Okay, So I Was In the Mood For A Change...

As you may note, the blog has been changed and I think for the good. More space to write, more room to post giant tags from unique movies, it's all fried gold.

So, now time for you to put new comments up as we have moved to a new format.

Also, as you can see, I lost all my links. So, if you want me to link to your blog that also links to us here at Ragemonkey then you need to send me an email. Use the convenient link attached to this post. I think that will work...

Comments?

Did You Expect Anything Less?!

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

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I owe it all to the Great Adventure. It's an adventure you should take too!

It's Day Two!

Hey, kids, I wanted to let you know how the Weight Watchers meeting went. I must confess (that seems fitting) that I was very nervous and resistent about going to the meeting. I know, I know, posting a message said I was planning to go should sound like I was actually planning to go, but I was resistent. However, I got off my duff and thanks to another priest of the diocese who needs a nickname until such a time as his membership in the hegemony is revealed, I went to the same location he goes.

While I was resistant to the whole idea of needing Weight Watchers, I am no longer resisting. What changed?

I weighed in.

Trust me, weighing in was a rude (very rude) awakening. It is impossible for me to say that I don't have a problem with my weight. And skip asking: I won't tell.

So, here's to the second day. Actually, I haven't been hungry or feeling deprived. The only tricky part is thinking about the food I am about to eat and then looking it up. However, Subway and Jason's Deli are becoming my best friends. Also, thanks to Fr. H for making this a priority in my life. I guess I am just having a Shaun moment: I needed to sort out my life. That sorting out has just begun.

Join the Fuzz!



The above logo can mean only one thing: Pegg/Frost/Wright are taking over Ragemonkey. Well, not really. A couple of chaps mentioned the upcoming new film from the lads who brought us "Shaun of the Dead." The new film is called "Hot Fuzz." I am hoping it will be as good if not better than "SOTD" but that remains to be seen. One of the negatives the boys have to work against is the perception that this movie is action-movie spoof. The pattern I have noticed so far from the work I have seen is not to spoof but to take the conventions seriously and contrast them with a realistic context. A really good example of this comes to mind but I don't want to give away what I thought was a brilliant sight gag. So, you are forced to take my word for it.

Anyway, the film opens in February in the UK and in April here in the states. I would sure love to go to the premiere but without tickets, passes, airfare, and a tuxedo (well, the tuxedo of priests = freshly pressed cassock and sash) that doesn't seem real likely.

New Favorite Movie

I am always on the lookout for a great new film. Usually though I don't end up seeing the movie until it's well out of circulation. There are two reasons for this: Oklahoma doesn't get all the really interesting smallerish movies and I don't have access to a megaloplex theater. So, when I catch something, and it really interests me, then it gets thrown into the upper pantheon that is my favorite flicks.

The movie in question fuses together masterfully three distinct sub-genres: romantic comedy, buddy film, and horror film. Any guesses? Okay, one more hint: it hails original from Fair Albion's shores, i.e. England. Still at a loss? Last try: George A. Romero loved the film so much he cast the two prinicipal leads as monsters in his most recent film. Give up? The movie is "Shaun of the Dead."

Before I go on to sing this movie's praises, let me say up front: the movie is rated R. Don't rent it for the kids. It is adult fare no matter how hilarious it is. There is a lot of profanity (guess which word; just don't mention it in the combox) and there is one particularly violent death scene (go figure in a movie about the undead). Also, at the end of the movie, the strong implication is that Shaun and Liz are living together but the film doesn't make clear if they are married or not. Other than that there is a lot going for this movie.

Brief synopsis time: The movie opens with Shaun stumbling his way through a regular mundane day of work, relationship issues, hanging out with his buddy, Ed. Although Shaun has a lot of potential, he clearly hasn't lived up to. In short, he needs to get his life in order and it takes his girlfriend, Liz, breaking up with him to jumpstart the move to sort out his life. Cue the zombie uprising. Through some perilious twists and turns and truly inspired scenes (I will never be able to look at an English pub or listen to the song "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen the same way), the movie resolves and returns to the same mundane events with which it began.

Now for some commentary or a segment I like to call: "Look out, falling spoilers ahead." The film touches upon a basic fact about life that we rarely see played out in this way. The virtues we cultivate in silence, often unnoted by those around us, are those which make us who we are when the time counts. Shaun didn't wake up one day ready to fight zombies, but each day he went to work, supported his friends, especially Ed whom no one really likes or thinks much of, wants to be good to his girlfriend and mom and dad. When it comes time to help and defend them, Shaun is ready because he's been training for it all his life. Further on this same line of reasoning, the filmmakers suggest that the strange and supernatural is just around the corner: it's a magical thinking kind of movie in which the mundane and extraordinary co-mingle at the edges of reality. This is played out in Shaun (played well by Simon Pegg) as he walks on two different occasions to the local convenience store. The first time it's the normal work-a-day London we would expect: guy washes his car, jogger passes by, a child plays with a soccer ball. The second time is very different: although Shaun walks the same route everything has changed. The car is wrecked, the jogger passes by (this time running for his life), and the child is now one of the undead. What makes the scene funny and poignent comes from Shaun not really noticing anything is wrong. That suggests, at least to me, not just how we shamble through our days as worker drone zombies but also that underneath the surface of reality there is more than we can imagine. (However, I recognize that some readers may disagree with this last point as an explanation for the zombies -- rampaging virus -- is decidely materialistic or at the minimum could be understood that way.)

The film also makes a good case for loyality and friendship, especially when our friends are clods. (By the way, every has a certain degree of "clod factor" which is that innate ability to indulge in the worst inclinations of your personality at the most inopportune time.) Ed is a loafer and slob but just as much as Shaun has stood by him, Ed has stood by Shaun. Even when he gives ridiculous advice or suggests that dogs can't look up, Ed has Shaun's back. This is particularly well demonstrated in the final scenes of the movie. After the zombie uprising has been quelled and everything is back to normal, Shaun goes out to the shed before having breakfast. Why go out to the shed? The shed has become the home of his newly zombified best friend, Ed. The movie ends with the two of them playing a video game which is much how the film started. Rather than just disposing of Ed the zombie, Shaun holds on to his friends, despite repeated efforts by Ed to bite Shaun. That's a charming note to add to a film which could swing off into sardonic or other ill fated decisions.

It seems to me that rather than being anti-Christian, there is something clearly traditional about horror movies. You know who the good guy is; you know who the bad guy is; every one has be virtuous or some approximation of that to make it to the end of the story. "Shaun of the Dead has moments like this such as when the film goes to great lengths to make sure the audience understands that Shaun's biological dad died and his mother was a widow when she married Philip, Shaun's stepdad. Even though I am willing to bet no one would have batted an eye at the proposal of divorced parents, it was interesting to note how the filmmakers made sure to get that point in there.

This brings me to a conclusion. St. Genesius, martyr, started out mocking the Christian faith only to die a martyr for the faith. Performers in the entertainment industry must be beset each day with a thousand competing voices that influence their work, and yes that includes morality and their faith. We would do well to pray for folks in the entertainment industry, not because they are hopeless heathens, but because they are just like the rest of us lot, trying to be true and faithful to that which will bring true happiness to themselves and those they love. As St. Thomas Aquinas observed, "man will always choose something he thinks is good, even if it is only an apparent good."

St. Genesius, pray for us.

Thataway, Cousin!

Most readers know of my affection for all things British (as if the above post didn't demonstrate). Call it a malingering leftover from days of basking in the exploits of Danger Mouse and Penfold while topping it off with a couple of tea while reading Charles Dickens. And let's not even consider the obnoxious role Monty Python et al. play in this question. Case in point: how to recognize a Python fan at a single drop, say this: "I don't care how runny it is, produce it forthwith." You know have a humdinger of a fan if you follow that with: "Oh, I'm sorry, this is abuse; arguments are down the hall." When you add in my father's Welsh heritage (The "Tharp" surname means "from the village" and so probably had a vowel at the end to tag on the placename) and my mother's Irish heritage, those fair isles are a constant friendly beacon to me.

So, once again, I was pleased to see this note in the Telegraph. Apparently, the UK is having some of the same kerfuffle that CC in SF did. So, after Mr. Blair pulled a climbdown (I think that means backed down) and seems to refuse to permit the Catholic Church from opting out of adoptions by same-sex individuals. The potential damage to Labour party politics seem high. As I read the article I was also heartened by the support the UK Catholic Bishops are receiving from the Muslim community. This is another good example of where the truth is praised and loved, there can be common work together. Further, what I like to see here in this consideration that while the Bishops are getting their dander up, the majority of objection is coming from the MPs themselves. That's really super to see; it's a good witness to how faith must play a role in someone's life, even if they are a public servent. This whole "Personally opposed, but my constituents want..." line never washed with me. Happily, it isn't washing there either.

Bully to you, cousins across the pond! Hopefully, I can make another trip to the UK soon. Perhaps someone would like to book a Catholic priest-author for a little time in my homelands.

Before I go to the office, a brief announcement

I finally have gotten off of my duff and am setting out to start three new things for myself, one of which will benefit readers at least potentially.

1. Monday I am going to Weight Watchers. One of you in the Edmond area offered to go with me. I would like that. Call me at the rectory so we can arrange schedules.
2. Monday I am starting to take my whole day off. This is something that Fr. H has been insisting I do and finally I am starting to see his point. Not that I am pigheaded...
3. By the middle of February, I hope to have up and running the Oklahoma City Chesterton Society. I am starting in the OKC area because it centrally located and all that. I need to find a place that I can host it and we can have drinks and such. The meetings will be monthly on Mondays. And I promise even if it is just a couple of us reading together, that's a good enough start for me.

I'll keep you posted.

A Spot of War and the Beating of the Drum Head

I have generally avoided talking war and politics on this blog, prinicipally because I believe that since I don't have all the information the higher-ups do, I am not in the position to make specific observations about the current situation in Iraq. With that said, I have to confess a certain confusion over the situation namely given that it seems as though there were so many other places which were and are still more threatening, at least as it appears to me. Take North Korea, for example. Disproportionate sized army, leader with strange behavior patterns, widespread oppression of populace through starvation and isolation from the outside world, confirmed intelligence that N.K. has weaponized smallpox, possibly obtained from the collapsed Soviet Union. I don't know about you but this seems much more of a threat, but again, I don't have all the intel, so I am just guessing here.

Now I am seeing further reports that Iran now may become the next source of conflict. Granted, Iran has never been one of my favorite countries and I don't, for one instant, buy the suggestion by the Iranian president that nuclear power is needed for energy for his country. For the love of Pete, they are sitting on an enormous well of oil and natural gas. It seems to me however though that many of our problems in the Middle East are problems created by American Foreign Policy. The whole situation with the shah is a simple case in point. Further, that the administration went into Iraq before tightening down the situation in Afghanistan (a military intervention which seems more obviously moral to me) and/or addressing the mounting problems in Iran leaves me ill at ease. In my more pessimistic moments, I am forced to ask myself: "Does controlling oil reserves qualify as eliminating a threat to our country? Where's the just war theory clarification kit when you need it?"

And we aren't done, folks. Now we have a problem brewing in Venezuela. Chavez is showing the signs of becoming the heir apparent of Castro to the banana republic quasi-Communist leader. I would ask though if an ambassdor is not to offer input and improve inter-country relations, then why have ambassadors at all?

All of this musing got started today because of the Gospel from today's Mass for Sts. Timothy and Titus. I used the common Gospel passage assigned for today in which the Lord sends out disciples with message of Peace. Peace is not a cessation of armed conflict; it is the fruit of forgiveness. It seems to me more and more that peace is increasingly difficult to achieve because forgiveness, reconciliation, and humility are not in play. It's like people playing Monopoly with the future but have left out the dice, the properties and the Chance cards. This is not a slam against our own country; it looks like the state of affairs all around the globe. And before you ask, no, I don't know how to make that sort of forgiveness a concrete part of policy. All I am able to do is diagnose a problem.

Today, pray for peace. Peace in your heart, in your family, in your parish, in your country where you made read Ragemonkey, and in the world at large.

From my "Good Coming From Unexpected Quarters" file:

I was looking through my news folders and found this rather interesting little tidbit. It turns out that Richard Branson, media mogul of Virgin Records fame, is looking to branch out and move into the bio-tech field. He's looking to get involved with stem cells.

Now, check your mental pressure. When I saw the headline, I made the same assumption you did. "Oh, great," I thought, "another chattering naybob pushing for embryo destruction that may or may not actually do something while established and effective lines of research are neglected." Well, that's what I get for just reading the headline.

Branson's operation is an umbilical cord blood storage facility. You read that right, the man is both trying to be ethical and turn a profit. What a novel thought! Of course, this doesn't mean I am going to run out and buy up Virgin Records products or book my next flight on Virgin air, but it is pleasing to see this happen. What's also a pleasant bonus of the article is that, unlike many U.S. media outlets, the article nicely sums up the successes of ethical stem cell research.

Further Versions of My Two Cents

I find it INCREDIBLY humbling that anyone pays any attention to what I have to say. I simply steal from the rest and repackage for later consumption. It is with this spirit that I point you toward my most recent foray into print.

A few months back, I was interviewed by NCR(egister) about the subject of the Sunday rest. I had forgotten about the interview until today when the most recent issue of Register arrived. I got some good space in the article. Working as I do for most of you, somewhat anonymously, behind my computer screen, it is funny to think how these electronic words turn into real interviews which become words that I forgot I said. But then again, plausible deniability is all the rage.

My thanks to Barb Ernster for turning my rambling discourse into a cogent idea. And don't forget to subscribe to the Register.

Of Blizzards and Book Orders

Ok, so I am something of a fussbudget when it comes to getting the things I order through the mail. I recently purchased a used copy of a book and was wondering where the deuce it was. So, using my handy-dandy tracking software as found on the USPS website, I found the package. Bear in mind, I ordered this before the new year: it went into the mail on January 3: so why isn't it here in Oklahoma already?

The book was routed through DENVER. That's right; the blizzard didn't just stop traffic; it stopped the mail.

Fortunately, the book will arrive tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

Fr. Hamilton's Annual Class Reunion 2007
Long time readers of the blog will recall that every first week of January is my annual reunion of my seminary classmates from the North American College. I won't re-explain all the details, but we meet up on a tree farm in Alabama owned by the parents of one classmate. Everything we need is there -- even a chapel. Below are several shots from this year's reunion, which some of you have already asked to see. The ever-popular group photo of reunion attendees follows at the end of the series.

Here is a shot of a few of us sitting in the living room in the lower house on the tree farm. Yours truly is second from the right. 

So, what do you all do on this tree farm reunion, I am often asked. Well, long time readers of the blog have seen pictures in the past years of the group hiking, fishing, hunting, shooting guns, and just sitting around the fire. This year we had a new community event. Fr. Brian Christensen (on the couch) read out loud articles from This Rock magazine, the Catholic apologetics publication. His reading time provoked all sorts of discussion, questions, and rebuttal. And believe it or not, Fr. Mark Vander Steeg (in the chair) didn't yank the magazine out of Fr. Christensen's hands, tossing it in the fire. 

Fr. Sam Martin and Fr. Adam Parker (background) are enjoying a moment of levity as they try to solve a crossword puzzle. I guess they had tired of "Story Time with Fr. Christensen." 

This is a classic pose for one of my classmates -- now Monsignor! -- Bob McClory. Here I caught Msgr. McClory making a point in a conversation. I love the monsignorial gesticulation! You just gotta listen to and agree with a priest like this, right?

Here is a strange photo you don't see everyday ... or any day for that matter! Sometimes when the Sacred Liturgy is moving at a snail's pace, you need a little oomph. At least give Fr. Chris Nalty some credit for wearing a very pious alb and, if you look very closesly, you just may be able to make out that he is holding an Adoremus Hymnal. If any Adoremus folks catch this photo and want to make use of it, simply ask my permission please. Something tells me the good folks at Adoremus would really love to see this photo.

And, finally, the annual group shot. There were 13 of us in attendance this year. This year we decided to take our group shot just before we had Mass, thus the vesture. We are standing on the steps of the forest Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, our Domus Dei while together for the reunion. (By the way, for those readers confused by the photo immediately before this one, my camera was resting on the roof of the John Deere cart for this photo. Fr. Nalty moved the cart in place for the photo, but, of course, we were already in vestments.)

A Close Call
I returned Monday from my annual class reunion. It was a great trip as always -- so relaxing, just catching up with brother priests who continue to be a serious part of my own ongoing formation as a priest. It is truly treasured time.

When I returned home I learned of the avalanche in Colorado. My brother lives in Boulder so, upon hearing the avalanche news, I thought, "Oh, I wonder how close that was to him? Probably not all that close."

Then Mom filled me in and then I spoke to my brother.

My brother and some of his friends were on their way to a ski resort for the day. They were on the very road, US 40, onto which the avalanche fell, knocking cars off it. As best we can estimate, based on the time of the avalanche and when some concerned calls began arriving on his cell phone, he had passed the very spot of the avalanche only some 5 to 10 minutes earlier.

My brother agreed with my suggestion that such events make you stop and think.

It Seems Strangely Fitting...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Most Noble Lord Shane the Sonorous of Leper St George Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

ITunes Round-Up

I can't believe I am doing this but with Fr. Hamilton away with his Rome classmates, shooting deer and shooting something else around the campfire, I thought I would get some of my tech-geek posts out of the way. That and I have to update links to our blog. So, I wanted to take part in the craze sweeping the internet blogoverse: the potentially embarassing ITunes shuffle. This is how it works, you set the music to shuffle and list the first 10 songs that come up. This reveals nothing concerning my podcast selection although it might be interesting to see the readership's reaction to them. Okay without any further ado, here's this week's shuffle:

1. New York City They Might Be Giants
2. Jealousy (Will Get You) White Hassle
3. Red Barchetta Rush
4. Someone is Waiting Dean Jones Company Soundtrack
5. Jacob Marley's Chain Aimee Mann
6. Aimer (Romeo et Juliette) Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel
7. The Planets, Op. 32-6: Uranus, The Magician Holst
8. Le Miracle Des Noces de Cana A Collection of Gregorian Chants
9. Exitu Israel De Aegypto A Collection of Gregorian Chants vol. 2
10. Driving Sideways Aimee Mann

You can infer whatever you wish about my personality based on this music selection, but as a point of trivia, there is a connection between two of the artists on this list. I'll give you a hint: one sang back-up for the other band on another song not listed in this shuffle.

Just to alert our alert readership

I received an email concerning the status of one of my favorite publishers, Sophia Institute Press. John Barger, the chief publisher, sent the mail and asked something very simple: please send $1.00. If enough people send in the money, they should be able to hold up their efforts. So, would you all mind stopping by their website and giving them the help? The relevant link is here.