June | 2014 | dual personalities

June 30, 2014

And that’s my opinion from the blue, blue sky

by chuckofish

At church last week we were exhorted to “Bring your smartphones, tablets, laptops, cameras… any electronic communications device…” to church yesterday as we joined a nationwide effort to “make the Good News go viral.”

O gee. No thanks. Call me old-fashioned, but I wanted no part of this:

Use your smartphone, tablet or other electronic devices to share comments, prayers or pictures on your favorite social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
Use #Episcopal and #GraceKirkwood.
Text questions or comments to Fr. Todd during the service.
Post a selfie with people around you during the time of the Peace, in the Narthex, during coffee hour, etc.
(please ask permission before taking anyone’s picture).
Use #Episcopal and #GraceKirkwood.
Keep an eye on the monitor next to the pulpit to see what other people are posting (yes, there will be a TV in the sanctuary — just for today!).
Come to our Sunday Forum at 9 a.m. in LaVielle Conference Room (all ages welcome).

I suppose this was supposed to appeal to young people, motivating them to come back to the new hipster Episcopal Church. See, we are with it! We’re still where it’s at, man.

The rector takes a selfie

Passing the peace

Yes, a picture speaks 1000 words. (These were on Facebook.) Now all doubt has been erased concerning whether or not we are all huge nerds at Grace.

Anyway, I stayed home. Because–zut alors!– I think church should be a haven away from cell phones and monitors.

That was what I didn’t do this weekend. As for what I did do–it was the usual: estate sale-ing, house cleaning, yard work, a little shopping, reading, and movie watching. I watched The Magnificent Seven (as I said I would) and Blackthorn, as my dual personality suggested. I am proud to say, I figured out how to turn on the subtitles (on Netflix). Go me.

I also watched Murder My Sweet (1944), which is the best film version of a Raymond Chandler novel (Farewell, My Lovely). Dick Powell is, in my estimation, better than Humphrey Bogart. I know that’s sacrilegious to some, but it’s what I think.

Wasn’t it swell of the boy to drop it by for me? It is a really good movie, full of wonderful Chandler lines like “I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in. It had no bottom. I felt pretty good – like an amputated leg.”

I also had a big work event on Saturday which went very well. Now I have two work days and then the OM and I are heading up to Michigan to celebrate the 4th of July and my brother’s birthday with my siblings and their better halves. Go team.

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June 28, 2014

“Kid, the next time I say, “Let’s go someplace like Bolivia,” let’s GO someplace like Bolivia…”*

by chuckofish

…because, after all, the scenery there is astonishingly beautiful! A couple of days ago while perusing Netflix for something to watch, I came across the movie “Blackthorn” starring Sam Shepard, Eduardo Noriega, and Stephen Rea. Boy, was it gorgeous. It’s 1927 and we learn that the eponymous character, James Blackthorn, is actually Butch Cassidy, who did not die in that infamous shoot-out all those years ago when he was Paul Newman. Having recently learned that the Sundance Kid’s old paramour, Etta Place, has passed away leaving a son behind to whom Blackthorn feels connected — the young man represents Blackthorn’s only connection to the people he loved — he decides to go back to the U.S. Blackthorn sells off everything, saddles up, and heads out only to lose it all, including his horse, when he is waylaid by an incompetent thief on the run (played by the handsome Spanish star, Eduardo Noriega), who bears a notable resemblance to the Sundance Kid (we know from flashbacks). Troubles ensue.

The film is low key, deliberately paced, and lyrically focused on Bolivia, which is as much a character as any of the humans. The cinematography is fabulous.

All these are screenshots — aren’t you impressed?

Equal parts lush and barren, the landscape is like a Venus flytrap — deceptively beautiful but deadly. It’s vastness highlights man’s puny insignificance; (most) people, especially outsiders, become helpless in its grasp.

And I think that’s the point. The characters seem either lost (Noriega) or resigned (Rea and Shepard).

When on the point of death two of the characters (I won’t say who) say almost scoffingly, “Bolivia,” in recognition of the ironic fact that they went there seeking something — refuge, fortune, or results — but found only entrapment and downfall. Even the Pinkerton agent (played by Rea), who chased Butch and Sundance all the way there, could never leave, eventually sinking into a horrible, somnolent and meaningless, existence. He, too, became trapped.

I very much enjoyed this film, although I didn’t realize that I had to turn on the subtitles and so missed everything they said in Spanish (and there’s a lot of it!). No problem. It will give me an excuse to watch it again. The music is also excellent. Don’t be fooled by the Butch and Sundance angle — this is not really an action movie (although there is some action). It’s a sad story about friendship, loss, and surviving the indifference of the universe with one’s integrity in tact.

Watch the movie and let me know what you think!

*Butch to Sundance in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”

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June 27, 2014

“If God didn’t want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.”*

by chuckofish

Eli Wallach played the bad guy in the first movie I ever saw at the movies. He was Charlie Gant in How the West Was Won (1962)–the guy who attempts to rob the train, but is thwarted by the good guy, George Peppard.

It was a typical part for the ethnically ambiguous Wallach. A Jew from Brooklyn, he played many Mexican and Greek and Italian villains, including Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960), Stratos in The Moon-Spinners (1964) and countless others over the years. Like Ward Bond, he is always turning up in movies.

But Eli Wallach has died–at age 98! You can read about him here. I learned some fun facts about Eli, such as–although from New York, he went to the University of Texas in Austin where he learned to ride a horse. This came in very handy later in his movie career, right? He served five years in the Medical Corps during WWII, rising to captain. After the war he became a founding member of the Actors Studio and studied method acting with Lee Strasberg. He won a Tony Award, but no Oscars. He was married to the same woman for a very long time. She survives him.

Yes, he was quite a guy.

So let’s raise a toast to Eli Wallach tonight. I’m sure you have a movie in your own collection: How to Steal a Million (1966), Lord Jim (1965), The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)…or The Holiday (2006)?

Eli Wallach with Michael Landon in "Highway to Heaven" episode

Eli Wallach with Michael Landon in a “Highway to Heaven” episode

TCM will celebrate Eli Wallach this Monday with a five film tribute.

Into paradise may the angels lead thee; and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
–BCP, Burial of the Dead, Rite I

*Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960)

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June 26, 2014

Despite all our outfield saves*

by chuckofish

She was quiet and she stared at the sky. There were many ways of pursuing happiness and perhaps half of them were stupid. Most of the time you were a fool and the rest of it in pain.

–H.E. Bates, A Month at the Lake

Sometimes I feel this way. We all do, right? Sometimes I drive around on Saturday mornings going from estate sale to estate sale, feeling really stupid. And sometimes I think how much fun I would be having if my mother was there to ride around with me. She would have loved it. The driving around. The estate sale-ing. The being with me.

Sigh. My mother died 26 years ago today. I think about how much fun we’ve missed these last 26 years. She never even saw most of her grandchildren.

C’est la vie. We take the bitter with the sweet. We do our best. We are grateful for what we have. And had.

* “Honey, It’s Alright” by Gregory Alan Isakov

5 Comments

June 25, 2014

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

What have you been reading lately? Besides reading about Quakers (see yesterday’s post), I have started and stopped several books that I just couldn’t get into. It is so hard to find good fiction. These books were all well-written, but the characters just didn’t engage me. I am no longer “the good girl” who feels obligated to finish a book once I’ve started. I’m over that–are you?

Even though I have already read Moby-Dick, I read Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick. It made me want to read Moby-Dick again! I found a copy of the author’s In the Heart of the Sea at an estate sale, and I plan to read this account of the real-life whaling ship Essex and the whale that attacked it. It ought to be good.

I have just started Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Gate of Angels. She is so good and so very funny (in a very British way) but you have to pay attention. She is not an easy read. I’ll let you know if I make it through.

I have a few new “coffee table” books which I have been enjoying. American Writers At Home is wonderful, as you can imagine. If you want to buy yourself a present, I recommend this. I got mine used on Amazon.

I am always doing research you know, so I have been delving into this old chestnut. DeVoto is pretty darn good.

This is an old favorite that I took off my shelf–Roger Angell’s memoir of growing up in New York City as the son and step-son of New Yorker stalwarts Katharine White and E.B. White. He is one of those guys like whom they do not make anymore.

What are you reading?

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June 24, 2014

Being faithful in the little light received*

by chuckofish

Readers of this blog may remember that my great-great grandfather John Simpson Hough was a Quaker. He came from a long line of Quakers who came to Bucks County from England in 1683. The Houghs prospered in Pennsylvania and had many children, many with the same names–such as Benjamin, Hannah, John, Joseph, Silas–which makes genealogy so challenging…But I digress.

After moving West, JSH no longer actively practiced his Quaker faith, but I believe no small part of the high esteem in which he was held was due to his reputation as a fine Quaker gentleman–truthful, (relatively well) educated and beyond reproach in legal and mercantile dealings.

Anyway, the Quakers have always fascinated me. I found this little book recently, written by Robert Lawrence Smith, the former headmaster of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C., the largest Quaker day school in the U.S.

I highly recommend it.

The most valuable aspect of religion is that it provides us with a framework for living. I have always felt that the beauty and power of Quakerism is that it exhorts us to live more truthfully, more simply, more charitably. For many Friends, simplicity is a cornerstone of their faith that continues to define their daily lives….For Quakers, simplicity is truth’s twin virtue: The two concepts are seamlessly intertwined. Without simplicity of spirit, we are not prepared to receive the truth. And if we fail to act in accordance with the truth, we cannot let our lives speak.

* “Being faithful in the little light received, in that light I saw more light; and by it I was taught to trust in God in all my ways, and to consult him to direct my paths.”
(Increase Woodward, 1744-1822)

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June 23, 2014

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee*

by chuckofish

I was a reader this Sunday and the first lesson was a great one from Jeremiah.

O LORD, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering “Terror all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my close friends are watching for me to stumble.”Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take revenge on him.” But the LORD is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail…Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he delivered the life of the needy from the hands of the evildoers. (Jeremiah 20:7-13)

Anyone who thinks the scripture does not speak to us today, think again. At least, it spoke to me.

The assisting priest who gave the sermon did not, of course, refer to the first lesson or to the second, which I also read, but preached on the Gospel. Jesus tells us “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.” He says, don’t be afraid to take up the cross and follow.

But we are timid aren’t we? Especially in our current culture which delights in ridiculing believers. Perhaps I am especially aware of this working at a university. I know it is somewhat easier living in flyover country, but still. I do take heart knowing that old Jeremiah, writing over twenty-five centuries ago, encountered the same troubles.

Anyway, it was good to get up and read those words, even if I was preaching to the choir.

We were at church on Friday night as well–for a fundraiser for the Episcopal City Mission, an old and worthy outreach program to the juveniles in detention in our fair city.

We went for dinner and then wandered outside to see the activities for children, in particular the petting zoo.

Even the OM got into the act.

I went to a couple of good estate sales on Saturday. I bought a great chair which I’m sure will find its way into one of my kid’s homes. For now it is sitting in my “office”.

I went to a house that through some detective work on my part–I am getting really good at figuring out who lives in the houses I visit–I discovered was the former home of an Episcopal priest, and indeed, the late dean of the Episcopal cathedral here in town. Bingo! I got some good books and a framed picture of a holy land landscape.

We had a couple of nice thunder storms. It rained, but that only made it muggier here. It is summer at last in the midwest. Sigh.

How was your weekend?

*Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) hymn #707

5 Comments

June 21, 2014

Wondrous Love

by chuckofish

This morning I’m off to attend a memorial service and I thought it fitting to blog about one of my favorite hymns, “Wondrous Love”. It’s what is known as a “traditional tune”, first published in Virginia in 1811, the product of (according to Wikipedia) the second “Great Awakening”. Here are the lyrics:

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on.

I’ve loved it since the first time I heard it on a tape my brother made for me of Appalachian shape note singing (or something similar — it was all A Capella). It’s been covered a million times and even by popular Christian bands, but personally I like it spare — here’s a good version

You can play this at my memorial service when the time comes. What hymns do you want?

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June 20, 2014

Friday movie pick: “DOUBLE NEGATIVE! Right?”*

by chuckofish

Perhaps you can tell from my relatively short blog posts this week that I have had a super busy one. Phew. TGIF.

When the highlight of one’s week is a dental appointment–because I always get high fives all around for my spectacular dental hygiene–you know you are in trouble.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to my weekend!

My movie pick for this weekend is Born Yesterday (1950) starring Judy Holliday as the scatter-brained Billie Dawn.

Garson Kanin wrote the play for Jean Arthur who played the role of Billie out-of-town but left the role for personal reasons. Kanin then selected Holliday, 20 years younger than Arthur, as her replacement. Judy was a big hit on Broadway in the play, and in one of those Hollywood success stories where everything falls into place, she actually managed to reprise her part in the movie. It was practically unheard of that an unknown should get a big part like this! Then she won the Oscar, beating Bette Davis in All About Eve and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. And Judy deserved it.

Judy Holliday is perfect as Billie Dawn, the ex-showgirl mistress of the loudmouthed, uncouth crook played by Broderick Crawford, who arrives in Washington D.C. planning to bribe a congressman. He hires a journalist (William Holden’s character) to smooth the rough edges of his girlfriend–you know, teach her some manners and how to make small talk with classy capitol types. His plan backfires, of course, as Billie–reading books on U.S. history–realizes how corrupt her boyfriend is. Hilarity ensues.

Holliday’s career was set to take off, but her career–and her life–were cut short by cancer. She died in 1965 at 43.

So let us toast Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim in Sunnyside, Queens, New York) tomorrow on her birthday and watch Born Yesterday.

*Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday

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June 19, 2014

Throwback Thursday

by chuckofish

Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Rock Hudson, Fred MacMurray, Jimmy Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Michael Caine, and Laurence Harvey watch the Duke cut the cake. Who knew that Ernest Borgnine was ever the short guy?

Quite a line-up.

By the way, the cake was in honor of John Wayne’s 40 years in movies (in 1969). Cake is always good.

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Month: June, 2014

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