Jesus Christ Superman
A familiar motif gets sidetracked.
By Thomas Hibbs
Snippets:
"Once you get past the stirring, iconic S on his uniform, Routh resembles not so much the Man of Steel as a GQ cover boy."
"The question here is not about orthodoxy. Superman is a Christ figure — a common-enough type in our virtue-starved culture — not “The Christ.” But even the imagery of the Christ figure requires a certain degree of dramatic and ethical consistency. It’s not clear by the end of the film whether Superman is really a self-sacrificing hero or a chump for a woman who is best suited to a marriage with a conventional, upwardly mobile male. One might argue that that question had already been raised in the 1978 film, but that doesn’t help clarify anything here. And the accentuation of the divinity of Superman only serves to exacerbate the problem."
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wow! Fr. Foster online!
Archive of The Latin Lover with Fr. Reginald Foster
2005 Archives
Impressive! I'll probably never learn Latin at the feet of this master, so this is the next best thing.
Thanks to the American Papist.
2005 Archives
Impressive! I'll probably never learn Latin at the feet of this master, so this is the next best thing.
Thanks to the American Papist.
Superman not Manly Enough?
From Julie Ponzi:
But there was also nothing of the American way anywhere else in the film. Superman seems to be a kind of post-modern hero--worried about his love-life, worried about his purpose and nature, worried about the nature of mankind and doubting his ability to improve upon any of it. He is depressed and brooding in this film. I found him a bit self-indulgent.
Chosun Ilbo: Surprising Comeback of a Reserved Star
Surprising Comeback of a Reserved Star
The first prejudice people have against actress Ko So-young is that she is a trend-surfer. The second is that she is a snob who will marry into the owner family of one of Korea’s big conglomerates. She shrugs off the first, declaring herself “oblivious” to trends. But the other charge clearly rankles. “I just can’t cope with that. I want a man who is ordinary and takes good care of his family, and who stays faithful to me his whole life,” she says.
Back after a hiatus since her 2002 movie “Double Agent,” Ko is promoting the new horror movie “Apartment,” due out on July 6. The Chosun Ilbo caught up with her at a café in Seoul’s not un-trendy Cheongdam-dong this week. “I wanted to play in a genre movie,” Ko explains. She plays Sejin, who tries to solve the mystery of serial killings incidents, in the movie based on a comic book by Kang Pool.
The first prejudice people have against actress Ko So-young is that she is a trend-surfer. The second is that she is a snob who will marry into the owner family of one of Korea’s big conglomerates. She shrugs off the first, declaring herself “oblivious” to trends. But the other charge clearly rankles. “I just can’t cope with that. I want a man who is ordinary and takes good care of his family, and who stays faithful to me his whole life,” she says.
Back after a hiatus since her 2002 movie “Double Agent,” Ko is promoting the new horror movie “Apartment,” due out on July 6. The Chosun Ilbo caught up with her at a café in Seoul’s not un-trendy Cheongdam-dong this week. “I wanted to play in a genre movie,” Ko explains. She plays Sejin, who tries to solve the mystery of serial killings incidents, in the movie based on a comic book by Kang Pool.
Ko says she is like a character in a romantic comedy, not the melodrama she has often been cast in. Thus she stayed up all night with her friends cheering Team Korea in the World Cup, jumping all around her home with little devil horns on their heads. “I couldn’t see the game against Switzerland. I waited for the game till 2 in the morning but fell asleep and missed it. We probably lost because I wasn’t watching.” She claims she accurately forecast the outcome of the matches against Togo and France.
Ko So-young seems prone to loneliness and prickly like a rose who want to protect herself, but she does not allow herself to be downcast. She has never thought seriously about death, she says, and had over the past four years “did nothing and just had some fun.” She is most comfortable around people she has known for a long time, goes to the same places she likes and maintains the same hairstyle for years -- sticking to her own style “to the degree I can cope with.” The Internet? “I rarely do it. I still get news from papers, not online. I prefer Polaroid pictures to digital cameras.” No early adopter, Ko may be aloof, but what is mistaken for arrogance is just confidence and composure.
(englishnews@chosun.com ) pic source
T. Fleming's recommendations for books on the Roman Empire
In one of his responses to comments at "Yes, They Have More Money," Thomas Fleming writes:
Very interesting! I would like to do more reading on early Rome up to the late Republic, and compare and contrast it with, say Athens or the Greek poleis in general. (Did I remember the plural form of polis? I don't have my dictionary handy.)
The historiographical question on Empire and Republic is vast. One aspect has to do with Caesar, who in the 20th century has been typically praised as the genius who brought rights to the masses. Yes, he had a few faults but geniuses are like that. This is the burden, basically, of Gelzer's very good biography. A rather different tack was taken by Christian Meier, whose book on Caesar is available in English very cheaply, and is an excellent three-dimensional view. I also recommend Guiglielmo Ferrero's Greatness and Decline of Rome. The problem with the late Republic is that it may not have been worth the lives of Cato and Cicero who endeavored to save it. In Nero's time, Seneca the younger (thinking probably of himself as Nero's chief minister) asks Cato, what difference did it make to him which gangster, Caesar or Pompey, became dictator. A said question and all to relevant to our own times.
As Ferrero points out, Augustus--in contrast with Caesar--managed to incorporate a good deal of republican virtues and traditions into the Empire. The period from the Third Punic War to the the Augustan principate I like to describe as a transition from an imperial republic to a republican empire. There is much more to be said on this.
Very interesting! I would like to do more reading on early Rome up to the late Republic, and compare and contrast it with, say Athens or the Greek poleis in general. (Did I remember the plural form of polis? I don't have my dictionary handy.)
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
JRM: Why not take her for a test drive?
"Why not take her for a test drive?" by Jennifer Roback Morse
Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist
official homepage
If you enter the website, and look at the short passage on retreats, there is a picture--in the picture it looks like someone we know from Christendom. Too bad the pictures of the community aren't larger--then we could see if there are any other Christendom alumnae there.
Spoke too soon! Go to the vocations page. Pictures of novices and postulants there...
If you enter the website, and look at the short passage on retreats, there is a picture--in the picture it looks like someone we know from Christendom. Too bad the pictures of the community aren't larger--then we could see if there are any other Christendom alumnae there.
Spoke too soon! Go to the vocations page. Pictures of novices and postulants there...
New documentary on St. Francis Xavier
Official website. Trailer.
What will be the Jesuit take on St. Francis--cultural imperalist? Missionary without a cause? Will it be an endorsement of inculturation? Or will it resemble the old Jesuit spirit?
Thanks to Amy Welborn.
What will be the Jesuit take on St. Francis--cultural imperalist? Missionary without a cause? Will it be an endorsement of inculturation? Or will it resemble the old Jesuit spirit?
Thanks to Amy Welborn.
Transfiguration College
Found the url for the homepage again; sooner or later I'll add it to the links.
Turning dormitories into places of sin
From Maclin H orton, "No Complaint, No Problem"
And what is there to stop the same sort of thing from happening at Boston College? Nothing. Hence, the administration will have much to answer for on Judgment Day.
See also Vigen Guroian's "Dorm Brothel."
And what is there to stop the same sort of thing from happening at Boston College? Nothing. Hence, the administration will have much to answer for on Judgment Day.
See also Vigen Guroian's "Dorm Brothel."
"Translations"
While we wait for a new translation of the Roman Missal into English, Byzantine Catholics are anxious about the proposed translation of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Divine Liturgy.
Fr. Serge Keleher has written The Draft Translation: A Response to the Proposed Recasting of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom; a discussion of the book can be found at the Byzantine Forum.
Fr. Serge Keleher has written The Draft Translation: A Response to the Proposed Recasting of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom; a discussion of the book can be found at the Byzantine Forum.
Odd combination
in a dream... X-men + The Unit...
*edited*
Ok , here are the details--the first part was set some in some sort of institution, school/hospital/secret base? With young adults with special powers. Not exactly mutants, since that thought didn't pop up, but they did have special powers. Although they did not use them in the dream. I'm not sure what my role was--teacher or administrator? Then one of the people was taken away, and it turned into a hostage drama; the background details of the first part quickly failed away, and it became a story about trying to rescue someone abducted by a foreign government. So, the Unit came in, with all of the main characters from that TV show , plus Sarge. We headed off to the airport, where we were briefed by a 'general' who resembled the major from the second Die Hard movie, except he was taller and thinner. Then we went to a secret area in the airport to get ready (and to learn how to break through a crate ???, because evidently the prisoner was being held in a crate)... and the general was showing me how to operate some sort of saw disguised as a piece of luggage.
hilarious, now that I read it over...
*edited*
Ok , here are the details--the first part was set some in some sort of institution, school/hospital/secret base? With young adults with special powers. Not exactly mutants, since that thought didn't pop up, but they did have special powers. Although they did not use them in the dream. I'm not sure what my role was--teacher or administrator? Then one of the people was taken away, and it turned into a hostage drama; the background details of the first part quickly failed away, and it became a story about trying to rescue someone abducted by a foreign government. So, the Unit came in, with all of the main characters from that TV show , plus Sarge. We headed off to the airport, where we were briefed by a 'general' who resembled the major from the second Die Hard movie, except he was taller and thinner. Then we went to a secret area in the airport to get ready (and to learn how to break through a crate ???, because evidently the prisoner was being held in a crate)... and the general was showing me how to operate some sort of saw disguised as a piece of luggage.
hilarious, now that I read it over...
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Monday Randomness
Someone suggested I go to Brazil--apparently there are a lot of Japanese in Brazil, and he claims they are Catholic. Not sure if they are mostly Okinawan or not. Supposedly Nakama Yukie is Okinawan; so is Uehara Takako. Actually he thought it might be a good idea to create an Asian country in South America, either of Okinawans or of Chinese. I wonder how S. Americans would react to that... haha
According to Range, Okinawans have distinct family names; they include
Arakaki, Fukunaga, Uehara, Gushiken, Amuro and anything ending in shiro. (Hrm, I should look for the kanji for those names.) I liked the traditional peasant outfits--maybe it's only because Nakama Yukie looks good in one.
Apparently Chinese people in S. America assimilate into the native populations, but the Japanese tend to stay separate. Is this related to socio-economic differences? What are Japanese Brazilians like? Would I have to learn Portuguese? Are they devout Catholics?
Chan Shun Fun's most recent product at YesAsia isn't the one I was thinking off--it seems to be just a calendar or something of the sort. The book I am thinking about was released last year--when I was in Hong Kong I saw posters advertising it. Perhaps the book is by another illustrator. Her collaborator, Pin Fan? Not sure... maybe I won't see the book again until I return to Hong Kong, whenever that is. It had a bunch of drawings of females (not of any males, unless they were pictured with the females, as a couple?) in Qing costumes... maybe some Chinese clothes from the early 20th century as well (qi pao and such).
Korean soccer fans are already looking forward to 2010.
The flames of nationalism still burn... nation-states will be around for a little bit longer. There are plenty of vocal nationalists at various forums... is the nationalist mindset different from the imperialist mindset? The imperial mindset at least does not have an inferiority complex to go with it usually, if only because of the political dominance of the empire (usually accompanied by material dominance, though not necessarily true cultural superiority).
AIM crashed on me a little while ago--so I'm recalling and reflecting on the convos--odd that people from Soompi are turning up in my dreams--I have to fill in a lot of the details, like voice, but I know about whom I am dreaming... I don't think I've seen Range's face, so I made one up, and as for the other one... I got it right part of the time, but at other times I mixed it up with faces of other people, which tends to happen in my dreams... well he guessed correctly who it was, if not about the content of the dream (haam sap loh!). Appearing in two separate dreams in one nap... how odd. But like I told him, she's 'just a dream' and having a dream seems quite appropriate. I dreamt that this person moved into my parents' house, and in the second dream she was still living there with them.
On second thought, a third Soompier was in one of my dreams, Guava... what was her old sn... Guavajavalava? This was last night or the night before. Today was her first day of work in the office. I wonder how it went. Her bf popped up in the dream, but I was way off on his appearance, I think. Too much time spent on Soompi. (Ok, I got the name right, my memory not kaput yet.)
As for the number of real friends I will have once I leave the Soompi experience... I'm not sure. 2? 3? 4? I haven't heard from Kim Haneul fan for a while.
If my schedule permits it and if people are around to be visited, I may go to New York City this weekend or the weekend after... now if I could only get in contact with everyone in the area... I suppose I may have to resort to using the phone. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to go to SoCal; but if I go, I'll definitely be checking out Ktown, the boba places and the bars, like Bohemian, if only to see if that 30 yo Korean bartender is still there, the one Watcher thinks is pretty. (I can see if she really knows Cantonese!) Maybe I'll go to hostess club, what was the nickname for it, room salon [*edited*]? I'll have to ask Watcher. Haha yeah right... I'm too poor for that. (According to Range, one can do 'anything' in the shady ones... what a world.)
Tonight on Hell's Kitchen, Chef Ramsey goes nuts--Virginia shouldn't have been picked for elimination, at least not now, but I don't think she has management potential. But that Sara, she's a bit too devious and a liar. Like the first season's winner, Michael? Perhaps. I think the remaining people on Red team are incompetent, especially Rachel and Maribel. Heather got moved to the Blue team, I think she has a good chance of making it to the finals--she can give directions at least. Mary Ann, the sous-chef, was rather witchy in tonight's episode--she overhears someone calling her a b---- (I think she was the object of the insult), and decides to throw some cake on the floor so they have to stay longer to finish cleaning. She has a rather mannish voice... has she been de-feminized?
I can't believe they let the kids run loose like that, but I suppose they thought they were letting the kids have fun. Where did these K'ers come from, and were the talents of the wannabe chefs wasted? Hamburgers, pizza, fries... I must admit I wouldn't mind trying their pizzas. Someone was rolling out square pizza though. (Rachel!)
I won't say much about that POS show How to Get the Guy on ABC, other than that it is POS.
According to Range, Okinawans have distinct family names; they include
Arakaki, Fukunaga, Uehara, Gushiken, Amuro and anything ending in shiro. (Hrm, I should look for the kanji for those names.) I liked the traditional peasant outfits--maybe it's only because Nakama Yukie looks good in one.
Apparently Chinese people in S. America assimilate into the native populations, but the Japanese tend to stay separate. Is this related to socio-economic differences? What are Japanese Brazilians like? Would I have to learn Portuguese? Are they devout Catholics?
Chan Shun Fun's most recent product at YesAsia isn't the one I was thinking off--it seems to be just a calendar or something of the sort. The book I am thinking about was released last year--when I was in Hong Kong I saw posters advertising it. Perhaps the book is by another illustrator. Her collaborator, Pin Fan? Not sure... maybe I won't see the book again until I return to Hong Kong, whenever that is. It had a bunch of drawings of females (not of any males, unless they were pictured with the females, as a couple?) in Qing costumes... maybe some Chinese clothes from the early 20th century as well (qi pao and such).
Korean soccer fans are already looking forward to 2010.
The flames of nationalism still burn... nation-states will be around for a little bit longer. There are plenty of vocal nationalists at various forums... is the nationalist mindset different from the imperialist mindset? The imperial mindset at least does not have an inferiority complex to go with it usually, if only because of the political dominance of the empire (usually accompanied by material dominance, though not necessarily true cultural superiority).
AIM crashed on me a little while ago--so I'm recalling and reflecting on the convos--odd that people from Soompi are turning up in my dreams--I have to fill in a lot of the details, like voice, but I know about whom I am dreaming... I don't think I've seen Range's face, so I made one up, and as for the other one... I got it right part of the time, but at other times I mixed it up with faces of other people, which tends to happen in my dreams... well he guessed correctly who it was, if not about the content of the dream (haam sap loh!). Appearing in two separate dreams in one nap... how odd. But like I told him, she's 'just a dream' and having a dream seems quite appropriate. I dreamt that this person moved into my parents' house, and in the second dream she was still living there with them.
On second thought, a third Soompier was in one of my dreams, Guava... what was her old sn... Guavajavalava? This was last night or the night before. Today was her first day of work in the office. I wonder how it went. Her bf popped up in the dream, but I was way off on his appearance, I think. Too much time spent on Soompi. (Ok, I got the name right, my memory not kaput yet.)
As for the number of real friends I will have once I leave the Soompi experience... I'm not sure. 2? 3? 4? I haven't heard from Kim Haneul fan for a while.
If my schedule permits it and if people are around to be visited, I may go to New York City this weekend or the weekend after... now if I could only get in contact with everyone in the area... I suppose I may have to resort to using the phone. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to go to SoCal; but if I go, I'll definitely be checking out Ktown, the boba places and the bars, like Bohemian, if only to see if that 30 yo Korean bartender is still there, the one Watcher thinks is pretty. (I can see if she really knows Cantonese!) Maybe I'll go to hostess club, what was the nickname for it, room salon [*edited*]? I'll have to ask Watcher. Haha yeah right... I'm too poor for that. (According to Range, one can do 'anything' in the shady ones... what a world.)
Tonight on Hell's Kitchen, Chef Ramsey goes nuts--Virginia shouldn't have been picked for elimination, at least not now, but I don't think she has management potential. But that Sara, she's a bit too devious and a liar. Like the first season's winner, Michael? Perhaps. I think the remaining people on Red team are incompetent, especially Rachel and Maribel. Heather got moved to the Blue team, I think she has a good chance of making it to the finals--she can give directions at least. Mary Ann, the sous-chef, was rather witchy in tonight's episode--she overhears someone calling her a b---- (I think she was the object of the insult), and decides to throw some cake on the floor so they have to stay longer to finish cleaning. She has a rather mannish voice... has she been de-feminized?
I can't believe they let the kids run loose like that, but I suppose they thought they were letting the kids have fun. Where did these K'ers come from, and were the talents of the wannabe chefs wasted? Hamburgers, pizza, fries... I must admit I wouldn't mind trying their pizzas. Someone was rolling out square pizza though. (Rachel!)
I won't say much about that POS show How to Get the Guy on ABC, other than that it is POS.
Of interest, from Seattle Catholic
David Jones and the Holy Mass
Magnanimity Comes to Hollywood -- Fr. Brian Harrison reviews Akeelah and the Bee (also from Fr. Harrison, "Could Limbo be Abolished"--apparently he thinks limbo is a part of Tradition? Odd.)
Review of Earthly Powers
Pope Adrian IV
Fr. Vincent McNabb: A Voice of Contradiction
Articles by Dr. Rao
The Great Western Schism, pt. 1, 2
All Borrowed Armor Chokes Us: An Historical Introduction to the Problems of Catholic Action
Two Popes, Saint Benedict, and the Soul of the West
School Days
Half the Business of Destruction Done
Lose the Past, Lose the Present
The Venetian Interdict of 1606-7
What's Past is Prologue
The Sack of Rome: 1527, 1776
I Lied, I'm Captured, I'm Right
The "War of Liberation": An Unmitigated Catholic Defeat
Archives.
Magnanimity Comes to Hollywood -- Fr. Brian Harrison reviews Akeelah and the Bee (also from Fr. Harrison, "Could Limbo be Abolished"--apparently he thinks limbo is a part of Tradition? Odd.)
Review of Earthly Powers
Pope Adrian IV
Fr. Vincent McNabb: A Voice of Contradiction
Articles by Dr. Rao
The Great Western Schism, pt. 1, 2
All Borrowed Armor Chokes Us: An Historical Introduction to the Problems of Catholic Action
Two Popes, Saint Benedict, and the Soul of the West
School Days
Half the Business of Destruction Done
Lose the Past, Lose the Present
The Venetian Interdict of 1606-7
What's Past is Prologue
The Sack of Rome: 1527, 1776
I Lied, I'm Captured, I'm Right
The "War of Liberation": An Unmitigated Catholic Defeat
Archives.
Spanish Martyrs for Virginia
Spanish Martyrs for Virginia
This is quite interesting, I didn't know the Spanish had pushed that far north...
This is quite interesting, I didn't know the Spanish had pushed that far north...
Thomas Fleming on Warren Buffet and Bill Gates
Yes, They Have More Money by Thomas Fleming Found this in the comments section:
Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory
If I had the time to read through the Latin classics...
Compensating with a Yacht by Taki
Nation Breaking:A soldier discovers that training the Iraqi army is not President Bush’s priority. By Joe W. Guthrie
Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory
If I had the time to read through the Latin classics...
Compensating with a Yacht by Taki
Nation Breaking:A soldier discovers that training the Iraqi army is not President Bush’s priority. By Joe W. Guthrie
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