Scrooge Ballet

I remember the first time I saw this. It was on TV, and we recorded it on VHS tape, but we never saw it aired on television again. As the tape began to show its age we started looking for it on DVD. After years of searching we finally found it, and The Husband bought it for me for Christmas last year. The Northern Ballet Theatre's A Christmas Carol tells the complete tale without words -well, almost without words, Marley's Ghost has a soliloquy and there are some songs. One of the songs is Four Pence A Day. The dancers are so expressive you don't need words to know the story.

Wassail, wassail

We trimmed our tree today, though it was a bit early for us, and we had our traditional wassail. We do this the easy way: Warm apple cider on the stove with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks and float lemon and orange slices in it. Yummy!

The Chatham School Affair, by Thomas H. Cook

The Chatham School Affair, by Thomas H. Cook, is an Edgar Award-winning mystery novel. It is a more literary book than some other mysteries I've read. It gives you the story as a series of remembrances, weaving the tale from painful long-past memories until the picture is crystal clear. By the time the end was getting near I saw where it was going, but I couldn't put this book down.

We're No Angels

What a fun movie! Humphrey Bogart is a delight and Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray are perfect to make up the rest of the "angelic" band. We're No Angels also stars Joan Bennett, Basil Rathbone and Leo G. Carroll. Our whole family gets a big kick out of this one, laughing our way through it each time we see it. It's one of our favorites.

The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy

I had never read this tragic story by Thomas Hardy before but read it for the BritishClassics online reading group at yahoogroups. The full name of the novel is The Life and Death of The Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character. Wikipedia has a page on the book, which includes some background information and links to study guides. The book itself is in the public domain and is readily available online at online-literature.com, classicreader.com, worldwideschool.org, the University of Adelaide Library and numerous other sources. VictorianWeb's coverage of Hardy, his life and works is comprehensive. The Thomas Hardy Resource Library has links to texts online, a timeline of his life and much other information.

I've read that Hardy was a poet first and foremost and only wrote novels as finances demanded, and this book is permeated with poetic imagery. I enjoyed the reading and look forward to the book discussion.

White Boy at the Apollo

with trombone.

Hillary Clinton is a Methodist, too,

but I couldn't find a video like I did for my post on Tom Waits last Sunday. She spoke at the 1996 General Conference. The text of her address is available online here. These were her closing words:

I am grateful for my Methodist upbringing. I am grateful for this church. I watch with great interest and appreciation those of you who struggle to make the decisions that will govern us for the next four years. And I appreciate that you are grasping with the hard issues; being willing to debate and discuss what needs to be done. And I would hope that many of us, not only members of this church, but all people of faith, would say we have so much in common that we can do, and summon our energy on behalf, first and foremost, of our children. If we were to do that, I know we would see changes before our very eyes. And that the church you serve and that has served us, would continue to grow because it was serving the world, living out the gospel, and being a servant for those who need to hear that message.

With that in mind, I thank you for keeping alive the Methodist traditions and teachings; for helping to awaken and strengthen the spirit and faith of men, women, and children; and for helping all of us to have courage in the face of change, to be willing to struggle forward doing what we can individually, and to make common cause with others who believe that we are called, both for personal salvation, but also for the work we must do in this world. Thank you very, very much.

The Feast of Christ the King

Psalm 132 (NRSV)

1 O Lord, remember in David’s favor all the hardships he endured;
2 how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house or get into my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool.”
8 Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your faithful shout for joy.
10 For your servant David’s sake do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them, their sons also, forevermore, shall sit on your throne.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation:
14 “This is my resting place forever; here I will reside, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless its provisions; I will satisfy its poor with bread.
16 Its priests I will clothe with salvation, and its faithful will shout for joy.
17 There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 His enemies I will clothe with disgrace, but on him, his crown will gleam.”

Chindi, by Jack McDevitt

I finished Chindi this afternoon. I've read and enjoyed a couple of other books by Jack McDevitt: The Engines of God and Infinity Beach. In this one I liked the exploration of alien cultures and artifacts, but I got tired of wondering who would die next as they kept insisting on dangerous activities in spite of the rising death toll. An SF Site review is here. A SciFiDimensions review is here. A review is also here at SFReviews.

Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival

I am currently watching a series of videos online from a conference on science and religion from The Science Network. I just finished the first video. It is an introductory session with several different lectures taking different approaches to the problem. The "About" page at the site describes the issue this way:

Just 40 years after a famous TIME magazine cover asked "Is God Dead?" the answer appears to be a resounding "No!" According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, "God is Winning". Religions are increasingly a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Fundamentalist movements - some violent in the extreme - are growing. Science and religion are at odds in the classrooms and courtrooms. And a return to religious values is widely touted as an antidote to the alleged decline in public morality. After two centuries, could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason? Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific worldviews? Can evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empathy, fear and awe? Can science help us create a new rational narrative as poetic and powerful as those that have traditionally sustained societies? Can we treat religion as a natural phenomenon? Can we be good without God? And if not God, then what?

This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. The conversation took place at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA from November 5-7, 2006.

Shrek

Another fairy tale, Shrek includes characters from almost every nursery tale I can think of and turns "Happily Ever After" on its ear. This movie is such great fun!

trailer:


Moria says

Shrek is one film where everything works near perfectly in terms of humour, characters, visual invention, artistic quality and plain all-out enjoyment.

Roger Ebert says

This is not your average family cartoon. "Shrek" is jolly and wicked, filled with sly in-jokes and yet somehow possessing a heart.

Hollywood Jesus has reviews with lots of still shots. The New York Times reviews it here.

1/30/2009:
This was The Husband's choice tonight for entertainment while making pizza.

Legend

Forgive me. This movie stars Tom Cruise, but Legend is a fun movie anyway. Tim Curry (I'll watch almost anything with Tim Curry in it) plays The Lord of Darkness. This is a fairy tale, containing elements from lots of different stories and movies. We all got a kick out of it.

Overfed

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

My feeder of choice: SharpReader.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I saw this movie in the theater when it came out in 1968. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stars Dick Van Dyke, Lionel Jeffries and Benny Hill.

Save the Internet

The Caine Mutiny

The boys had never seen The Caine Mutiny before, and it's a movie everybody should see. I remember the first time I saw it -watching the courtroom scene was actually painful to me. Humphrey Bogart's performance in this movie is, in my opinion, one of his best. Also in the movie are Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray, Jose Ferrer and Lee Marvin. The ensemble works well together, and Bogie shines in this role as a character so unlike the ones he usually played.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 126 (NRSV)

1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves

The picture is an e-card from Dover Publications.

Kennedy Assassination Anniversary

tribute video from youtube:

Just walked 2 miles

I have trouble getting used to and dealing with the cold. Today we stopped after 2 miles. It's so cold to me even just at 31 degrees, and my face hurts and I shiver the whole time I walk. I'm dressed in warm layers, so I guess I'm just a wimp.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

#2 Son and I watched The Murder of Roger Ackroyd starring David Suchet, who makes the perfect Poirot.