Oscars 2021: CODA

Of all the best picture nominees, this one I probably the most interesting to me. CODA stands for “Child of Deaf Adults” , and is the story of Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), the only hearing person in her family, who has a passion for music. She’s torn between pursuing her love of music or abandoning her parents—her father is a fisherman, and eventually they’re busted by the Coast Guard for not having a hearing deckhand on board. Does Ruby give up her dream of music school to stay and help her family?

(Other reviews in this series: West Side Story, The Power of the Dog, King Richard, Belfast, Dune)

CODA has been nominated for three Oscars: best picture, best performance by an actor in a supporting role, and best adapted screen play (Of the big five oscars, we have three nominations. Not bad!) It’s rated PG-13.

I was really worried about this one—I didn’t think I’d like it. I loved it. It’s so good and deals with so many issues around deafness, but also family!

Ruby’s parents are pretty isolated. At one point, Ruby’s mom, Jackie (Marlee Matlin) talks about how they have their own Deaf community, to which Ruby replies, “Who, your deaf friends? You see them once a month.” And that’s a real issue for her family. Even though her father, Frank (Troy Kotsur) is part of a family that’s been fishing in Gloucester, MA, for generations, he’s not “buddy buddy” with the fisherman. His son, Leo (Daniel Durant), who is also Ruby’s older brother, tries, but it’s hard because there’s no one to interpret for him, and reading lips only gets you so far. (This is illustrated perfectly in a scene where Leo goes to get a beer with the other fishermen, and he just sits at the table, staring at his beer can and missing what is going on around him.) Ruby has to translate everything for her parents—at their doctor appointments, at meetings, even calling her grandmother when her mother doesn’t want to use the video relay because of an interpreter being present.

( I will say, I get that and it’s very weird. It’s like this other person is in on these personal details of your life and you really wish they weren’t.)

(Also: I groan when I hear people say, “I’m deaf (or I have CF, or I have whatever) and I can do ANYthING!” No, you really can’t. You can’t! I can’t! I can’t scuba dive, for example! If you are profoundly deaf you need help interacting with the rest of the world. That’s vitally true, and I’m glad CODA showed it, because it’s too often easy to say “oh, well I don’t need help”. )

The family’s “plan”, if there was one, is for Ruby to continue being the hearing deckhand that the boat needs to operate under Coast Guard guidelines. She’s also their line to the world. But when she joins the school choir and finds out that her music teacher thinks she has a shot at a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, Ruby frantically tries to divide her time between fishing, school, preparing audition material, and being a normal teenager.

Daniel Durant (Leo), Marlee Matlin (Jackie), and Emilia Jones (Ruby) in CODA.

While Ruby’s family intesenly depends on her—something that her brother tries to get them to do less of, hoping they’ll rely on him (He has lip reading skills, and tries to insinuate himself into the hearing culture around him)—Ruby also expresses her ambivalence about leaving her family when she tells her teacher, “I’ve never done anything without my family.”

The Rossis are a vibrant, extroverted family, which can embarrass Ruby, but as one of her friends says, “You parents still like each other!” They’re close knit and that causes tension but they also really do want what is best for each other—even if that means change.

(There’s a crucifix in their house and Ruby wears a small Miraculous Medal throughout the movie. Loved it. :) )

Also from a music standpoint, it’s also accurate. Auditions tend to run the way they do in the movie and if you walked in without your music, you’d definitely get those looks. And you’d also definitely get those looks if you turned up dressed the way Ruby was dressed! (Also big dog, little dog? YES! cracked me up. But I wanted to scream, Ruby put on your concert dress it is right there!!!!!!!! when they left for the audition!)

If there was justice in the world, this would be the movie that people talked about instead of the inane The Power of the Dog, but, we sadly don’t live in this world. While there’s some crude sexual humor, this is a very warm portrayal of a loving family that has flaws and faults but also great strengths.

Kotsur is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Rossi family patriarch, Frank, (He just won the BAFTA for it) and he does a great job creating a believable relationship with his daughter, and the struggle to stay with what’s familiar as opposed to being vulnerable to new people, who may or may not be totally straight with him.

Emilia Jones (Ruby) and Troy Kotsur (Frank)

I found this movie totally delightful, and I highly encourage you to see it.

Oscars 2021: "The Power of the Dog"

A continuation of the Oscars 2021 series. Previous entries: King Richard/ Belfast, Dune, West Side Story)

The Power of the Dog is nominated for 12 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director (Jane Campion, The Piano) , Beset Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Supporting Actor (Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jessie Plemons), Best Supporting Actress (Kirsten Dunst), best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and is rated R. (Top 5 Oscars nominations: 4, the most so far)

The story revolves around two brothers, Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Burbank (Jesse Plemons) who have come back to their Montana ranch home. Upon their arrival in town, they and their workers have a meal at a boarding house restaurant, run by Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and her son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). George marries Rose after a few days’ acquaintance, and takes her back to the family home, with Jesse still working and living at the boarding house. Phil doesn’t, to put it mildly, like this. After a year spent at college, Peter comes to live with his mother and stepfather for the summer.

This is not a comfortable movie to watch. It’s a nicely produced movie, but it’s a movie that sets your teeth on edge. It makes me wonder if people actually liked this movie or if they just think it’s appropriate “artsy” and thus, should be nominated for things. There’s no real story, moral, theme, what have you. There’s no clear arc for the characters. It just…is.

Cumberbatch’s nomination is clearly because he’s playing a baddie, as the Brits would say. He’s good—Cumberbatch is good in just about any role he does—although his American accent is terribly flat (especially up against the Americans in the cast). But there’s no real brilliance in his acting, like there is in Will Smith’s Richard Williams.

The movie is based off a novel, and there are interruptions every so often of “chapter numbers” on a title card, which creates jarring jumps in time. The movie also takes place during Prohibition, but there is conspicuous alcohol consumption everywhere, even at Rose’s boarding house, which would clearly be illegal. (This also becomes a major plot point, which is not….feasible, given where the family lives.)

I kept thinking, What was the point of this movie? What’s the value of making it, of telling it? There’s no arc, no redemption, no…anything. It showcases the worst sides of humanity and honestly, we don’t need a movie that does that. The “gotcha” ending doesn’t even sound plausible to me.

So, as you can probably tell—I did not like this movie. It was a waste of two hours and a lot of acting talent that could’ve been put to better use.

Oscars 2021: "West Side Story"

Next Up in my Oscar Race reviews: West Side Story!

(Previous entries: King Richard, Belfast, Dune)

This remake of the 1961 Best Picture winner by Stephen Spielberg has been nominated for seven Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose as Anita), Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound. (Big 5 nominations: two, director and picture, the same amount as Dune.) Of course the 1961 picture was adapted from the Broadway musical, which was nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award.

When I first heard this was coming out (it was supposed to come out in 2020), I rolled my eyes. I grew up with the 1961 movie cast album, learning all the music and pretending to be Anita or Maria as a kid in the basement of our house. I didn’t think we needed a re-do.

My original assessment still stands: This isn’t a needed re-make. That being said, there are some strong points to it, along with some “meh”s.

Likes:

*Tony and Maria are actually the appropriate ages. As in, they don’t look like they’re in their late 20s or early 30s trying to play teenagers. Big plus. Same with the other actors. I love it when they’re the right age! (Or at least can pass!)

They look like teenagers! Yay! Ansel Elgort (Tony) and Rachel Zegler (Maria) meet at the Dance at the Gym.

It’s also great that everyone does their own singing, and everyone can sing. Some have done so on Broadway (Ariana DeBose was in the original Hamilton cast, and Mike Feist, who plays Riff, originated the role of Connor in Dear Evan Hansen as well as the role of Morris in Newsies. He’s also from Central Ohio! Yay local boy!) and are musical veterans (Brian D’Arcy James, who plays Officer Krupke, was in the original Broadway cast of Titanic, which was the first Broadway show I saw actually on Broadway.) I think that Elgort’s singing is just fine. Tony has a high tenor voice and it’s not an easy part to sing, but he does it well. (I do think that both he and Rachel Zegler, who plays Maria, could learn to emote a little more when they’re singing. They both do a lot of the “my face is blank while I sing!”)

*Ariana DeBose deserves her Best Supporting Actress nomination—her performance as Anita is extremely well done, especially in “America” and “A Boy Like That”. She is fabulous!

*Mike Feist is an amazing Riff, and for my money, the best actor amongst the “gang” kids. I feel like he shouldn’t been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, because he plays Riff just right: there’s an edge to him you believe, a fatalism that works for a kid who is supposed to be the leader of a gang. The scene where Riff goes to buy a gun for the rumble is one of the few good additions to the script, mostly because of Feist’s work in it.

Mike Feist as Riff

*Justin Peck’s choreography improves on some of Jerome Robbins’ original work; this is especially clear in the opening sequence, the re-imagined “Cool”, and the sprawling “America” sequence. Also those crisp motions leg movements during the Mambo section at the dance—gorgeous. Also “Officer Krupke”’s move from the streets to a NYPD precinct is a great call, with excellent choreography and vocals (check out the beginning, which starts a cappella and then the orchestration comes in.).

*The re-imagined “Somewhere” sequence works very well, especially as a solo for Valentina (Rita Moreno).

*it’s a gorgeous movie to look at. The cinematography, the color, the sets…gorgeous. Great production values. I definitely think it should win the Production Design Oscar. I also love Maria’s costumes for the last scene and “I Feel Pretty.”

Dislikes:

*The Spanish isn't captioned. This is a ridiculous decision on their part. I actually went back and read the screenplay, and then translated what was said, and it’s not the same as “what was just said next” as a lot of reviewers say. We’re missing the spice of the original, and in some cases we’re missing insults and even context. The song the Sharks sing in the opening fight with the Jets? Apparently it’s the Puerto Rican national anthem. If it was translated, we’d at least know what they’re singing about (Usually if a song is being sung in a non-musicals, the captions will give you the title of the song. This happened in Belfast.)

When Anita speaks to Valentina after her almost gang-rape, Anita is actually saying something along the lines of Valentina letting pigs in under her roof. It’s much sharper and harder than anything that Anita says after that. But Spielberg said that adding captions would have been disrespectful.

(I think it’s pretty disrespectful for those of us who rely on captions…but I digress. )

The only time I have ever seen the “no captions” thing work is on Outlander, where Gaelic isn’t subtitled because Claire doesn’t understand what’s being said, so the audience is as lost as she is. That’s the point.

Here the audience is just….lost. And the fact that it’s not even captioned for the hearing impaired? That’s ridiculous on a whole other level.

*Anita and Bernardo live together with Maria (which I really don’t think was happening among Catholics in the 1950s?) in a big apartment. We’re talking two big bedrooms and a large kitchen, bigger than any NYC kitchen I’ve actually seen, with an equally big dining room. This just struck me as unrealistic.

*And that leads into the re-writing of the script. Having Tony be an ex-inmate doesn’t work. You never buy it. You never buy that he’d break his parole to go to a dance (I mean, come on, are we in Les Miserables here? We’re going to rip up our ticket of leave and go on the run?). Why does this back story exist?

Valentina is also criminally underwritten when compared to Doc in the original. Doc had many more lines, and a lot more world-weariness that played against Tony really well. That doesn’t happen here at all.

(Also: Anita talking about having little mix during the Quintet while she’s….at Mass? Can we not?)

*The meeting scene. Tony and Maria meeting behind the bleachers is tacky, and it takes away the magic of the “eyes meeting across the room and the world fades away” thing. It’s just not magical anymore. And the re-write doesn’t help it here. Leave it alone, people! We get crappy dialogue where before it was better.

*Some of the the costumes. I like Paul Tazewell’s work in theater—he did the costumes for Hamilton. But the issue with some of the scenes is that the clothes are too theatrical. The general idea is that the Jets are in cool tones, and the Sharks are in warm ones. But at the dance, that translates into just about every Jet in a shade of blue (often the same shade of blue!), and every Shark in a shade of red.

See what I mean?

Again, this is great in theater. It works in theater. On screen it reads as off, at least to me. (The costumes are gorgeous, don’t get me wrong.) Compare it to Dune, where you have people who wear uniforms and color schemes, but it looks realistic as opposed to, “yes, we designed all of this! Look at our color scheme!”

I will say it’s not as overt throughout the entire film, and when it’s not, the costumes work much better.

A still from “America.”

Overall West Side Story is beautiful to watch. There are good performances, the music and dance are excellent; but there are things that keep it from being a great movie.

Oscars 2021: Dune

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Welcome to the continuation of my Best Picture Nominee Reviews! Here’s the overall list, with links to the reviews that are live, and notes about forthcoming reviews. I might not be able to see all the movies before the awards at the end of the month, but I’ll try!

(All the movies, with my linked reviews: King Richard/ Belfast , CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley , The Power of the Dog (review forthcoming) ,West Side Story (review forthcoming) )

Dune has been nominated for 10 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Original Score, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Costume Design, and Cinematography. Of the “big five” awards (picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay—original or adapted), it’s nominated for two. (For comparison, King Richard is nominated for three—picture, actor, and screenplay, and Belfast also is nominated for three—picture, screenplay, and director.)

I hadn’t read the massively popular sci-fi novel until right before I saw the movie. While some people said you didn’t need to read the novel ahead of time, I found that I did, and even then I’m still sort of sketchy about certain things. If I hadn’t read the novel, I think I would’ve been pretty lost. The screenplay does do a good job of exposition, but I still wondered about certain things and wanted more detail, which, of course, the source novel has. (You can’t get everything into a movie; it’s not possible.)

The novel is actually divided into two films, because the director, Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), didn’t want to skip anything from the book. So in order to present it in its entirety, it’s two films. This movie stops about halfway through the novel.

(Before we get into the plot: if you are a massive fan of Dune, I give you my apologies right now, because I’m probably mangling the plot in an attempt to simplify it. I’m sorry!)

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The basic plot: Paul Atreides, heir to House Atreides, is sent to Dune (aka, Arrakis) since the Emperor of the Galaxy (or something like that) has decided that his father, Duke Leto (Oscar Isaacs, The Force Awakens), is the new ruler of the planet. This comes with the extremely lucrative “spice melange” contract—spice is really the only thing worth having on Dune, which is a desert planet where the lack of water affects everything from the color of the sky to the clothing you wear. The spice has incredible powers—it enables higher levels of cognition, it makes space travel possible (you can’t navigate in space without spice, apparently), etc. (More here.)

However, this move comes with a cost, because the former rules of Arrakis are the Harkonnens, who are enemies of the Atreides, and they are, as one of the characters says, “BRUTAL!” So this promotion is not without a lot of danger, because obviously the Harkonnens are a little annoyed at this turn of events.

Our enemy: Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard)

Paul’s mother is Lady Jessica (the fabulous Rebecca Ferguson, Mission: Impossible, The Greatest Showman) and is a member of the aforementioned Bene Gesserit, an order of what are basically nuns (they have a Reverend Mother, for example) who are gifted in manipulation, both bodily and otherwise, politics, and all sorts of other shadowy machinations. Before the family leaves for Arrakis, the Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling) comes to test Paul with a few Bene Gesserit tests—a box of pain and the gom jabar. Paul passes these tests with flying colors, and the Reverend Mother thinks that Jessica has manipulated her body (when she was pregnant with Paul) to produce “a mind”—the great mind that can see beyond space and time, into the future and the past, and bring about all sorts of things. Basically, a Messiah.

Paul (Timothee Chalamet) undergoes the gom jabar test at the hands of the Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling)

So, with all this happening in the background, the Atreides family leaves their home planet of Caladan and take up residence on Arrakis/Dune. From the first, things are not good. There’s an assassin’s plot to try to kill Paul in his room, the housekeeper that Lady Jessica interviews gives her a crysknife, a Fremen’s weapon, to defend herself, and there’s rumors that someone is going to betray the family. Paul has been trained in combat, and he wants to prove his worth, but at the same time, his father is reluctant to let him do that, since he is the House’s only heir.

Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and Duke Leto (Oscar Isaacs)

And, just to make things really interesting, Paul has been having dreams about Arrakis and a certain Freman girl, and his dreams about the future tend to come true.

I think that’s enough plot to get you going, right?

The movie is, first and foremost, gorgeous. The scenery, the effects, the cinematography, and the costumes are first rate and deserve to win the Oscars for their respective categories, I don’t think anything else comes close in terms of costumes this year. Lady Jessica gets to wear a lot of fun things, but every person is costumed appropriately and well, in a way that is uniform but not over the top (I thought this about the West Side Story costumes but we’ll get to that in that review.)

Costuming: Lady Jessica and Paul on Caladan, at the “Herald of the Change” ceremony.

On Dune: Paul and Lady Jessica in stillsuits, which enable survival in the desert by recycling the body’s water.

The casting is an embarrassment of riches. Ferguson and Issacs interact well together, and with Paul, create a believable family. You feel the affection they all have for each other. It’s criminal to me that Ferguson didn’t get nominated in the Best Actress category, because her part is difficult and she pulls it off beautifully.

Chalamet, who plays the teenage Paul, has been in high profile projects before, especially Little Women and Beautiful Boy. He does justice to the role of the perhaps-Messiah of the galaxy, going from a boy eager to fight to one who knows he has to fight to fulfill his destiny, even if he’s not entirely sure what that is. There’s a mystical edge to the part that could be overdone, but I don’t think Chalamet does that.

Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck and Oscar Isaacs as Duke Leto

Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa are excellent as members of the Duke’s entourage, and Javier Bardem plays a Freman leader, Stilgar, with the appropriate shadowy qualities—we’ll see more of him in Part II, along with Skarsgaard’s Baron, who only appears in flashes but whose menace underlines the entire movie.

Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho,

Zendaya plays Chani (aka the Freman girl in Paul’s dreams) well, even if we don’t see much of her here. (Again, more to come in Part II). There’s also one more cast member I really liked. In a gender-bending role—the character is male in the novel—Dr. Liet Kynes (played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster) is the planet’s top expert, and she’s in charge of helping with the peaceful (ha!) transfer of power. Duncan-Brewster’s performance is excellent.

I really enjoyed Dune. Of course I think the Best Picture Oscar would go to it after the second installment, assuming it’s nominated again ( a la Lord of the Rings being nominated but not winning the top prize until Return of the King). It’s an “old school” kind of movie: adventure, action, drama, all put together in a complete, gorgeous package. I’m very excited to see Part II.

Oscars 2021: "King Richard", "Belfast" reviews

If you’ve been reading here for awhile, you know I like to review movies and I’m generally insterested in the Oscar race (well, assuming there re good movies in that race.) This year I’ve seen several of the movies up for Best Picture and I’m hoping to see more before the awards at the end of the month, and I’m writing reviews about them!

The nominees for Best Picture are:

Belfast (reviewed below)

CODA

Don’t Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune (review coming)

King Richard (reviewed below!)

Licorice Pizza

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

West Side Story (review coming)

In this first installment I’m combining two movies, King Richard and Belfast, because I mostly have short notes about them—but that doesn’t mean they’re not good!

King Richard has been nominated for several Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (Will Smith), Best Supporting Actress (Aunjanue Ellis as Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams, Richard’s wife), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. It’s rated PG-13.

The film focuses on Richard’s drive to ensure that his daughters, Serena (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton) get the world class tennis training he knows they deserve. He’s doing his best, teaching them skills he’s found in magazines and on VHS training tapes, but he knows the girls deserve better than practicing on a public park tennis court, where they’re also harassed (maliciously) by a gang of guys. The desire for excellence isn’t just in tennis, it’s in life, as seen in the scenes at home, where the girls are told to reach for excellence in every part of life, and to be humble. (A scene where Richard makes the family watch Disney’s Cinderella drives this point home in a cute way.)

Eventually Richard gets training for Venus, but not Serena; Serena enters tournaments on the sly and begins racking up her own wins. So with two potential champions in tow, Richard begins to search for sponsors and opportunities—but he wants to do it his way, which begins to cause some problems with the coaches and tournament directors. The film climaxes with Venus’ match against world number 1 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (who, by the way, was one of my favorite payers to watch back in the day). But undergirding the story is the question: is Richard doing this for his girls, or is he doing it for himself?

Smith and Ellis make a great couple, and their scenes together are fiery and realistic. They both deserve to win their respective categories. The girls who play Venus and Serena are excellent as well, both in their tennis skills and in their portrayal of young girls with incredible talents, being driven by their father in ways they sometimes don’t want to be (such as when they’re practicing in a downpour). Sidney is especially notable because she’d never played tennis before shooting this movie!

Even if you’re not a tennis fan, this is an enjoyable movie to watch because of the focus on the family and Richard’s quest to see his girls reach tennis stardom.

Demi Singleton (Serena) and Saniyaa Sidney (Venus), training with their dad.

Belfast is based on the life of director Kenneth Branagh, who grew up in Belfast until he was nine and his family moved to England to escape the escalating “Troubles.” Buddy, the nine year old boy at the center of the story, is played charmingly by newcomer Jude Hill, who is absolutely perfect in the role (it also makes me wish the Academy still did Juvenile Oscars.)

Buddy lives with his older brother Will (Lewis McAskie), his Ma (Caitriona Balfe, Outlander), Pa (Jamie Dornan), and in the same neighborhood as his Grannie (Judi Dench, charming as always) and Pop (Ciaran Hinds, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II). He has a crush on Catherine, a Catholic girl in his class at school. He loves playing int he alley with the other neighborhood kids and wants to do his space project with Catherine.

Then the Troubles begin in his neighborhood, on August 15, 1969 (as a card tells us). There is violence on Buddy’s normally quiet street, and there are barricades set up that he has to go through to get to school. There’s violence against the local Catholics, and Buddy asks his cousin what the difference is between the religions—she says you can tell mostly by their names, until Buddy stumps her with “Thomas” ,which can go either way!

In a very funny scene, Pa tells the boys that Catholicism is a “religion of fear”, then cuts to the boys attending service, where their pastor is preaching unrelenting hellfire at them, making Buddy terrified of choosing the “wrong way” that leads to hell.

Ma (Caitriona Balfe) and Pa (Jamie Dornan) dance at a neighborhood party.

Pa works in England, but that doesn’t mean the family is exempt from local problems. There are men in the area who want Pa to join them to “remove” the Catholics from the area; there are debt collectors calling and sending overdue bills, and Ma worries about money and the safety of her boys. Can the family stay in Belfast with all the chaos around them, or should they decamp for England?

This is a very sweet streak to this movie, since it’s told through Buddy’s eyes. We see him absorb the violence, but he doesn’t really understand it. When one of his friends decides to join a crowd of rioters in looting a Catholic-owned grocery, Buddy tags after her, not knowing that it’s wrong since adults are doing the same thing, and if adults are doing it, it must be OK, right?

The violence is tempered with Buddy’s innocence (especially in his scenes with Catherine, played by Olive Tennant. They’re perfect). Is there violence in the film? Yes. It’s not gratuitous and it’s never close up, but it’s there (Buddy and Will hide under the kitchen table while Ma hides in the living room as a car bomb explodes, for example). Buddy worries about his family, especially his ailing Pop. But even with the danger, Buddy feels secure with his family, and that warmth is tangible and important to see in movies. (Especially since one of the other nominees, West Side Story, essentially does away with family underpinnings.) In fact, that’s one of the things I liked best about both Belfast and King Richard: the emphasis on family.

Belfast has been nominated for seven Oscars: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Ciaran Hinds), Best Director (Kenneth Branagh), Best Performance by an Actress a Supporting Role (Judi Dench), Best Original Song (Van Morrison) and Best Sound. It’s a shame Balfe wasn’t nominated for best actress, since she’s been nominated in other major award shows (BAFTAs, Screen Actors’ Guild, Critics’ Choice Award, and the Golden Globes.) and she gives a luminous performance.

At the Golden Globes, Belfast won Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for several other awards, including Best Picture—Drama. It’s rated PG-13 and is available to stream on via iTunes.

Have you seen either film? What did you think?

Seven Quick Takes: Advent, History, Radio Show, and the Only Movie You Need!

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Heigh ho, heigh ho! Welcome back to Seven Quick Takes.

We’ll start this week with….Patty. :) Per usual!

She has recently really gotten into baby dolls (these are all her sister Bridget’s) and I love watching her play little mama with them.

Also, Patty turns 16 months old tomorrow! Here’s a flashback photo from a year ago.

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Advent is coming! Advent is coming!

May I suggest that, if you are looking for an Advent devotional, that you take a look at Take Up & Read’s? It’s called The Holy Way and a lot of love and careful attention went into this book! We’d love to have you spend Advent with us. You can order your copy now.

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I’m going to be on Al Kresta’s radio show on Tuesday to talk about my book and All Souls’ Day! I will post the link when it’s up, but if you have Catholic radio in your area, check to see if Al’s show is aired where you are!

-IV-

Continuing down the list, history!

Well not really history, civics.

Basically these days I use my Political Science degree to teach people civics on the internet. :-p

Today’s lesson is: how a bill becomes a law in the US Congress.

It’s introduced in either the House or the Senate. The house it’s introduced in has to pass it. After they pass it, it goes to the other house. If it’s not passed, it’s dead. If it is passed, the president can sign it or veto it. If he vetoes it, then Congress can try to override the veto. If they don’t override it, bill’s dead. Can be introduced next session.

Veto override requires a two-thirds majority of members present.

To just pass something, you need a majority. That’s it.

There’s a lot of talk about how “well you really need 60 in the senate these days.”

That is, to put not too fine a point on it, crap. Yes, the U.S.. Senate has the filibuster. Yes, it requires 60 votes to stop a filibuster. But that’s not to pass legislation.

Capisce? Do we get it? Please don’t say you need 60 votes to pass a bill in the Senate, because you don’t.

-V-

So, my dad and I, after many sojourns in ERs where we have to entertain ourselves, came up with the list of Essential Movies that Explain Life. What that means is, we draw on them heavily in regular life because they capture some truth or bon mot that applies to multiple situations.

They are:

1) The Wizard of Oz : “Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking!” "Well, being a Good Christian Woman I can’t say it!” “What a world, what a world!”

2) The 1995 Pride and Prejudice. The only version. If you know, you know. “You do not make allowances for differences of situation and temper.” “The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it.” “You have delighted us long enough.” “What do we live for, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?”

3) Mr. Mom. “I can’t believe it!” “I can’t believe it!” “You’re doing it wrong!” “No, lie to him. He likes it.” “Whatever it takes.” "

4) A Christmas Story: “It could be anything!” “Don’t you feel terrible? Don’t you feel remorse for what you have done?” “

Now, I’d add two other things to this—Christmas Vacation has gotten a lot of us during the pandemic, because “Whatever Russ, whatever.” And also Home Alone gives us this great gem:

via GIPHY

-VI-

Is there anywhere else int he world that does not trick or treat on Halloween? Or is this a uniquely central Ohio/Ohio thing? I as talking to Patty’s mom the other day and she said that she couldn’t believe we had trick or treat not on Halloween. I never really thought about it because that’s just how we do it here, but yes, it’s….weird.

-VII-

And I have begun writing out my Christmas cards. Yes, I begin Christmas prep early!

Movie Review: Fatima

I wrote a review of the new Fatima movie for the local Catholic paper! Yay!

Here’s the beginning:

There are almost as many film versions of the story of Our Lady of Fatima as there were appearances by the Virgin. With so many versions, do we need another account of the apparitions of Mary that occurred more than 100 years ago? Yes, because this version brings the story of the three visionaries and their world to realistic life. 
 
Other tellings of the story have focused on the three seers – 10-year-old Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco, 9, and Jacinta Marto, 7 – and what they beheld in a two-dimensional way. The current film gives depth and realism to the apparitions with its vivid storytelling….

Read the rest at the Columbus Catholic Times!

Seven Quick Takes--Welcome July!!!!! (And a baby!!!)

-1-

Welcome, July!!!!

Fireworks at Colonial Williamburg

Gosh, I’m so glad we’re in July. Yayyyy July!

So much to talk about today!!!

-2-

OK first, WELCOME TO MY NEW GODDAUGHTER!

Patricia Mary

6/30/20

7 lbs 15 oz.

She’s my cousin’s daughter, and my first goddaughter! She was born on our grandma’s 90th birthday, and, coincidentially, has the same name as our Grandmother—full name, I mean. The Patricia was for my grandmother, but the Mary is also our grandmother’s middle name!! So how nice is that? Grandma got a pretty awesome present!

You can’t tell in the photos, but she’s a ginger, like her mom!

So she’s been in the hospital for a few days because they had to make sure she tested negative for COVID after a few tests. She’s passing with flying colors though so yay! My cousin can nurse her but she has to gown up because she actually tested positive for COVID—even though she has no symptoms. BIZARRE.

Anyway, I hope by the time this is live, they’re able to go home!

She’s the fifth child in my cousin’s family. They have two daughters—Susie and Bridget—and two boys—Frankie and Johnny. Bridget, in particular, is very happy to have another sister!

So, yes, as her godmother, I am going to spam you all with photos of her because that is my job as godmother.

(And to spoil her rotten….)

-3-

(OK she’s ADORABLE, RIGHT?!?!!?)

I already have a godson, who will be 23 this year. So I’m really happy to have another godbaby, and my first goddaughter. It’s so fun to spoil the littles. Not that I couldn’t spoil my godson, but it’s harder since he’s all grown up and I can’t pay him $1 to see if he knows his prayers anymore. :) He recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh (A semester early!), so yes, I am insanely proud of him too. :)

-4-

So it’s Fourth of July Weekend! I recommend watching Gettysburg, John Adams, and 1776! (SIT DOWN, JOHN!)

via GIPHY

Also reading John Adams, The Killer Angels, and 1776 are great reads for July, especially the latter. For kids, the Felicty series from American Girl is great for learning about colonial history, and I also really like the Revolutionary War series from Laurie Halse Anderson, told from the perspective of a young slave girl, Isabel, and her friend, Curzon. This is fabulous trilogy: Chains, Forge, and Ashes. (and these are also great books for adults, too! Anderson is a great writer.) Learning history is so important and fiction is a great way to spark interest and learn things!

-5-

Also, reading the Declaration of Independence is a good idea….

-6-

I’ve never been a huge fireworks person, but I did top this with a picture of the CW fireworks because….awesome, right?

-7-

And finally, if you missed the posts from this week, here they are:

There are sleeves on the cardigan!

Glorious Scars

A New Review of Living Memento Mori!

Christmas is Practically Here Seven Quick Takes

Linking up with Kelly!

-1-

So gonna start off with—I saw Star Wars last night. No, not at midnight. At a special 5:00 “fan screening”—I did get a cool opening night pin (sorry, bad photo in dark theater!):

So that was pretty cool. And there were heated seats in the theater—talk about decadence. I’d actually been wanting to try this out, and it was like a nice heating pad feel in your lower back, so I have to say, enjoyable. And you could turn it on and off! Yes, I am easily amused.

Anyway, no spoilers here, but I think it’s the best Star Wars movie since Empire. The critics who are giving it crap? What are they watching? No idea. But it’s good.

-2-

I am going to start Christmas baking this weekend, because I only have to make two things—Ina’s Hermit Bars, and her crumble bars—for the family to nosh on over Christmas Day. I’ve made the hermit bars every Christmas for a few years now, they’re easy and delightfully good. I don’t do the glaze thing. To me, it’s an easy way to cut down on sugar intake by removing it and thus we can have more sugar later. Right? :)

For the crumble bars, I leave out the almonds, and you can use any type of jam you like. I’m using blueberry this time.

-3-

I’ve started a baby blanket for a friend’s baby….

Bad apartment carpet, forgive me. :)

The yarn is Knitpicks Shine Sport, which I really like (L-R: Robot, Clarity, Sky, and French Blue). It’s so smooth in my hands, but it’s not sliding all over the place (One reason I love using wooden needles. When I tried metal ones, disaster.). It’s 60% cotton and 40% beechwood fiber, whatever that is, but I figured this would be good for a baby. And it’s washable!

The pattern is….another story.

-4-

I’m making the Quince Sully blanket pattern. Pretty, right? I looked at the “skills needed” section and thought, OK, I have all those skills. I can pick up stitches and change colors and knit and purl and totally long tail cast on (that’s the only one I do…..)….

Bought the pattern.

then read the pattern.

The pattern calls for binding off the main color sequence (stripes), and then picking up the border and increasing stitches and god knows what else, and the number 600 something popped up, and I just went oh….

via GIPHY


Whhyyyyy pattern writer? WHYYYYYY?????

Anyway, besides that bit of crazy, it’s really easy to do, with a nice seed stitch row with every color change. I really like doing it. I’m just scared of the border. It might not happen.

I do not think the baby will mind if there is no border, right? Because, um, my skills may not be up to it.

Sigh….
-5-

It’s that time….if you haven’t pre-ordered the book, please do so! If you have, MUCHAS GRACIAS!

Next week….well, OK, in January, there are fun graphics coming!!! I’m excited about them!
-6-

Two more gifts to wrap. Well, three. Two of them go in gift bags, and one requires actually wrapping, at which I AM TERRIBLE. Oh well!

-7-

Are y’all done shopping? Sort of done? Haven’t even started? :)

A Little Book and Movie Talk

I know, I hardly ever write on Saturday, but, I wanted to share some things with you, and there wasn’t an “official” Seven Quick Takes yesterday, which is good because I was editing the last bit of the manuscript! So the manuscript is edited! My editor will read it again, and then send it to the copy editor at Ave Maria Press in early July.

via GIPHY

I should also be getting cover design shortly….and pre-orders should open soon!

Can you feel the excitement? I can!!!!

(Sign up for updates to get the news FIRST on all the book stuff!)

Anyway, speaking of books that aren’t mine….

The Feast of St. Thomas More was on the 22nd (which is also my mom’s birthday).

The Fourth of July is this coming week

So, in the spirt of both those things, let me offer you some good reading and film suggestions!

(These are Amazon affiliate links, FYI!)

St. Thomas More

If you aren’t familiar with this awesome saint, become so!

For movies, of course it’s A Man For All Seasons.

For books: The King’s Good Servant, But God’s First, by James Monti

For a look at the relationship with his daughter, Meg (which was a great one), read A Daughter’s Love: Thomas More and His Dearest Meg, by John Guy

American History

The Battle of Gettysburg raged from July 1-July 3. I highly recommend reading Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels and watching the film Gettysburg (which is based on Shaara’s book).

If you want to go back to the Revolutionary War, I suggest HBO’s series John Adams (Fabulous, based on the equally great book by David McCullough), the musical 1776 (great music, but also a great story), and the book 1776, also by David McCullough. Reading 1776 is an eye-opener. There was really no way the US was supposed to win the war, and that comes through with incredibly clarity in McCullough’s writing.

But we did win.

In terms of kid-friendliness—they can totally watch 1776. It’s very family-friendly. John Adams isn’t not family friendly but it’s sort of long, so I don’t know if it would hold kids’ attention, but older kids and teens? Definitely. Gettysburg is also long, and while it’s not incredibly graphic, it is about war. (Obviously) But I think kids could watch some of it. Teens, definitely.

#13 Paul, Apostle of Christ

I totally missed this movie when it was in the theaters, but I picked it up on DVD, and it’s great!

I gotta say, I knew very little about Paul’s life until I worked on Flourish, the new Take Up and Read book that focuses on the Book of Romans (and that you can BUY RIGHT NOW HERE!). Watching this movie was a great way to cement that knowledge and also watch some great acting. (I love Jim Caviezel!)

So if you haven’t seen it, I recommend it. And the Flourish study starts October 14! I’ll post more about it—INCLUDING a give away!—as we get closer to the start date!

Christmas favorites: Books and Movies

I wrote these last year, but I must bring them back out for this year's Christmastide! 

First up: my favorite Christmas movies. 

Followed by: Favorite Christmas Books for Grown-Ups. 

My Favorite Christmas Movies

I've shared with you some of my favorite Christmas songs, and Christmas books, and now it's time for Christmas Movies!!! Few things say Christmas more to me than certain films. 

In no particular order, here are my favorite Christmas movies (or cartoons): 

** Mickey's Christmas Carol: This is from the 80s and features some dynamite Disney animators in their early stages; names like Glenn Keane and John Lasseter are in the credits. It's not entirely authentic to Dickens' tale, but it's a great introduction to the story, with beautifully animated characters and a pitch-perfect Scrooge McDuck. And how can you not love the Ghost of Christmas Present? 

Candied fruits with spiced sugar cakes! 

** The Santa Clause: Kids today will be blown away by the size of the cordless phone....but the movie holds up well. Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) finds a fallen Santa Claus in his front yard on Christmas Eve, puts on the Santa suit, and becomes...Santa Claus. Only he doesn't believe it. But when he starts gaining weight by the ton and growing an impressive Santa beard right after shaving.....maybe there's something going on after all. A great family movie that will probably make you want cocoa. 

Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) tries a cocoa recipe 1500 years in the making at the North Pole. 

**'Twas the Night Before Christmas: This is an OLD Rankin-Bass cartoon. The town of Junctionville, NY has annoyed Santa because someone wrote a letter calling him a "fraudulent myth". How can the town get Santa to forgive them? 

**How The Grinch Stole Christmas: (both of them) Of course, the animated version cannot be beat. But the live-action one has its charms, especially in some of the dialogue. 

**A Charlie Brown Christmas: Right? I mean, you just have to watch it. 

** Muppet Christmas Carol: I LOVE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL. I usually watch it at least twice. If you haven't seen it, you must, because it's the most faithful movie version I've found, with the narrator (Gonzo) actually reading parts of the prose as the narration. Michael Caine is Scrooge, Kermit is Bob Cratchit, and Miss Piggy is his wife, Emily. Rizzo the rat is Gonzo's sidekick. The whole gang is here, with great music, too. 

Michael Caine and the muppets 

**The Family Man: This is sort of a take on It's a Wonderful Life. High-flying financier Jack Campbell has the perfect life: a penthouse in Manhattan, a fancy car, and a huge salary. But one Christmas Eve he gets the chance to see what would've happened if he'd chosen to marry his college girlfriend, Kate (Tea Leoni)--and he wakes up the next morning in suburban New Jersey, with a wife, two kids, and a job at a tire store. One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Jack, in his alternative life, is given the chance to have the job he has back in "real" life. He tells Kate, "we could have a life that other people envy!"

"Oh, Jack," Kate says. "They already do envy us."

**The Holiday: A sweet movie wherein two women--Kate Winslet in England, and Cameron Diaz in LA--decided to switch homes over the holidays as they try to escape their lives. The movie really is sweet (meaning touching) and features great performances by Jude Law and Jack Black as the men in the women's lives. 

**The only "Old" movie on this list: Meet Me In St. Louis. I love it mostly for Judy Garland, and the movie gave us the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Which, of course, Judy slays. 

**And finally, the coupe de grace of all Christmas movies: A Christmas Story. In my family, we could probably recite this guy. If you haven't seen the tale of Ralphie and his Red-Ryder BB gun (with this thing that tells time!), you are missing out. FIX IT. 

The Parker Clan of Cleveland Street: L-R: Mom, the "Old Man", Randy, and Ralphie. 

Seven Quick Takes No. 129: Happy birthday, Jane!

I. 
Today is Jane Austen's 241st birthday!!! Yay!

This is definitely something to celebrate. So here's some links to help you celebrate, too! 

II. 

Here is one of my series on Jane's writing, if you want to catch up: 

Jane, Aristotle, and Aquinas

Also, Jane's characters figured prominently in my Seven Characters post! 

III. 

A wonderful way to celebrate today is to watch Pride and Prejudice. The ONLY Pride and Prejudice. As in, the one featuring Colin F as Mr. Darcy. Because I do not acknowledge any others. :-P Keira Knightly is not Lizzie in my world. 

IV.

If you would like to watch a Jane biopic, there is Becoming Jane, which I recommend. Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy are fantastic. 

Anne Hathaway as Jane in Becoming Jane

V. 

You could also practice your instruments if you play any. Be like Marianne and play a "powerful concerto".  Or just listen to the Sense and Sensibility movie soundtrack, which is perfection. 

And since it's Christmastime (well, almost), we might wonder what carols would Jane have known? Here's a piece about Regency Christmas carols, and here's one from the Jane Austen Center. Also, Messiah was composed in 1741, thirty-four years before Jane was born, so she might have been familiar with some of the pieces. (It was first performed in Dublin, but had its London premiere in March 1743).  Her father was a clergyman, and the piece was performed in cathedrals around the country after the London premiere, so it might have been possible for Jane, or members of her family, to have heard it. 

Not familiar with some of the regency carols? I've provided some audio for your listening pleasure. 

VI. 

A little bit about Jane's family: her father, George Austen, was a clergyman who married Cassandra Leigh on April 26, 1764. Jane was the seventh of eight children and the second (and last) daughter--her sister, Cassandra, who was her best friend, was two years older than she was, and outlived Jane by twenty-eight years. 

The rest of the siblings were: Rev. James Austen; George Austen (who was severely disabled--either with epilepsy or cerebral palsy, we're not quite sure); Edward Austen-Knight (he was adopted by the Knight family as their heir, thus his last name); Henry Austen, Jane's favorite brother; Francis (Frank), who became a vice-admiral in the British Navy (giving Jane plenty of knowledge about the navy for her novels, especially Mansfield Park and Persuasion); and her younger brother, and youngest sibling, Charles, who also joined the Navy. 

Edward ended up being instrumental in the care of his widowed mother and unmarried sisters after their father died in 1805; he provided them with Chawton Cottage, where Jane did most of her writing, and where she died on July 18, 1817 at the age of forty-two.  (All of the brothers, though, helped support the women in the family after the reverend's death, with money and offerings of housing, etc.) 

VII. 

And finally, we must have tea! if you really want to drink tea like Jane did, get some Twinings, which was the brand she and her family drank! From the Twinings website: 

A century later, writer Jane Austen was a devoted customer because, at a time when tea leaves were sometimes mixed with tree leaves by unscrupulous vendors and smugglers, Austen could be sure of buying unadulterated leaves at Twinings. In an 1814 letter to her sister Cassandra, she mentions: “I am sorry to hear that there has been a rise in tea. I do not mean to pay Twining til later in the day, when we may order a fresh supply.” 

She visited the shop to buy tea for herself and her family when she was in town (meaning London) visiting her brother, Henry.  So, we must have tea on Jane's birthday. Their Lady Grey tea is an excellent choice for afternoon tea drinking.

 Here's a piece on tea in the Regency Era , and one on tea in her novels. 

There is also the delightful book Tea with Jane Austen as well as At Home With Jane Austen.  One day I WILL get to England and do the Jane Austen tour. My entire bucket list is basically that. 

Happy birthday, dear Jane!

Seven Quick Takes No. 126

I. 

Until the election, I'm doing 30 Days of Beauty. It's a series where I post images, book and movie recommendations, and music to serve as a bit of peace and loveliness in the crazy. They're not very long, but hopefully you enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed putting them together!

II. 

Makeup recommendation time (this is where all the guys scroll down!): Best mascara I've ever tried is Maybelline's Last Stiletto. Seriously. Try it. Works just as well as Lancome's Definicils and better than any Bobbi Brown I've tried. Needed to share this with y'all. 

III. 

I am going to Houston on Sunday! My sister's birthday is on Monday and she wanted me to come visit her, so I am complying. I'll be there for a few days. 

The extra-fun part is that my sister shares a birthday with two of our cousins, one of which also lives in Houston. So it's gonna be one big party. Yay!

(I do love birthdays. So much.)

IV. 

On Tuesday we're going to the beach. Here's how that conversation went:
Mel: So we'll go to the beach on Tuesday.
Me: Guess I won't need to pack my sweater, then....

It's going to 90 when I'm there. The beach in October? That just seems wrong. 

Oh well! Better than not being on the beach, right? 

V. 

I haven't been to Houston in about five years, so I'm excited to go back. I also get to meet my sister's boyfriend, whom I haven't met yet. Hopefully I don't scare him away. :-P 

VI. 

The TSA agents really do not help women. I mean, seriously. ONE little bag to carry on of toiletries? This, and my meds, is why I have to check baggage. Seriously. I need more than one little baggie, TSA people. 

(First world problem, I know. At least I'm flying Southwest and my checked bag is free.) 

VII. 

Hockey season has begun and my heart is happy. Hockey season always makes me happy. Except when/if my teams are tanking. I don't want that to happen. That's not happy. 

Sugarcoating Suicide: Me Before You (Or: Why you should not read this book or see this movie)

I get really, really tired of defending my existence.

If it isn't people telling me that my transplant was immoral, it's people who think that assisted suicide for disabled people is a good idea, and a sign of love. 

Yes. Because, you know, nothing says I love you like KILLING YOU. 

Let's look at the cognitive dissonance, here: When someone--say, Robin Williams--commits suicide, social media is flooded with messages like, "suicide isn't the answer", "please get help-- don't be afraid of getting it", "I wish people knew that they could talk to me if they're ever feeling like this." Etcetera. You all know how this goes. People are sad, as they should be. People continually say that suicide is NOT a good option. And it's not. 

But: when it's a disabled person who kills himself, oh, well, that's love. 

And that's exactly what happens in the new movie Me Before You, based on the novel of the same name by JoJo Moyes. In it, a woman falls in love with a quadriplegic man she's taking care of--but, oh, he wants to kill himself. Because, you know, life in a wheelchair isn't worth living. And if she REALLY loved him, she'd go with him to Switzerland and be there when he kills himself. Because that's love: supporting you in all your bad choices! 

No. You know what love is? Love is what Mary Lenaburg and her family did for her daughter, Courtney. Love is what Kelly Mantoan and countless other parents do every day for their kids who need their help. Love is my mom washing my hair when I'm nineteen years old and her back hurts, or my dad staying up during countless ER runs with me, or my siblings learning how to reconstitute and push IV drugs. THAT is love. 

My life isn't perfect. Show me someone who says his life is perfect, and I'll say that this person is a liar. Did it suck, being twenty-three years old and not being able to brush my teeth without sitting down after? Does it suck now, when I have to ask people to repeat things because I don't always understand them, or when my CI malfunctions? Yeah. But I would never, ever say that that was worth being dead. Obviously, I like my life just fine, since I've been to the edge of death and come back from it five times. I must think that something is worth living for. 

When we start sugarcoating assisted suicide--like in The Sea Inside, Million Dollar Baby, and The English Patient--we are trying to make it morally acceptable. We're trying to tell people that suffering is bad and we should avoid it at all costs, even by killing people who are suffering. Guys. That's not love. That's not living boldly, as the movie's tagline execrably proclaims. 

Living boldly is living the way my friend Sage does, while she waits for a lung transplant.  It's what Andi's kids do every day, whether they're running crazily at a T-ball game or singing in show choir. Living boldly is embracing life in all its highs and lows and living anyway.  

I've had people tell me that they would've aborted me, if they'd been my mom. 

To my face, people. 

* * * 

In The Giver, a dystopian novel by Lois Lowry, Jonah, the main character, discovers that what everyone calls "release" is actually euthanasia. In his community, old people are killed, people who break the rules three times are killed, even one of a set of twins is killed. Babies that don't sleep through the night when they're a year old are killed. Why? Because they are inconvenient. Because they make life difficult for the community. Jonah can't live in a system like that, and runs away with Gabriel, a baby that is slated for "release." He risks his own life to save the baby's--because if you try to escape from the community and are caught, you are "released." 

The community's highest value is ease of life. No one experiences pain. No one, actually, experiences any emotions. People take a pill every day so that they don't have emotions. Parents don't have children--they are "given" children, who are born via artificial insemination. When Jonas asks his parents if they love him, they laugh at him and say it's a meaningless word. And thus, the community medicates away their humanity--and kills what is inconvenient. 

Yeah, it's a book--but are we that far off from that? Where do we stop? 

The abortion rate for Down Syndrome kids in the U.S. is 67% In Europe, it's 92%. We are killing babies because they are imperfect. Because they are inconvenient.  This Atlantic headline pretty much says it all--why on EARTH would you keep an imperfect baby? 

People sue for "wrongful birth"--saying that they wish their babies had never been born. Not all cases of CF are detectable in utero, because there are thousands of possible mutations. So if a kid with CF is born, and his parents don't like it, they sue. They can pretty it up all they want and say they need the money for the kid's care--but it's not about money. It's about having a kid who isn't perfect, and someone needs to pay for that. Someone made "a mistake."

Jesus had something to say about this: 

You know who made the "mistake", here? It was God. And no, it's not a mistake. God did all this for a purpose, and for a reason. My crazy genetic code exists to bring Glory to God. That's why I'm here.  

Suicide is not an answer for anyone, at any time. It's not romantic and it's not brave. In the case of assisted suicide, it's reprehensible. 

Life has value beyond its utility. We are not cogs in a machine. We are human beings created in the image and likeness of God. And to purposefully commit suicide is not brave. It's cowardly. It flies in the face of bravery. 

I'm not a hero. I'm not a saint. I screw up. But the answer to challenges isn't to give up. The answer is to live the best you can, in the circumstances you are in. Love is helping people find a way to live--not by helping them die. 

Questions, I Have: Star Wars Episode VII

So, this is very SPOILER HEAVY. If you  don't want spoilers, then skip this post. Go read yesterday's! 

(you were warned)

Ok, we're going now. :) 

So I saw Episode VIII: The Force Awakens last week, and overall, I liked it. The dialogue was five million times better than in any previous installments, the effects were well done, the acting was solid, the music was great. I really liked the blend of old and new characters. 

THAT BEING SAID: I have a list of questions. In no particular order:  

1. Where the HECK did the First Order come from? The Sith is gone, presumably, at the end of ROTJ (Episode VI), because the Emperor and Darth Vader are dead, and "two there are", Yoda tells us in the prequels. And that's it. There's not like a Sith Training Academy. You have a master and an apprentice--and both are dead. So there's no Sith, and presumably no one to run the Empire, because I'm pretty sure the Rebellion/Republic went after them with all the Power of the Force and we saw all those parties at the end of the Reworked Episode VI, Indicating that we were free from evil, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, Etc. 
   So...First Order. Where did you come from? 
2. We know, from the prequels, that the Stormtroopers are basically disposable clones. Well, obviously, Finn is not a clone of Bobba Fett's Dad. So are we doing like a Lunar Chronicles thing and stealing them from their parents when they're born and basically brainwashing them into being Stormtroopers? (I'm not saying that HUGE PLOT HOLES aren't a part of the Canonical Star Wars Universe, because they are...)
3. Also, Finn: When you were being trained as a Stormtrooper, what did you think you were going to be doing? Petting kittens? 
4. Why Do Rey and Luke want to get back to these crummy desert planets?! SERIOUSLY?!?!?! It's a DESERT! ( I know, I know: it's home. OK. Fine. STILL.) 
5. Why did Mark Hamill get top billing and the have precisely one scene, at the very end, with NO DIALOGUE? Also, why did he act like a Disney Princess and play the "this is all my fault, I'll run away now" card when Ben Solo/Kylo Ren Is turned....evil? 
6. Also, why is he living on Skellig Michael? Has he become an Ancient Irish Monk? 
7. Are Han and Leia divorced? Were they married to begin with, ever? If they were, does that make Han Galactic Royalty?  If they're divorced: did they have irreconcilable differences? Is there no fault divorce in this galaxy? 
8. Why do the bounty hunters want Han and Chewie? 
9. Why did they get rid off/sell the Falcon? 
10. If they knew where the Falcon was all the time, why didn't they go get it?
11. WHO is the crazy Supreme Leader Snoke? Is he REALLY a crazy huge thing, or is this like the Wizard? Pay no attention to the man behind the projection? Is he some sort of Sith derivative? 
12. Don't we NEED the Sith to balance the force? So are they really gone? 
13. Rey sure has a lot of power for never being trained as a Jedi. I mean, she almost took Kylo Ren down and he's supposed to be like, the MAN, here. (Random side note: He is MUCH more intimidating with the mask. Also, does he remind anyone else of Syndrome from Incredibles?) 
14. Which guy--Finn or Poe--is Rey going to fall for? 
15. I would've liked it if Han had said "If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" before his son killed him. (Fathers and sons have SERIOUS issues in these movies.)
16. Who makes up the Rebellion? WHY is there a rebellion, when they won? (That connects to the first question)
17. Are there Ewoks in our future? I hope so. (This really isn't a serious question)
18. Why are the Empire/First Order weapons so FREAKING EASY TO DEFEAT? "Oh, yes, it's completely unbeatable, except for this glaring error that is easily spottable by our enemies! Ha ha! And it's basically the same problem we had thirty some years ago! (No, we do NOT learn from our mistakes.) "
19. Also, how does one turn a planet into a weapon? Without, you know, destroying said planet?  (Yes, I know the planet was destroyed at the end of the movie.) 
20. How long do Wookies live? 
21. WHY would you have Daniel Craig in a movie and not SHOW us Daniel Craig? I mean, come on, JJ! 
22. Why don't the stormtroopers have better armor after all this time?
23. Why does C3PO STILL think that everything is going to turn out badly? Come on, 3PO. Trust the humans and R2 and BB8 (who is AWESOME, by the way).
24. Is Rey Luke's daughter? I want some massive Rey backstory, here. What is going on with parents leaving her, etc. Why do parents leave their kids so much in these stories? And if Rey is Luke's daughter, then who is Rey's mom? Who was taking care of her? Because I doubt she was scavenging parts and brining them to trade as a four year old. Is she some sort of crazy collection of Midichlorians that make her magical, or something? 
25. I still don't really know what a Midichlorian is. 

Daybook No. 111

Outside my window::

Gray and rainy, sort of windy. The last few leaves are clinging to the trees and it really feels like fall out there. Not that I mind. I'm ready for it, because I do love my sweaters, tea, books, and blankets. As long as it's not snowing (heaven forbid), I'm fine. 

(It's actually not my window. I'm at Starbucks, writing and getting lots of stuff done with a Peppermint Mocha to hand.) 

Wearing::

jeans, navy blue flats, fake diamond studs, and a sweater from Lands End that's "vicuna" (that's what they call this sort of creamy khaki color) and black stripped. It's super cozy and perfect for today. 

Reading::

North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell; The Betrothed for Facebook Catholic Ladies' Book Club; The Fiery Cross (again). I've also got one more Neapolitan novel to read, but I think I'm going to wait to pick that one up. It's the last one, so savoring is appropriate. I'm also re-dedicating myself to finishing City of God sometime in the near future. It's just sitting on my "to read" pile and mocking me. 

Writing::

So, NaNoWriMo is still off and running, and man, I am writing fast, but the book has changed a lot from my initial conception. I've changed the title, I've changed the plot--basically, the characters have told me that they want this story. Forgiveness is a major theme. I'm wondering if this should even be--gasp--a series. Because it might be too long for just one book. I can certainly write them as two. 

Julie (My protagonist) is a fascinating character to write, because she's really not like me, and that's a first. Most of my protagonists, up until now, have had some basis in myself. But not Julie. This is also a YA novel, and I've never purposefully written one of those before. 

I'm really excited about this project, which is funny, because at first I wasn't sure if I was going to Do NaNo at all--but now I've got characters that are really clicking, and a long-winding plot that might go for two books. I should hit the "winning" total- 50K- by the end of this week. 

Creativity In Other Areas::

My friend Sarah is going to help me master the art of knitting and purling in the same project! So we're going to hopefully have a yarn along update for you guys tomorrow! I'm also working on a bunch of new blog post ideas, including the return of the Food Stories posts. 

Quick Movie Review::

I saw Spectre with my brother last night, and it was better than I thought it would be. I don't know if it was as good as Skyfall, but it's really close, in my opinion. I love how the writers drew all of the Daniel Craig Bond plots together into a cohesive web. I don't know if we needed the car chase through Rome, but "reason not the need", as Lear says. Daniel Craig is great as Bond, and I love Ralph Fiennes as M (although I miss Judi Dench!). 

The ending was a bit abrupt and left me wondering what the next movie will be like. Speculation on the Interwebs is saying that movie will be out in 2017, so I guess I don't have too long to wait. 

(Although, one thing--can we stop with the efforts to dismantle the 00 Program, please? I mean, how many movies do we need before the British Government realizes that it's a very bad idea to do away with Bond and his ilk? Come on, guys!) 

(I also now feel the urge to watch all the Craig Bonds in succession. Maybe I'll do that after I finish writing today.) 

Tidying Up::

I have just about reached the end of the categories! The next step in the book is "finding a place for everything", and that might take some time. I'm going to re-read that section and try to get an idea of a game plan. 

Kondo talks about a "click point"--as in, you'll know when you're reached the optimal number of things you need in a category. I don't think I've hit it yet with my books or DVDs, so I'm going to keep culling. 

Listening To: