teleportation result in his being merged on the cellular level with a housefly is the first film I ever saw that caused someone who wasn't drunk to race from the auditorium to vomit. And yet, despite some of the repulsive visuals on display, it's nuanced acting and ruminations on being helpless as something cancerous eats away at your body actually result in something kind of... well, beautiful.

TIL: A 2012 study of cancer survivors published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine noted that more than two-thirds said their faith helped them through the experience. The flip side is that a 2015 study published in Psycho-Oncology showed those who experienced a sickness-caused religious struggle appeared to have an increased risk of death compared to patients who didn't. So, while faith is no get-out-of-death free card, it has proven to be beneficial when facing its horrors.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Just jotting down more thoughts on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 11, 2024

 

THE LONG DARK NIGHT GALLERY OF THE SOUL #008: SHHHH

One fun sketching exercise I do every now and then is to check out some movie history books from the library and see what catches my eye. One of the things that becomes obvious is how much more expressive actors' body language were in old silent films. I mean, they had to be, right? Robbed of their voice, they had to communicate their character and emotions in other ways.

That kind of reminds me of one of the most famous things St. Francis NEVER said, "Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." Oh, he did write in the Rules of the Friars Minor that his Brothers living among the Muslims should consider refraining from being overly aggressive in their preaching, instead using the simple act of practicing their faith to get their neighbors interested in asking why they act in such a manner. But that's not the same thing as saying never evangelize. I mean, when one of the names for your God is "The Word", it's likely you'll use words at some point.

Still, there are many times being a silent actor is the way to go. If your neighbor is sick, naked, and starving, you don't hit them over the head with a sermon. You do the work Jesus told you to, letting your actions carry the meaning. The words will come later.

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

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 6, 2024

 

#OnThisDay in 1990 Flatliners breathes a spark of life into the box office. Joel Schumacher brings his patented neon maximalism to this tale of five angst-filled med students who stop and restart their hearts in an effort to see what, if anything, lies beyond the moment of death. However, their excitement over what they discover quickly turns to fear when they realize something may have come back from the other side with them. It's oddly religious subtext and better than Brat Pack casting adds some needed substance to Schumacher's excessive style.

TIL: Schumacher was born to a Baptist and a Swedish Jew, and lived his life in a decidedly unreligious fashion. So, it's interesting that his movie's chief conceit that otherwise good people may still have a few sins to atone for before they can move on is so closely aligned with the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, that state of being where a soul judged by God to be worthy enough to enter Heaven is first purified of any remaining consequences of sin leftover from their life.

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

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 4, 2024

 I HAVE SOME NOTES: Still using my notepad to record my ramblings on mu daily Scripture readings.