The Glory that is Rome

You get a glimpse of Roman soldiers in Pompeii and Son of God, both of which were released recently. Funny that the makers of Pompeii thought it was necessary to include a black African slave/gladiator as a character, even though it's been done repeatedly in recent depictions of the Roman Empire (Gladiator, Spartacus, what else?) Pompeii, with all of its CGI effects and lame Hollywood disaster movie plot, probably deserves its low freshness rating.



Is there any chance that for the sword and sandal movie, the Hollywood historical epic to get away from Political Correctness?

King Arthur, Centurion, The Last Legion, and The Eagle were disappointing though not all equally bad. What is Mel Gibson up to? His planned movies on the Vikings and the Maccabees don't seem to be going anywhere. Is there a movie about the Roman republic or the Empire that he would be willing to do, in Latin? (The Punic Wars? Caesar's campaign in Gaul?) Or maybe something on the Eastern Roman Empire, in Latin and Greek?

East of Byzantium and a movie on the Council of Nicaea


They may be inspiring to some and a must-see for history buffs but will they be too cheesy for the rest of the potential audience (much like Son of God appeals to pious Christians who do not have high standards for film-making)?



More episodes of Byzantium the Lost Empire.
Complete.

Plus, Byzantium - A Tale of Three Cities.

National Geographic did a documentary on Armenia.


The Rebirth of Armenia

A FB friend posted the following from Tim Stanley:
"I've reached the conclusion that traditionalists should reject politics and focus on art. We should take back control of the cultural institutions—universities, academies, churches, periodicals—and use them to promote beauty. We should try to live charitably, fully and well—to be examples and trend setters. We mustn't turn our backs on the people we disagree with, but embrace and cherish them (please, do not conflate traditionalism with snobbery—Yukio [Mishima] wrote, “The highest point at which human life and art meet is in the ordinary. To look down on the ordinary is to despise what you can’t have.”) And we should not accept our fate as mere critics of civilisation (the figurative version of Mishima’s suicide) but instead become the architects of a new one. For we traditionalists don’t contribute nearly enough to our society. Helping to improve it could mean anything from blogging to writing a symphony. My favourite way to keep the flame burning is to attend the Old Rite Catholic Mass. There is the real synergy of art and action: an ancient ritual, unchanged, unchanging that represents a communion with the past. And, of course, to God."
--Timothy Randolph Stanley
Telegraph. See also Daniel McCarthy.

Can't "take control" without numbers, and Christianity is not about numbers - it's about bringing Christ to others. Besides, the heavy use of print and electronic mass media in a system that is not sustainable may lead to their curtailment in the future - if we want to restore beauty we need to do so in a local context, in our communities and our temples.