DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 30, 2024

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Well, thanks to the leap year, I'm reaching the end of the line one day early. This little experiment in jotting down notes/sketches during my daily listen along to the podcast The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) was meant to see if it would make me pay more attention and... I think it worked. This was my fourth year using the podcast (and sixth year through a daily readthrough of Scripture) and I still noticed things I hadn't before. Plus, it was fun. I highly recommend finding your own similar thing to help focus. Doesn't have to be sketching, just whatever works. Thanks to those who tagged along.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 27, 2024

Season of the Witch (1972) After her inattentive butthead of a husband gets abusive, Joan starts hanging out with the new witch in town. In no time, Joan is learning how to cast spells which allow her to seduce the neighborhood hunk. As you might expect, the outlook for Joan's husband becomes bleak. Word has it the film's producers wanted Romero to churn out a Skinemax (or worse) type of flick about frustrated wives who smoke pot and become whores, but the director had more feminist ideas in mind. Mostly forgotten in favor of Romero's better movies, it's managed to develop a cult following amongst the witchcraft is female empowerment crowd.

TIL: As author Noelle Kaiser explains, interpreting the witchcraft of the past as some feminist empowerment fantasy does not align with historical evidence. Those accused were not proto-women's rights activists, but rather healers, midwives, and the occasional oddball unfairly scapegoated during periods of fear and instability. Worse, she notes, "these claims not only misrepresent history but also pose a spiritual danger... The focus on personal spiritual power, pagan rituals, and occult practices distracts from the true wisdom found in Christ and the teachings of the Church." In short, the belief in witchcraft as a feminist power grab most often leads to anger, narcissism, and spiritual collapse.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: One more week of hastily scribbled notes on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 24, 2024

#OnThisDay in 1932 audiences discovered the Island of Lost Souls. Castaway Edward Parker finds himself stranded on an island where the megalomaniacal Dr. Moreau is creating a race of man-beasts to lord over. Sensing an opportunity to further his foul experiments, the mad doctor plots to mate his panther-woman with Parker. These plans go awry, however, when Moreau's subjects break the holy law imposed on them and rise up against their creator. Though it could use an actual soundtrack, this earliest adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau is probably still the best, thanks in no small part to Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi chewing the scenery.

TIL: The movie actually tones down the anti-religious themes in Wells' novel. The film ends with false god Moreau and all his worshipers dying in flames whereas the book has the protagonist convincing the enraged beast people that although Moreau has physically died, his spirit has risen to the sky to watch over them, basically insinuating that the story of Christ’s ascension to heaven was a bald faced lie to control the easily duped. Close to his death, Wells would write Crux Ansata in which he made the "completely rational" demand to bomb Rome to destroy the Catholic Church. Given time, anti-theism always descends to madness, violence, or both.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Almost done with a year of jotting down notes on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 21, 2024

Scorsese's 'Saints' show director's ongoing search. My latest for Aleteia takes a look at the famous filmmaker's most recent foray into religious territory as it reaches its midpoint.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Still dashing out random thoughts on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 15, 2024

Ghost Story (1981) A stodgy group of wealthy codgers who call themselves the Chowder Society meet regularly to swap scary tales. However, after one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, the rest realize that a shared secret sin long thought buried has arisen and they're now in a ghost story of their own. Mostly classy and nicely atmospheric, but sadly never really rises too far above average. Also, there's a bit of cognitive dissonance in the odd amount of full frontal nudity (male and female) on display in a movie starring elderly icons like Fred Astaire and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Not that the oldsters participate, mind you, but still.

TIL: Past sins, even those absolved through confession, have a habit of resurfacing in the mind from time to time. That's natural because the effects of some actions can linger for a long time, maybe not as butt-naked ghosts, but in renewed feelings of remorse and shame. As author Tom Nash notes, "Absolution doesn’t necessarily mean you will automatically be freed from all of the pain and guilt associated with those sins. When that pain and guilt resurfaces again, simply pray to God that you renew your sorrow for these sins, thank him for his forgiveness, and ask his continued help in your moving forward in the right direction."

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Still a couple of weeks left to share sketchy sketches based on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 13, 2024

 

The Devil Bat (1940) After getting hosed by his corporate employers, angry chemist Bela Lugosi comes up with a perfectly rational plan for revenge. He breeds giant bats, as one would, then trains them to attack the scent of a specific aftershave lotion which he hands out to his bosses as a gift. This was the first of PRC Studio's poverty row horrors and it accomplishes what it was meant to do, which is to be an entertaining diversion for an hour or so. Mostly it rides along on the performance of Lugosi, who seems to be having a blast.

TIL: In his Apologeticus, Tertullian made the assertion that all spirits, angels and demons alike, had wings as a natural result of their station. Basil of Caesarea expanded on the idea, claiming that demon wings were fleshy membranes like bat wings. This comparison eventually led to bats themselves being associated with evil. One legend even had it that bats were once confined in Hell itself until the gates were accidentally left open one day, at which point the critters took off like a... well, you know.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Still sharing, for better or worse, some random thoughts on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 7, 2024

 

House of Dracula (1945) A scientist renowned for curing rare disorders and his comely hunchback assistant are visited by Dracula and the Wolfman, both seeking an end to their individual curses. However, Dracula won't behave, the Wolfman can't be contained, and the doctor's methods become questionable, all of which leads to complications. Once the Frankenstein Monster is discovered alive underneath the laboratory, things fall completely to pieces. Among the least of the Universal classics, but with this many monsters running around, it's still more than worth spending a brief hour with.

TIL: As the USCCB notes, "The dialogue between medical science and Christian faith has for its primary purpose the common good of all human persons. It presupposes that science and faith do not contradict each other. Both are grounded in respect for truth and freedom. As new knowledge and new technologies expand, each person must form a correct conscience based on the moral norms." That last part about moral norms is key. Just because you think you can cure werewolves and vampires doesn't necessarily justify abandoning ethics to try whatever experiment you think might work.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Still dashing out instant observations on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 4, 2024

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) In a bit of a retcon, an adolescent Holmes and Watson meet for the first time while attending a posh boarding school. Along with Holmes' teenaged love Elizabeth, the new pals look into a mystery involving an Egyptian death cult. With the involvement of Stephen Spielberg, Chris Columbus, and Barry Levinson this should have been an instant 80's classic but, alas, it doesn't quite click, feeling more like a young Indiana Jones adventure rather than one more suited for Conan Doyle's detective. Still, it's breezy fun and earns its cult status with the inclusion of the first ever full CGI character put to screen.

TIL: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle attended three Jesuit run schools but grew to loathe the strictness of his teachers. However, as author John Dougherty notes, "Despite Doyle’s antipathy toward the Jesuits, you can find echoes of the Ignatian worldview in Holmes’ methods. For Holmes, careful observation of mundane details can reveal their deeper meanings... marks in the dust or the absence of a barking dog can serve as critical clues for solving a mystery. For us, a chance encounter with a friend, our emotional reaction to a song, or even a detour on our morning commute can reveal themselves as hints to God’s presence."

I HAVE SOME NOTES: For better or worse, still keeping a notepad next to me during my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 2, 2024

 I HAVE SOME NOTES: Whoops, looks like I skipped a batch of hastily sketched thoughts on my daily Scripture readings. Oh well, out of order, but here they are.

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 29, 2024

 

The Addams Family (1991) 25 years after Uncle Fester went missing in the Bermuda Triangle, the Addams' lawyer locates a man who who looks and sounds a lot like Gomez's long lost brother. Is the Addams Family finally to be whole again, or is it all a scheme to pilfer their vast fortune? There have been numerous attempts to reboot the beloved 60's sitcom (How could Tim Curry and Daryl Hannah have made something so, so bad?), but with it's pitch perfect casting and lived-in Gothic world, this and its sequel are the only efforts to truly recapture the old dark lightning in a bottle.

TIL: Rather than following along with the excesses of modern individualism and the fragmented anti-social view of humanity it fosters, the Church looks at the individual as a member of a family, thereby emphasizing the social dimension of human existence. The Catechism notes that it is the authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family, no matter how odd that family may be, which constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: Continuing to jot down thoughts on my daily Scripture readings.

DAILY CALL SHEET: NOVEMBER 21, 2024

 

Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) After a young girl is murdered at church on the day of her first communion, suspicion falls on her creepy 12-year-old sister Alice. Could the terrible tween be the one who's been dressing up in a yellow rain coat, donning a disturbing mask, and knifing everyone with a bladed crucifix? Blatantly apes the visual style of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now, but throws in a dash of good ol' American sleaze and a heaping dose of anti-Catholicism. Not really a shock as the film's director, whose previous movie was a porno, had been formally excommunicated a few years earlier and might be carrying a grudge.

TIL: Excommunication can be imposed through canonical process by a Church authority or occur automatically when someone commits an act specifically identified in Canon Law as deserving of the penalty. For instance, if a priest violates the seal of confession, he's out, no formal process needed. What most people don't get is that excommunication is not a punishment like a court's sentence, but rather something meant to awaken an individual’s conscience and bring them to repentance.

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