A Politician who at least seems to tell it like it is.

Check out this link of NJ governor Chris Christie in a Q&A.   I think I like the guy.

Catechetical Foundations

Catechetical Foudnations is a group of Catholics dedicated to providing material to help train those who work to transmit the faith to the youth and adults of their parishes.  They have at least one full course developed and numerous talks and workshops ready to go.  The website is in the process of adding podcasts and video presentations in addition to its blog.  They really know their stuff, so check 'em out. 

Eugenics lives!

Just read the link.  It brings to mind all the reasons why I oppose the present administration and fear for our civilization.  Seriously, just read it, I can't really add anything to it.

Congressman endorses indoctrination

40 Days for Life

40 days for life is a peaceful campaign to pray outside abortion clincs for an end to abortion.   They have saved a number of small lives and encouraged a number of conversions to faith amoung clinc workers, the most well known of whom is Abby Johnson who last year left the Planned Parenthood clinic she ran after witnessing an abortion on ultrasound for the first time.  From there, one of her first stops was to one of the 40 days founders. In any case, get out there and pray or stay home and pray if you can't get to a clinic to pray.  And of course, check out the site.

Plans

For the next month and a half or so, I am going to be very busy with work.  Basically 12.5hr days, six days a week.  Actually, it'll be nights.  So that won't allow much time for blogging.  Still, I'll be off every fifth day, so I'll be sure to post something then.

Sienna Communications

The other day, I signed up for a cell phone with Sienna Communications.  They're a Catholic run company that offers plans for about the same price as the big guys (less in some cases) without a contract.  Yes, you can still get a free phone when you sign up as well, although you will pay more for a better phone than would from say Verizon.  However, the best part is that they will donate 5% of your bill goes to the pro-life charity of your choice.  So you get to yak on the phone and do a good deed at the same time.  That's the kind of multitasking I can get behind.  Anyway, check 'em out.  Also, check out the charity I chose donate to, Rachel's Vineyard.  They do lots of good work help people deal with the grief that often follows an abortion.
Almost forgot to give out the proper credit, I found out about them in an add in the National Catholic Register.
One last thing, I don't have the phone yet, so I'll let you know in a week or so how it all works out.

Shocking!

The other day, my wife pointed out to me that the headlines were full of "Pope Admits the Church Acted Too Slowly in Abuse Scandal" or something to that effect.  Seriously, this is news?  He's only been saying that ever since he was elected to the papacy.  I get why this is reported but I do wish the media would stop acting like it is some new, earth-shattering for the Pope to admit that some members of the Church screwed up big-time.  If only they would actually pay attention to what he is saying and has said maybe they would see that the Church is not a government seeking power but is rather an organism seeking the salvation of all.

Eli and Moses

I was thinking about The Book of Eli again the other day and realized an interesting parallel.  In the movie, Eli (as discussed in the review below) went through a period in which he was really following God's will, concerned only with his task but not the people around him.  It is possible that this is the reason that Eli doesn't actually deliver the Bible he was carrying but instead has to dictate it and then apparently dies right after he is finished.  In a similar way, Moses angers God in the water from the rock episode (scholars debate about exactly how Moses angered God; for myself, I subscribe to the idea that Moses was putting the focus on himself rather than on God), and as a result he never gets to enter the Promised Land, dies as he looks upon it.  Eli, like Moses accomplishes the primary task they were given but neither of them get to witness the fruits of their labors.  It is one final lesson in humility and trust in the Lord. 
It is worth noting one other similarity, both are lawgivers.  Moses transmitted the Ten Commandments and the Torah, whereas Eli carried and transmitted both the Old Law and the New Law.   Both also were required to go on long arduous journeys as well as overcoming certain handicaps (stuttering for Moses and blindness for Eli).  I could possibly go on, but it is already too darn late.

Two Questions

So, someone my wife is acquainted with died recently.  Before she died, she said she had two question for God.
The first, "Can I have a farm in Heaven?"  And the second was, "Can I be a greater at the gates with St. Peter."  If only all of our desires were so simple.

The Book of Eli

So, I watched The Book of Eli the other night. I had been interested when it was in theaters but given family life and all, I wasn't going to push going to see it. That said, the more I read about it, the more I wanted to see it. And finally, I have.
The basic plot is simple enough, thirty years after a nuclear war (it's never said explicitly but...duh), Eli (Denzel Washington) is heading west, carrying a book, a book that Carnegie (Gary Oldman) has been looking for for quite a while. Naturally enough, they run into each other. Since the movie has been out a while now and it doesn't waste much time revealing it, the book is in fact the Bible, perhaps the last one.
This of course is where it gets interesting. It is the last Bible because people quite consciously sought them out after the war and destroyed them, apparently blaming Christianity for the war. There isn't any detail given beyond that as to how or why the war started. In any case, it is thirty years later and most of the population can't read, making them ripe for manipulation by the evil Carnegie. See, Carnegie is old enough to remember the power the Bible has to inspire and motivate people for good or ill. Carnegie figures that if he can get a hold of one, he can spoon feed the populace whatever he wants from it and so bend them to his will more completely than he will ever be able to accomplish through force alone. Eli is also aware of this power and thus seeks to protect on his journey from people like Carnegie. Thus bullets fly and people fall, a lot.
One of the best things about the movie is that Eli is not perfect. More importantly, his imperfection is not celebrated and in fact he realizes his faults by the end of the movie. Essentially, he is so focused on his specific task of bringing the Bible cross-country (and reading it every night) that he has forgotten to apply what he reads, which he sums up towards the end of the movie as "do unto others." This is particularly relevant as at the beginning he ignores a woman being gang-raped and later on lies to a girl (Solara played by Mila Kunis) to prevent her from following him. It is, in fact his interaction with Solara that leads him to re-evaluate his actions and they way he had been living his life. I think that moral of this part of the story is that even divinely appointed soldiers on a mission from God (literally in this case) are not necessarily perfect and require redemption just like the rest of us.
Eli does actually share his faith during the movie, inviting Solara to a before meal prayer which completely baffles her, especially since she was sent in to seduce him. The fact that he doesn't take advantage of her and also shares his food visibly confused her. Eli certainly is not your typical post-apocalypitc survivor.
My only real complaint with the movie concerns the end. Eli loses the Bible along the way but does eventually reach his destination, a survivor colongy on Alcatraz which is dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of man and eventually diseminating it through world again. Sort of like the monastaries during the "Dark Ages." The loss is only partial though as after thirty years of reading the Bible every day, he has it memorized and it is quickly transcribed and becomes the first book off their newly operational printing press (a nice homage to Guttenberg, I thought). From there, it is placed on a shelf. Between the Talmud and the Koran. In effect, after Eli receives his task in a kind of vision, is clearly given a supernatural ability to fight and is in fact protected from death until his task is complete, the Bible is treated just like any piece of literature. Sure it is an important piece of our cultural heritage but the entire movie treats it as much more than that, as something that contains answers to our hearts' deepest longings that reveals the hidden purpose of our lives. More to the point, given the aforementioned vision, fighting, etc. it seems to treat the Bible and Christianity as the truth. And then, it's just put on the shelf? A much better ending would have been to have a minister of some sort giving a speech about how long they have waited for this day and then begin reading, probably the parable of the Good Samaratin.
Still, all in all a good movie, with good acting, good action and an overall positive portrayal of faith without being afraid to look at the way people abuse it or to acknowledge the faults of the faithful.

The Conservative Mind

So, I recently read The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk. I only heard of it fairly recently but this book, published in the 1950's apparently launched conservatism as a serious movement in this country. Not what the Fox News variety but real, thinking, philosophical conservatism. Perhaps I'll discuss exactly what the difference between the two is another time. Rest assured, it's a big, big difference.
In any case, I picked it up at a book store in Mecosta, home of the Kirk Center and it was at the conference there that I started to really have an important thought. As I sat there in a room full of authors, professors, on priest and a couple of young intellectual heavy-weights to be I realized that on one level, I and my friend being just regular guys with regular jobs were more than a little out of place. And yet, we are also in a way the more important people who were at that conference for the simple fact that we are the regular guys. We are the ones who are out in the normal 9-5 world, down in the trenches as it were. We are the ones who have the ability to influence those around us, in a way more than all the authors and all media types in the world.
The reason I am telling you this is that as I was reading the forward to The Conservative Mind last night, Kirk made mention of the influence the book had on the "real shapers of public opinion; the thinking men and women" who speak with and influence their neighbors. This got me thinking a bit more. Mostly about how little interaction and influence we have with our neighbors these days. This is in part due to technology which allows us to cut ourselves off from those around us and huddle up with others like ourselves so that we never have to seriously confront other viewpoints. It also due to the general fear our culture has of engaging in serious conversation, especially about politics and religion. There really isn't much that can be said here (by me at least) except that we, including myself simply need to get over it and stick our necks out a bit. I'm not saying go all Old Testament prophet on your nearest co-worker or anything, but simply jump into a conversation or bring up some small thing that might strike up a worthwhile conversation. Because Kirk's observation is only true if we come out of fear-armored technology bubbles and interact at more than superficial level with those around us.
Alright, that's it for now. I'll probably post some more thoughts on this book in the near future.

Toy Story 3

Okay, I know the movie has been out a while now and I am unlikely to add anything of substance to great review by Steven Greydanus at www.ncregister.com so this will be short and sweet.
First, let me say that Pixar can virtually do no wrong. Everything they touch is gold so far as I am concerned and this movie is not exception. Once again, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and some of the others (only some because many, such as Bo-Peep have left over the years) go through the trauma of Andy entering another stage in life. This time, Andy is heading to college and must at last "put away childish things." Naturally, the toys are terrified of what will happen, all except Woody and (to a lesser extent) Buzz who have faith that Andy will simply put them in the attic and perhaps they will be brought out of storage to play with his own kids someday. Suffice to say that isn't quite what happens and through a misunderstanding wind up at a day care center ruled by the tyrannical Lots o'Huggin Bear. Of course it seems like paradise at first and the everyone but Woody plans on staying. Woody however, recognizes a duty to Andy and he leaves. Before long though, he returns to aid in his friends' escape.
Along the way, we are treated to numerous examples of the importance and value of friendship in the standard non-cheesy Pixar way. In particular there is a moment in which all of the toys are literally staring death in the face. There simple gesture of solidarity (I'm blatantly ripping this off from Greydanus by the way) hits you right between the eyes, which just might shed a tear or two. Speaking of tears, if the end of the movie doesn't result in at least a watering of the eyes, you sir are not a human being (I almost ripped off Screenrant's wording there but they're right). I won't tell you what it is save for the fact that the toys and Andy do eventually separate and everyone apparently lives happily ever after.
As for the bad, there is very little here to talk about. Mostly it lies in the fact that there is some repeat material here. From the trailer, you already know that Buzz gets reset, thinking that he is a real Space Ranger again. Of course, this was the major thrust of the first one and we saw it again in the second one when another Buzz toy was unboxed. We also have a parallel between Stinky Pete and Lotso, both angry older toys who were slighted in some way and so rejected the natural order of the toy world and sought to impose their anger on others. They both have different reasons and ways of going about but they're off the same assembly line. Finally, there is the theme of rejection of being left behind as Andy moves on, be it to other toys (Toy Story 1), or simply growing up and moving past toys altogether (Toy Story 2 and 3). However, because the way that Pixar manages to not only add something new but to actually move the theme farther and deeper (except perhaps in the case of Buzz. There it's just something new.) where as lesser studio would simply repeat almost the exact same plot (Major League 2 anyone?) I'm not going to quibble a whole lot on this.
So, should you go see it? My only question is, why haven't you already?

Predators

So, I went to go see Predators last night. First of all, I enjoyed the heck out of it. It wasted no time getting right into the thick of things, beginning with our unlikely band of "heroes" literally falling from the sky onto the alien planet. We then spend the next half an hour waiting for them to figure out that they are being hunted by they have no idea what. Naturally, we know exactly what is going on but it is still fun to watch them figure it out. During this phase, there is a rather pretentious scene where several of the band of tough guys tries figure out what is going on, reading their own experience into it. The Russian, thinks it is a military test, the cartel enforcer seems to think they may be hallucinating or have been kidnapped for ransom, the convict thinks it's a drug experiment, you get the idea. Basically, it's the whole "people always force the unknown into their own experience," thing. Not that there isn't some truth to that but given the circumstances in this movie, they're really reaching. A far better application of this idea is how they use there experience to interpret the tactics of the Predators, such has how the mercenary (played by Adrien Brody) is the first to figure out that they are being hunted and the death-squad member figures out that one of them was wounded and turned into a trap for the rest because he's done the same thing.
Speaking of the characters, we never learn much about them except that they are not a nice bunch of people. In fact, the one woman (played by Alice Braga) comes to believe they have been chosen has prey because they themselves are predators, monsters, inhuman. Naturally, some humanity comes out (for most of them anyway) as they need to band together to struggle to survive, with a measure of redemption being achieved for several members who sacrifice themselves for the rest.
What of the Predators themselves? They are every bit as scary and ruthless as you would expect them to be, using maiming traps and stabbing people from behind with their giant writs blades. We get to see some new technology in their hawk-like probe that they can use to track their prey. We also see some "dogs" which are every bit as tough and scary as the alien baddies themselves. We also learn that there at least to races of Predator, the kind we saw in the original (and presumably all the other movies) and the three hunting Brody and company. As it turns out, these to races don't much like each other which leads to Predator versus Predator throw down. Unfortunately, it is also a bit of a let down, with the fight apparently being modeled off of beginner training videos for the WWE.
The final fight between Brody and the lead Predator (the other two have already been killed) is well done, with Brody using a very simple and clever trick to scramble the Predator's infamous infrared vision and then smacking the heck out of the evil bugger. Well, it also got shot through the chest by Braga's sniper rifle...
The next morning, they wake up to the sight of another bunch of parachutes falling from the sky, the whole process apparently starting over. Perhaps, there will be a sequel with them somehow getting off the planet. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
The only other thing worth mentioning is when they meet Noland (played by Laurence Fishbourne, who has been on the alien planet...a long time. Long enough that he's just a little be crazy. In fact, as I type this, it occurs to me that he is almost a warning to Brody's Royce of what he might become since they seem to have the same "do whatever it takes to survive" attitude. In any case, this little interlude doesn't really go anywhere and frankly just breaks up the movie. It would have been better, if a tad predictable to have Noland lead the rest in a real knock-down-drag-out fight with the Predators. Oh well, maybe our survivors will fill that roll in the next one...
At the end of the day, the movie had it's flaws but I would strongly recommend it fans of the original and anyone who want a good sci-fi/action fix.Re

The Golden Age - Part 2

So, after much deliberation, I am not going to walk you through the story of the second and third books of the trilogy. I greatly enjoyed the process of discovery along with Phaetheon, finding out why his memory was erased and who the enemy was who attacked him. Although to be fair, he really should have guessed the enemy sooner that he did given how smart he is. Therefore, I will discuss some of the themes prevalent in the trilogy.
The single biggest theme is the nature of truth. Given the ability to manipulate the senses and even memories that exists in Phaethon's world, it is certainly no wonder that many people think that truth is malleable and relative. Even, Helion, Phaethon's father and founder of the Silver-Gray school which adheres to ancient traditions and promotes an objective philosophy and morality does believe that his ideas are truly universal. In fact, at the crucial moment, it seems that only Phaethon, his wife Daphne and possibly the one man army (literally) Atkins maintain a faith in the objectivity and rationality of truth. And it is this faith in rationality and reason (yes, you read that right. Just chew on it for a bit) that in the end defeats the enemy and his philosophy of nihilism. Yes, in the end the enemy is not defeated through force of arms but through philosophy. And the enemy is not just defeated, he is converted.
Another theme explored in the book is the nature of free will. This is less explicit but still there. It comes out through the relationship of the Sophotech, super intelligent computers, capable of predicting virtually all events and even ordering those events in certain ways. In fact, the story largely hinges on a couple of small interventions on the part of one of the most intelligent Sophotechs.
If these machines are so intelligent and capable of controlling so much of human affairs, how can it be said that people are truly free? This argument, as well as an argument based on the lack of direct intervention on the part of the Sophotech to alleviate suffering are used by the enemy to paint these machines as evil and manipulative tyrants. The astute reader will recognize the arguments marshaled against the goodness of the Sophotechs as being the same arguments used against the goodness of God. The answers are of course fairly simple, the machines do not control our choices, they merely predict them. Even when they intervene, the do not force the choices made, they only make them possible. As to suffering, the only way to fully eliminate it would be to eliminate human free will. This is not explicit but rather implicit in the description of how the enemy's civilization came to collapse.
Other issues discussed are the nature of authority, law, and the ability of a free and peaceful society to deal with external military threats but as this is already a very long post, I will leave such discussions for the comment boxes.

The Golden Age - Part 1

Here's part one, which basically gives a brief description of the world of the Golden Age and the highlights of the first book.

The Golden Age is a highly speculative bit of science fiction by the intrepid John C. Wright. Set (I think) 100,000 years in the future, technology has continued to develop to the point that people are able to alter their bodies to pretty much any configuration, change, erase or add memories at will and transfer their minds into "mannequins" so that they never actually have to move in their real bodies (much like the movie Surrogates). As for society, there is unheard of wealth, it seems everyone has access to most of the fruits of the age save for those who choose not to make use of them.
That last actually brings me to one of the more interesting aspects of the trilogy, the fact that people are still people. There are still people who reject most technology, others who worship it; there is still pettiness and jealously, rebels, control freaks, etc.
Getting back to the story, we meet the main character, Phaethon, who is a an accomplished engineer and the "son" (a word that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing in Wright's world as ours) of Helion, another engineer whose claim to fame is that he rearranged the sun so that its "useful life" has been extended. In any case, he is confronted by two mysterious figures who both claim that he is not who and what he thinks he is. Essentially, he is informed that rather than the popular well-loved figure he believes himself to be, he is a pariah and his memory has been altered such that he cannot remember why this is. In fact, almost the entire society has also had its memory altered. Naturally, he starts asking questions and ultimately is attacked by an unknown enemy, which forces him to open up his memory casket, despite the risk of permanent exile.

Welcome!

So, I was running a blog called Reach for the Sky! but I fizzled out pretty quick. I think part of the problem was that the title was just too darn optimistic. And these are not times for optimism. They are, however, times for hope. It may be a faint hope, a fool's hope but hope yet remains and with the will of our Lord, we shall overcome. For those who read The Lord of the Rings or seen the movies, that is what Helm's Deep conveys, the idea that no matter how dark the night, and how hopeless the fight, the dawn will come and the darkness will be vanquished.
The first order of business for me on this blog will be to port over the worthwhile posts from my other blog which will be abandoned shortly. Stay tuned.