dual personalities

Month: September, 2022

September 16, 2022

It’s too late to do anything here now except stand in the dark and let them come…

by chuckofish

Another week has zoomed by and I have nothing to report. All is well. Sometime recently I did watch a wonderfully enjoyable movie, Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent (1940) starring Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, George Sanders, Herbert Marshall and Edmund Gwenn. The action takes place in Europe and England on the eve of WWII as John Jones (McCrea) tries to solve the mystery of a pro-peace diplomat’s murder. The murder scene is brilliantly shot. I particularly liked the aerial shot of John Jones chasing the murderer through the crowd.

Love and adventure ensue. The scenes in which Jones woos the daughter (Laraine Day) of another peace-party diplomat (Herbert Marshall) are light and often funny, but parts of the movie are surprisingly tense, as when Jones has to climb across the rooftops at night or when Edmund Gwenn, an affable hired killer (talk about casting against type!), tries to push Jones out a tower window.

Come to think of it, there is quite a lot of casting against type. Imagine George Sanders as a suave but friendly good guy, rather than his usual suave cad. I kept waiting for him to turn out to be a villain but (spoiler alert) he remained suavely supportive throughout the film. (Sorry for repeating ‘suave’ but no one is more suave than George Sanders.) There wasn’t even the usual competition over the girl.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away. Suffice it to say that although everyone ends up adrift in a choppy sea,

love and good triumph. Foreign Correspondent is the type of movie they don’t make anymore. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. If you have, watch it again. I would also recommend Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938) starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave, which is equally charming and exciting. The supporting cast are fantastic, the script witty and well written and the direction excellent. Nowadays they don’t bother writing good scripts or pay much attention to direction (or so it seems to me) but as long as we can still watch old movies, we’ll be fine.

Have a great weekend!

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September 15, 2022

Come prodigal children

by chuckofish

The other night when I was looking around for something to read I re-read Shirley Jackson’s great short story about Charles. You remember, the one about the disruptive kindergartner in her son Laurie’s class.

The day Laurie started kindergarten he renounced corduroy overalls with bibs and began wearing blue jeans with a belt; I watched him go off the first morning with the older girl next door, seeing clearly that an era of my life was ended, my sweet-voiced nursery-school tot replaced by a long-trousered, swaggering character who forgot to stop at the corner and wave goodbye to me.

He came home the same way, the front door slamming open, his cap on the floor, and the voice suddenly become raucous shouting, “Isn’t anybody here?”

At lunch he spoke insolently to his father, spilled Jannie’s milk, and remarked that his teacher said that we were not to take the name of the Lord in vain.

“How was school today?” his father asked.

“All right,” he said.

“Did you learn anything” his father asked.

Laurie regarded his father coldly. “I didn’t learn nothing,” he said.

“Anything,” I said. “Didn’t learn anything.”

“The teacher spanked a boy, though,” Laurie said, addressing his bread and butter. “For being fresh,” he added with his mouth full.

“What did he do?” I asked. “Who was it?”

Laurie thought. “It was Charles,” he said. “He was fresh. The teacher spanked him and made him stand in a corner. He was awfully fresh.”

I seem to recall that it was a favorite story of the boy and I hope he will read this story to his two kindergartners. I bet they would all get a kick out of it and the wee twins could learn some new words like “spank” and “fresh”…also insolent and renounce and regard. It is an artfully written story, as all Jackson’s stories are. On second thought, maybe he should not. It might give them ideas.

You can read the entire story here.

Today my Bible Study starts up again. We are reading the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is the perfect follow-up to Leviticus.

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?

–Hebrews 7: 11

I will be in a different group since our old leader has gone back to school to start work on a degree in Christian Counseling. I will miss our old group, but look forward to getting to know some more women at my church.

If you feel like it, you can toast Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), the noted French author of maxims and memoirs, who was born on this day in Paris to a noble family. His great-grandfather François III, count de La Rochefoucauld, a Huguenot, was murdered in the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre.

He did not seem to hold a grudge.

The reason why so few persons are agreeable in conversation is that each thinks more of what he desires to say, than of what the others say, and that we make bad listeners when we want to speak. Yet it is necessary to listen to those who talk, we should give them the time they want, and let them say even senseless things; never contradict or interrupt them; on the contrary, we should enter into their mind and taste, illustrate their meaning, praise anything they say that deserves praise, and let them see we praise more from our choice than from agreement with them. To please others we should talk on subjects they like and that interest them, avoid disputes upon indifferent matters, seldom ask questions, and never let them see that we pretend to be better informed than they are.

–Reflections on Various Subjects

Grace and peace to you this fine Thursday in September. Read some de La Rochefoucauld maxims here.

And I like Zach Williams’s new song:

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September 14, 2022

“Bring me a Charbonnay!”

by chuckofish

Well, Daughter #1 here, must be Wednesday. Disturbing news reached me last week. No, I’m not talking about a bag of Doritos costing almost $6. And no, I’m not talking about my electric bill. Brooklyn-99 is leaving Hulu and moving to Peacock. I think we’d have more luck finding someone who pays for Paramount+ or whatever the CBS platform is (or possibly this) than Peacock!

Anyway, enough jokes. Looks like someone remembered Aunt Mary is coming to visit tomorrow.

I’ve got my suitcase out…but have a ways to go before I’ll be packed.

Pray for safe travels–my flight tomorrow leaves at 5:40 a.m. Thanks to my mother for driving me to the airport at 3:15 a.m. Good times.

*The title is not a typo. Please watch this extended clip of a great subplot. And join me in mourning as my friends Captain Holt and the squad at the nine-nine are forever banished to a streaming platform paid for by no one.

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September 13, 2022

A little venting

by chuckofish

Yesterday afternoon I went over to an old friend’s house to watch a movie on her huge-screen TV. This is something we do now that we are retired. My rude daughter #1 calls them “playdates”. Anyway, we watched the newest Jurassic World movie, Dominion. It was the extended version–two hours and 40 minutes. When I got home I wrote a detailed review of how really bad it was, and then my computer froze and I lost my review when I rebooted.

Well, it is probably just as well. I undoubtedly would have offended someone with my thoughts about emasculated men and genetically altered female clones who can procreate by themselves, and idiots who declare, “Science is truth!” but the minute they get in a tight spot are screaming, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” Irony unintended.

I’m sure Chris Pratt was paid a bezillion dollars for his twenty minutes of screen time, but he should bow out of any further sequels. The scene where he is rounding up dinosaurs on horseback (all CGI) was just embarrassing.

And once you’ve seen one dinosaur chomp someone’s head off, you’ve seen them all. Ho hum.

Anyway, after that I had to cleanse my palate with a good old fashioned John Wayne western–in this case The Comancheros (1961).

Equilibrium adjusted.

I finished the new Longmire book, Hell and Back, by Craig Johnson, and I have to say, I was disappointed. It was okay, but not up to his standard. I guess Johnson, at this point, is just churning them out one-a-year for his publisher. As one Amazon reviewer concluded his negative take, “And Henry says ‘I’m.'”–all aficionados know, Henry never speaks in contractions. A rush job and inadequate editing. Sigh.

Back to Richard Scarry

I liked this post. “My tendency to want to please people urges me to take the sharp edges off the Bible, to bring fog into its clarity. But, such a road only leads to me as lord—and that is the path of destruction.”

5 Comments
September 12, 2022

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice!*

by chuckofish

Well, how was your weekend?

We toasted the queen…

…whom I will miss especially because she always reminded me of my mother and now that connection is gone.

We toasted daughter #1 and celebrated her birthday yesterday…

And we toasted all those brave souls who died on September 11, 2001. Last year I included a video in a blogpost about a fine young man who died in one of the towers helping others and I encourage you to watch it again. Lest we forget.

Yes, there was a lot of toasting, but some events call for that. L’chaim! In the midst of life we are in death (BCP).

This reminder of the Budweiser ad that only aired once in honor of 9/11 is cool.

And I liked this article about taking up your cross daily. “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me,” Jesus says.

For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything.

–G.K. Chesterton

What do you worship? Yourself? Science? Social Justice? It’s an important question.

*Charles Wesley, 1744

4 Comments
September 9, 2022

Pulvis et umbra sumus (We are but dust and shadow)*

by chuckofish

Yesterday’s news about Queen Elizabeth came as something of a shock, although upon reflection one couldn’t really be surprised. After all, she was 96. It’s just that for my entire life Queen Elizabeth ruled. To put that in perspective, someone on a Listserv I belong to wrote, “It is said that that less than ten percent of the world’s living population has known any other British monarch.” She was an anchor, the very pillar of normalcy. The parasitic media will talk about her endlessly, and I don’t want to add to the noise except to say that I feel very saddened by her passing. It feels as if we have been cut off not so much from the queen herself, but from all that she lived through — the Great Depression, WWII, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Swinging ’60s, the embarrassingly bad ’70s, Glasnost — and now we are stuck, rudderless in this crazy, warped, and weird present. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like feeling as if the 20th century has receded into unreachable history because that means that the greater part of my life has as well.

Whatever you think about monarchy or the royal family, no one can say that the queen did not earn her rest. She served her people unselfishly and with great devotion throughout her entire life. Into paradise may the angels sing thee.

In oddly related news, our very own Chris and Nicole head off today to start their two week honeymoon, starting in England, then moving on to Scotland and Iceland. We hope they travel safely and manage to have fun despite the disruption of national mourning. Make no mistake, most people in the UK loved their queen and will feel lost without her. King Charles will have a hard time taking his mother’s place.

Have a good weekend and keep the faith. The world is a strange, sad place, but there’s plenty of good in it as well. Let’s go find it!

*Horace, Odes (1st cen. BC)

2 Comments
September 8, 2022

Here in the spacious classroom of the world*

by chuckofish

I have been inspired by daughter #1 to read some David McCullough history, but first I have to read #18 in the Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson. My copy of Hell and Back arrived in the mail on schedule on Tuesday and I dove right in. I’ll let you now how it goes.

I am also reading Dane Ortlund’s Deeper for our women’s book group at church. I am not really one for book clubs since I tend to be too critical and usually am triggered by people and their comments, but I thought I’d give it a whirl. It will be good practice on keeping my mouth shut.

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:2

I watched the original To Be or Not to Be (1942) starring Jack Benny and Carol Lombard earlier this week and it really is a terrific movie. It is Ernst Lubitsch at his best. The plot revolves around a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their talents with disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It is a very funny, dark comedy about a not-very-funny situation. It is witty and light and never crosses the line into slapstick. Carole Lombard, radiantly beautiful and smart, was never better. (Sadly, she died before the movie was released.) And Jack Benny, who supposedly felt out of his depth, does a fine job as the hack actor who must rise to the occasion several times. Felix Bressart as Greenberg, who dreams of playing Shylock, stands out among the supporting cast, but they are all terrific.

Mel Brooks remade To Be or Not to Be in 1983 and, as I recall, it is a good movie too. But as comedies go, the original is one of the Top 10 best.

Also, I stumbled upon this old blogpost and I think the Oswald Chambers quote bears repeating.

P.S. John Wayne: An American Experience was voted the Best Museum in Fort Worth by the readers of @fwtxmag 🤠 (I voted.)

Have a good Thursday!

*Billy Collins, “The Only Day in Existence”

4 Comments
September 7, 2022

“We’re having a good time.”

by chuckofish

Well, here we are on Tuesday night again. Sadly, I have no product testing to regale you with, dear readers. I did survive a terrible drive through pouring rain to get back to Jefferson City on Sunday afternoon. I have never seen so much rain. The roads were absolute rivers, well maybe creeks, and it is good to know that my car has highly effective wipers.

With the day off yesterday, I spent a significant portion of the day reading David McCullough’s John Adams. It was a dreary, grey day and my little ladies chair in the sun room was perfect for reading.

As you’ll recall, I recently finished 1776 and was quite taken with McCullough’s writing. Despite being at least three times as long and far more dense, John Adams really holds my interest. It is very much approachable and I am able to keep everything straight without feeling like I need a cheat sheet of names and roles next to me at all times.

Here’s a good review of the book.

Anyway, I’m sure the video below is exactly what the Founders had in mind when they fought so hard to create our great country. Lol. No really, lol at that idea and at the video.

3 Comments
September 6, 2022

Chasing the clouds away

by chuckofish

It’s still rainy and gloomy here in flyover country, and we are pretty water-logged, but so far, no more flooding. Oy. Sunshine is promised for tomorrow. Anyway, we don’t mind the rainy weather. It gives us an excuse to stay inside and watch old movies and read old books.

Today we note the passing in 1959 of the popular English character actor Edmund Gwenn, who most people remember as Kris Kringle in Miracle of 34th Street (1947), for which he won an Oscar as best supporting actor. He played many memorable roles, however, such as Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (1940), Dr. Medford in Them! (1954), and Capt. Albert Wiles in The Trouble With Harry (1955). He co-starred with Lassie in three movies. And he played an Episcopal minister in Life With Father (1947) and in Mister Scoutmaster (1953). He was always great.

Two of his movies I have not seen are Undercurrent (1946) and Mister 800 (1950). I will try to find one of them to watch tonight.

And here’s a fun fact. His cousin in real life was the character actor Cecil Kellaway (who was more likely to play Catholic priests.)

Today is also the anniversary of the death of Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa (1910-98). Later this week I think I’ll watch Throne of Blood (1957), Kurosawa’s take on Macbeth with Toshiro Mifune, which I haven’t seen in a long time.

Writer Madeleine L’Engle also died on this day in 2007. I used to be a big fan of her writing back in the 1980s and I was thrilled to be able to hear her speak at my Episcopal church back then. A woman in the church who had been a classmate of her’s at Smith arranged the event. I came to realize that they were both women who had very high opinions of themselves and that is always ultimately unattractive. And now I doubt if I would agree with anything she believed. So it goes.

Have you seen this Instagram account? Everybody wants to be a cool kid I guess and be noticed as such.

And this made me LOL:

Yikes.

And…do you remember…

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
    O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2     covering yourself with light as with a garment,
    stretching out the heavens like a tent.
3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
    he rides on the wings of the wind;
4 he makes his messengers winds,
    his ministers a flaming fire.

Psalm 104: 1-4
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September 5, 2022

“Here I raise my Ebenezer”*

by chuckofish

Our Labor Day weekend has been very rainy and gloomy. C’est la vie. We still had fun. Daughter #1 came in to town to have lunch with an old friend on Friday and then we visited several antique malls.

This is our idea of a good time. It was a lot of junk, but daughter #1 found a few things accidentally.

We watched The Wizard of Oz (1939) on Saturday night and were once again reminded what a wonderful movie it is. And let’s remember, it’s 83 years old! Almost an antique! It is one of my top five favorite/best movies ever. It is perfect. The technicolor! The details! The acting! Judy Garland! The Munchkins! Toto! No CG!

Good lord, I hope they don’t go through with plans for a “a modern reimagining of the iconic musical.” This would be a huge mistake. It is always a disaster to “re-imagine” something that is perfect. Just no.

But, yes, it is wonderful. Watching it on our big tv, I noticed several things for the first time. For instance, did you ever notice that in the scene where Dorothy and her three compadres enter the scary forest in search of the witch, the Scarecrow is carrying a handgun? He is. Anyway, it is worth watching again for the 100th time.

The boy and his family came over after church on Sunday to celebrate Labor Day with a barbecue. It was raining, but we had fun anyway.

Looking at the rain and breaking in the new sofa

Everyone enjoyed the burgers and hotdogs and a Tippins creme pie for dessert. It’s the little things, right?

Well, enjoy your day off if you have one today. Watch an old movie. Read a poem about work:

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

–Walt Whitman, “I Hear America Singing”

And this is a good illustration. “If a non-christian wants to know why we believe that the Bible is God’s word, there’s a lot of things that we could talk about.”

*Baptist minister Robert Robinson (1735–1790) wrote “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” at age 22, not long after his conversion, which was influenced in part by the preaching of evangelist George Whitefield. The meaning of Ebenezer originates more than a thousand years before Christ, during the ministry of the prophet Samuel, who played a pivotal role at a key juncture in the history of God’s people. Read all about it here.

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