dual personalities

Tag: movies

March 1, 2022

Crashing and burning with dignity

by chuckofish

A new month is starting and spring is on the horizon. Let us rejoice and sing! We still have a little ice and snow around, but Mother Nature is undeterred.

If you are in need of a mood lightener (and who isn’t?), I recommend this article. You also have to watch the embedded video which is pure gold. “You see, in a world plagued by sin and evil, in which churches increasingly have no room for church musicians without commercial appeal, Jon Daker represents hope, joy, and faith. Here is a regular guy who has managed to lift the spirits of millions thanks to his love of singing and a willingness to crash and burn with dignity.”

I also cannot express how much I love these daily updates that the daycare sends to daughter #2 and that she in turn sends to me from Maryland.

This is Life from the frontlines of daycare.

In case you forgot, today is the birthday of David Niven (1910-1983) so we’ll have to watch one of his movies tonight to celebrate! Maybe Separate Tables (1958) for which Niven won the Best Actor Oscar. Hard to believe, but it was the only time he was nominated and I can think of other roles for which he was more deserving. With 23 minutes and 39 seconds of screen time, his performance in this movie is the shortest ever to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Here he is winning his Oscar. (Note how tiny Jerry Lewis appears to be next to John Wayne.)

It’s nice to see someone win who is so clearly pleased but has no ax to grind beyond saying thank you. But then, he had some class.

And since you enjoyed yesterday’s video, here’s Iron Horse with another Metallica cover–bluegrass style. Personally, I can’t get enough of this.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; 
Praise Him, all creatures here below; 
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host: 
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

4 Comments
February 24, 2022

“I’m only a sinner saved by Grace”*

by chuckofish

In the past week I have had my annual follow-up appointments with my oncologist, surgeon and radiologist, along with an extra bonus dentist appointment. Add to that various tests and lab visits and you have a fun month. Ah, February. Needless to say, I will be happy to move on to March!

I watched the movie Something of Value (1957) on TCM the other night, which I had not seen in many years. I had read the book by Robert C. Ruark many years ago as well. The subject still resonates.

The poster misses the point as usual

The movie takes place in British colonial Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising (1952-1960) and centers on two friends, Peter (Rock Hudson) and Kimani (Sidney Poitier), who end up on opposite sides of the conflict. Written and directed by Richard Brooks, it tells a balanced story and does not take sides. For 1957, it is pretty stark and violent. My favorite character was Rock Hudson’s father, Henry MacKenzie, who says, when asked if he is afraid, “I fear nothing but the wrath of God.” To feel that in your heart and know it to be true is a great thing, whether you are facing marauding Mau Mau rebels or oncologists.

In other news, it is time for the annual Mardi Gras parade this weekend and once again, I could care less. But it is a Big Deal in our flyover city.

Literally my idea of Hell

I wish all those small businesses down in Soulard well, but oh mylanta.

This is an interesting article: “The information superhighway is a dead end, almost always leading us to rely more on itself than making us independent thinkers. It does not lead to wisdom.”

Sam Bush has some good ideas in this article: “There’s one catch to this furious attempt to be unique: trying not to be like everyone else has paradoxically become the definition of conformity. We may each be individual snowflakes, but, once we start to accumulate, we begin to look the same.”

I always thought that in order to survive childhood we need to think we’re special. That’s what good parents make us feel. But it is a sign of growing up when we figure out that we are not special. (Some people never figure that out.) Indeed, life is one long lesson in humility, right? And to be a Christian, one must be humble. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

Well, we are experiencing yet another “wintery mix” event. Time perhaps to listen to some Del McCoury, age 83, who has a new album! Here’s a link to listen to a couple of his new songs.

I guess Tuesday was Twins Day–I missed that–but our twins were twins-ing per usual…Aren’t they grown up?

*James M. Gray (1851-1935)

3 Comments
February 22, 2022

Fun facts to know and tell

by chuckofish

Yes, the Christmas cactus is throwing out buds again! I mean really. Wow.

In other news, today marks the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847, fought between the US invading forces, largely volunteers, under General Zachary Taylor, and the much larger Mexican Army under General Santa Anna.

Santa Anna had chosen the day of battle, not apparently aware that it was George Washington’s birthday, which galvanized patriotic sentiment among the U.S. forces.  The outcome of the battle was ambiguous, with both sides claiming victory. Santa Anna’s forces withdrew leaving the field to the surprised American forces, who had expected there to be another day of hard fighting. Since the American forces were largely volunteers rather than regular army, it increased Buena Vista’s popularity in the public imagination. The volunteers were characterized as raw citizen-soldiers who had defeated the far larger Mexican army, seen as a professional military force.

Ulysses Grant, writing about Buena Vista in his Personal Memoirs, said:

General Taylor’s victory at Buena Vista…with an army composed almost entirely of volunteers who had not been in battle before, and over a vastly superior force numerically, made his nomination for the Presidency by the Whigs a foregone conclusion. He was nominated and elected in 1848. I believe that he sincerely regretted this turn in his fortunes, preferring the peace afforded by a life free from abuse to the honor of filling the highest office in the gift of any people, the Presidency of the United States.

I wonder if perhaps USG didn’t feel the same way.

I bet you didn’t know that Buena Vista County, Iowa was named in honor of the battle, as was Buena Vista Township in Michigan’s Saginaw County. Cities named after the battle include Buena Vista in Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, New Jersey, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

Today is also the birthday of the English actor John Mills (1908-2005). He was in a lot of good movies. Recently I watched Tiger Bay (1959) which I had never seen. It also stars John’s daughter, Hayley Mills, in her first movie. She was twelve. It is a British crime drama and also stars Horst Buchholz as a Polish sailor who commits a murder which Hayley witnesses. It takes place in Cardiff and is an interesting piece of post-war social commentary. I enjoyed it and you might too. It is available on Youtube.

Have a good week! We are expecting another round of rain, sleet and snow. Ho hum.

4 Comments
February 15, 2022

“Here’s to the sunny slopes of long ago”*

by chuckofish

Daughter #2 drove home for the weekend, so we had fun doing what we normally do: happy hour on Friday followed by the CD shuffle at home, estate sales and lunch out on Saturday, church on Sunday followed by brunch with the boy and his family. We also celebrated Valentine’s Day on Sunday as did daughter #2 (see yesterday’s post) by having a little party after church, complete with favors. However, no one took any pictures, so I have nothing to show for my efforts. Tant pis. You’ll just have to take my word for it that the table looked pretty and the wee twins did not throw their presents aside in disgust.

I was pleased to receive a new puzzle and also a special mat on which to put it together.

(This Peanuts puzzle is harder than it looks!)

The OM and I watched Bullitt (1968) which has become our traditional Valentine movie of choice, because it is a movie we both can love for obvious reasons. I remember when my parents went to see it at the movies back in the day. They enjoyed it as well, especially as it was shot in San Francisco, a favorite town of our father.

Last week we watched Lonesome Dove (1989)–old-fashioned style, one part each night over a four night period, the way it was originally intended to be viewed. I enjoyed it as always–Augustus McCrae and Captain Call are two of my favorite characters in fiction. The book, of course, is even better. It is full of interesting characters, all fully realized. There are no stereotypes, no cardboard cutouts. And there is no political agenda.

Well, a good dose of Gus and Woodrow is good for the soul. You might want to dust off the DVD or the book. I recommend both.

Fun fact: Robert Duvall is in both Bullitt and Lonesome Dove. Also, he went to college across the river in Elsah, Illinois. I had a friend (who has passed away) at my flyover institute who went to The Principia with him and was best friends with “Bobby’s” younger brother. He had quite a few good stories.

If you haven’t already read this article, maybe you should.

And, you know, this was really special. “His motives are still unknown but the administration believes it was some kind of a lapse in sanity,” she said.

And let us not forget this:

Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

–I Cor. 1:26-31

*Augustus McCrae

4 Comments
February 8, 2022

Ring the bells that still can ring

by chuckofish

After four months at the finisher, my elephant pillow is back! Pretty fab, if I don’t say so myself.

Reminded by a reference to it in Sunday’s sermon, we watched Apollo 13 (1995) on Sunday night. Directed by Ron Howard, it dramatizes the aborted 1970 lunar mission, Apollo 13, which was America’s fifth crewed mission to the Moon and was intended to be the third to land. It is a good movie. It avoids politics and sticks to the story–a story which is exciting enough without embellishment. Indeed, it is an amazing story of the heroic actions of a large group of NASA scientists and the astronauts themselves in order to bring them and their disabled lunar module home. It is a story of smart people using their god-given brains and not giving up in the face of terrible odds. Ron Howard plays it straight and it is a good movie, certainly his best.

I remember the events portrayed in the movie vividly. I was in the eighth grade and I remember how terribly anxious everyone was. We actually watched the re-entry of the module on television at school. It could have ended in disaster on national television, but thankfully, it did not. It ended in triumph.

President Nixon awarding the three Apollo 13 astronauts the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Yesterday I attended a live-streamed funeral service for another old friend from my flyover institute. Leonard was 95 and a veteran of both WWII and Korea. When he was 90 he published a memoir of his harrowing experiences as a medic in Korea. He wrote the memoir over several years in a creative writing class he took at LLI (a class he later facilitated.) He was a very interesting guy. He was half Episcopalian and half Jewish, but when he married the daughter of a prominent Jewish family, he became a full-time Jew. We chuckled about that and about a lot of things. It was a blessing and a privilege to be able to spend time with him and to know him.

He who makes peace in his high holy places, may he bring peace upon us, and upon all Israel; and say Amen.

Here’s Leonard’s favorite song by that other Leonard:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

6 Comments
February 3, 2022

Be that as it may

by chuckofish

I was contemplating daughter #1’s thought-provoking post from yesterday and I was struck by something George Meyer said in the New Yorker article: “I say this to people and they think I’m kidding, but I didn’t realize that ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ was supposed to be funny. I thought you just watched it.”

I remembered how I use to watch syndicated episodes of “I Love Lucy” back in the 1960s when I was in elementary school. I thought it was kind of a sad show about poor people who lived in a tiny apartment. Lucy and her friend Ethel did really stupid things and their eye-rolling husbands were constantly exasperated. I had no clue it was supposed to be funny.

Well, I guess George and I figured out what was funny along the way. But I think it is safe to say, since the mid-20th century, parents have allowed their children to watch way too much television without much supervision and the cost to civilization has been great.

This reminded me that I did watch Greyfriars Bobby (1961) last week and was, once again, very touched by it. This Disney movie is child-appropriate and teaches some valuable lessons about kindness. It also shows what real poverty is in a very subtle way. Most twenty-first century Americans have little idea what real poverty is–when tenement-dwelling children can be shocked that the wee dog is fed chicken broth. “Chicken for the dog? I’ve never tasted it.” Only one of the children can read and write. But their hearts are warmed by the wee dog and the tavern keeper learns kindness and generosity. This lovely story led me to watch The Little Kidnappers (1953), a J. Arthur Rank production, about two wee Scottish-Canadian boys who go to live with their strict Calvinist grandparents in Nova Scotia when their parents die. The five and eight-year old actors who portray these boys are wonderful (the five-year old later appears in Greyfriars Bobby and Thomasina) and it is a wonderful story about forgiveness and learning to love one’s neighbor. It is available to watch on Youtube:

Anyway, as you may have heard, we are in the middle of a winter snowpocalypse which, in reality, affects me very little as I am retired and was not planning to travel anywhere. My bible study group is meeting via Zoom today–my first Zoom meeting since retiring last year. Well, the whole region is on hold again, which just goes to prove, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Meanwhile, I am reading this classic of Puritan writing by Stephen Charnock: Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God.

You can read more about him here.

Here is comfort in afflictions. As a sovereign, he is the author of afflictions, as a sovereign, he is the remover of them; he can command the waters of affliction to go so far, and no farther. If he speaks the word, a disease shall depart, as soon as a servant shall from your presence with a nod. If we are banished from one place, he can command a shelter for us from another. If he orders Moab, a nation that had no great kindness for his people, to let his outcasts dwell with them, they shall entertain them, and afford them sanctuary. (Is. 16:4) Again, God chasteneth as a sovereign, but teacheth as a father (Ps 90:12).

I think this antique wooden model that I rescued at the auction last weekend is so my ascetic:

And there’s this:

I am definitely going to start wearing sunglasses more often.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

– Philippians 4:8

4 Comments
February 1, 2022

Another pop quiz

by chuckofish

Since it is February 1 and the birthday of John Ford, I thought it was time for another pop quiz! The following quotes are all from famous films directed by John Ford between 1939 and 1956. See how many you can get and I’ll post the answers in the comment section later today.

“My friends just call me Ringo – nickname I had as a kid. Right name’s Henry.”

“We seem to lose our heads in times like this. We do things together that we’d be mighty ashamed to do by ourselves!”

“You’ve been lucky, Huw. Lucky to suffer and lucky to spend these weary months in bed. For so God has given you a chance to make the spirit within yourself. And as your father cleans his lamp to have good light, so keep clean your spirit… By prayer, Huw. And by prayer, I don’t mean shouting, mumbling, and wallowing like a hog in religious sentiment. Prayer is only another name for good, clean, direct thinking. When you pray, think. Think well what you’re saying. Make your thoughts into things that are solid. In that way, your prayer will have strength, and that strength will become a part of you, body, mind, and spirit.”

“Listen, son: you and I are professionals. If the manager says, “Sacrifice”, we lay down a bunt and let somebody else hit the home runs. We know all about those destroyers out of commission, tied up around San Diego. We could use them here. But they’re not around. They won’t be. Our job is to lay down that sacrifice. That’s what we were trained for, and that’s what we’ll do. Understand?”

“Shakespeare was not meant for taverns… nor for tavern *louts*.”

“Well, that’s the last of the gringo-head cactus.”

–The army will never be the same when we retire, sir.

–The army is always the same. The sun and the moon change, but the army knows no seasons.

–This fella talked derogatory about the boy’s pappy.

–Yeah, he called him the teacher’s pet of a chowder-headed Mick sergeant. What’s that mean, doc?

An Indian will chase a thing till he thinks he’s chased it enough. Then he quits. Same way when he runs. Seems like he never learns there’s such a thing as a critter who’ll just keep coming on. So we’ll find ’em in the end I promise you. We’ll find ’em. Just as sure as the… turnin’ of the earth.

Join me in toasting Ford and in watching one of his great movies tonight. Oh, and here’s a fun fact: Wee Willie Winkie (1936)–directed by Ford–is the only movie in which Shirley Temple is spanked.

In other news, I noticed that after we have cleaned up all the toys and the twins have gone home, I always find things like this…

It is like the lingering Christmas decorations that continue to show up…

This article is right on target. “Any fearful thing you are made to focus on day after day will become hyper-magnified in your mind.”

I concur. “I feel sad for those who hold to a utilitarian view of the universe, of creation, of people. Life becomes a means to an end – an end that is never quite realized.”

“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you…

Isaiah 54:10

7 Comments
January 27, 2022

No quittin’ along the way

by chuckofish

Today my bible study group starts up again and, yes, we are continuing our study of Leviticus.

I get it, but I am heading once more into the breach.

In other news, I was amused to read about Neil Young’s ultimatum to Spotify that he will take all his music off their platform if they don’t remove Joe Rogan. “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” Gee whiz golly. Such hubris. I was not surprised this did not go well for Neil. Old Man, take a look at your life…

Also, the boy texted me this nice thing:

Today is the anniversary of the day on which the action for which Audie Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor took place in 1945. He was twenty years old. When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry, he replied, “They were killing my friends.” Murphy is another fine example of an American man who came from a very humble background (Texas sharecroppers) with little education, but who, when push came to shove, acted heroically and sacrificially. He became the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Our current elite class has no appreciation or understanding of this kind of guy. Anyway, I suggest watching To Hell and Back (1955)…

…or one of Audie Murphy’s other movies. Lest we forget.

Tomorrow is the birthday of our ancestor John Wesley Prowers (b. 1838), the cattle baron, so I like to watch a cowboy movie in his memory, probably Red River (1948): “They’ll be no quittin’ along the way. Not by you, not by me.” This is a no-brainer.

PSA: There are tulips at Trader Joe’s! Always a sure-fire January pick-me-up…

Grace and peace to you!

9 Comments
January 11, 2022

“My thanksgiving is perpetual”*

by chuckofish

Today is the feast day in the Anglican Church of Mary Mitchell Slessor (1848-1915), a Scottish Presbyterian missionary in Nigeria. She is most famous for having stopped the common practice of infanticide of twins in Okoyong, an area of Cross River State, Nigeria. She was 27 and had been a factory worker for 14 years when she heard that David Livingstone, the famous missionary and explorer, had died. She decided she wanted to follow in his footsteps. Her’s is quite the story. More here.

Today is the 76th birthday of John Piper, theologian, pastor, and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. I have quoted him quite a bit on this blog and he has been quite influential in my spiritual walk. He does not mince words. Here are his 10 reasons to read the Bible every day. And here’s a clip from his famous “Don’t Waste Your Life” sermon.

I would toast him, but he’s a Baptist and might not approve of that. He would probably not approve of me making that little joke either. I confess I am always fighting my “allergy to seriousness.” But I am serious about my admiration for John Piper.

In other news, I did another puzzle over the weekend.

This was a fun one for obvious reasons. It inspired me to watch Errol Flynn in San Antonio (1945), a Warner Brothers technicolor western, but it was disappointing.

Although still in his prime at 36, Flynn is giving about a 50% effort and that is not enough. Plus, I never thought Flynn and Alexis Smith had much chemistry and the supporting cast is the WB B team. I expected more from the Alan LeMay/W.S. Burnett screenplay. Well, you win some, you lose some. C’est la vie.

Finally, here’s a positive story about good things actually happening in Chicago. “We understand that God is sovereign in all things, including the trials we went through during our leadership transition, COVID, and the individual trials in the lives of our members. We understand that ultimately it is in God that we live and move and have our existence (Acts 17:28), and that he is sovereign over every human heart, head, and hands (Prov. 16:9; Isa. 46:9–10).”

*Henry David Thoreau

4 Comments
January 6, 2022

Hallelujah the earth replies

by chuckofish

The Star of Bethlehem by Burne-Jones

Today is Epiphany which marks the final celebratory day of Christmas. So let’s all sing “We Three Kings,” which was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857. At the time of composing the carol, Hopkins served as the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, PA. He wrote it for a Christmas pageant. It was the first widely popular Christmas carol written in America. (Bonus fun fact: Hopkins gave the eulogy at the funeral of President Ulysses Grant in 1885.)

We all learned this hymn as four-year olds for our first Christmas pageant, which back in the day, was in school. We thought it was very cool–so dramatic and kind of spooky with the gathering doom–and all that sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying. I think they turned off the lights and we turned on our little candle-looking flashlights for a special effect. There was no misunderstanding the end of the story for the baby in the manger. Here’s the BYU men’s chorus singing it:

Meanwhile I have packed up all of my Christmas decorations and taken them to the basement. However, I keep finding strays…

This always happens. C’est la vie.

If you are in need of a spiritual pick-me-up, I recommend watching The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) which tells the story of the real-life Gladys Aylward (1902-70), a former English domestic who became a Christian missionary in China in the 1930s.

In 1940 she shepherded more than 100 children over the mountains to safety at the height of the Sino-Japanese war. Ingrid Bergman is 100% believable as the missionary and her relationship with Curt Jergens as the Chinese Colonel, although embellished, is very romantic. Robert Donat, in his final role, is terrific. What can I say, when I watched it last night, I cried through the whole movie. (Some time ago I read the book by Alan Burgess, The Small Woman, on which the film is based, and it is very good too.)

This weekend we will celebrate daughter #3’s birthday which is actually today–bonne anniversaire!–thus wrapping up all the family birthday’s between November 28 and today.

I pray for the day ahead and that I might bring Glory to God, in word, thought and deed. I thank God that his mercies are new to me every morning. I thank God that his grace is sufficient for all situations that I may encounter.

4 Comments