Revenge of the Whale - in 3D

Advertising poster for the Ron Howard movie, "In the Heart of the Sea."
This is a top down (plan) view of the whaling SHIP above the white whale.
The proportions are ridiculously out of scale. 

When was the last time I went to a movie? I don't exactly remember; it's probably documented somewhere in this blog. In any case, going to movies is not something I do on a regular basis anymore. So it was something a bit out of norm for me to find myself inside a movie theater on Saturday (12/19/15) to see a new movie: In the Heart of the Sea.

What prompted this endeavor was a rave review I came across a few days earlier while browsing the web. The reference to Moby-Dick is what got my eye. You may recall that I listened to an audio book edition of the novel. The massive volume intrigued me to investigate things further when I finished listening. Earlier this summer, I picked up a second-hand edition of Monarch Notes for the book in anticipation of someday actually reading the book.

So when I read the review, I was unaware that a movie had been made about the story behind the events that inspired the novel. A few days later, I came across another intriguing post about the movie. This racially oriented piece suggested that the movie and Nat Philbrick's book were likely covering up some serious racial injustice since none of the black crew members survived. Black Lives Matter ya know.

With the hype of the new Star Wars movie, a sense of urgency suggested that time was probably limited to be able to see this movie on the big screen. To my relief, I found that the movie was still showing. And I found a theater that was showing it in 3D at a convenient time for me (afternoon). And so I went.

My ticket stub.

There were only about 20 people who came for the showing. I love 3D versions of movies and Heart of the Sea is excellent in 3D.  The glasses don't bother me at all. After a few minutes, I forget that I'm wearing them.

I went to this movie blind in the sense that I did not do my usual preparation (i.e., researching reviews and background). I just went and was rewarded greatly. If you've never read Moby-Dick, this movie provides the basic plot (although Heart of the Sea is a different story and book). The movie can be divided into two parts: the whale hunt and after the Essex sinks.

The story has many levels of meaning to mull over. One aspect that is prominent in the movie is the big business aspect. The industry wants to hush up the disaster for fear it will hurt business. I'm happy to report that truth wins (in both the movie and historically).

During the quest for rescue, at death's door, the two main characters ponder their state and wonder what they might have done to warrant such wrath.

The movie ends with an allusion towards the demise of whale oil as a fuel (to be replaced by oil from the ground). Unspoken is the warning that perhaps the earth will rebel against man just like the whale.

Cover of the juvenile version of
In The Heart Of The Sea.

Post Movie: Being the curious sort, I wondered about the book that the movie is based on:  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. My library has the book but all copies are out (surprise!). But I found a children/juvenile version was available; it was in the Teen section. I think it essentially an abridged version (about 1/3 the length of the "adult" version). So I am devouring this. It has a different title (which I think would have made a better movie title):

One question about Moby-Dick is why is there a hyphen?

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Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Heart_of_the_Sea_(film)
http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/the-real-story-that-inspired-americas-greatest-novel
http://www.melville.org/hmmoby.htm
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2014/03/moby-dick.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-end-of-moby-dick.html
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/12/_in_the_heart_of_the_sea_new_ron_howard_film_ignores_horrifying_racial_mystery.html
http://nathanielphilbrick.com/books/in-the-heart-of-the-sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Heart_of_the_Sea
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/moby-dick-has-mysterious-hyphen-180957512
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Written Tuesday 22 December 2015.

Becoming God's Beloved

Becoming  God's Beloved
in the Company of Friends

Cascade Books (A division of Wipf & Stock Publishers), Eugene, OR

Paperback, ISBN 13: 978-1-55635-462-5

134 pages (viii + 126p)

Published 1/1/2008 (c2007)

Sister Mary Margaret Pazdan, OP,has ministered in Illinois, Maryland, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia as well as Toronto, Canada. Her religious name was Sr. Marie Eugenie. Sr. Mary Margaret's ministry has been dedicated to teaching biblical studies and homiletics. In the Diocese of Madison, Sr. Mary Margaret taught at Edgewood College, 1980-1985. She has served as promoter of preaching for the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation since 2004. In the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Sr. Mary Margaret has taught at Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, since 1985 and is now professor emerita of biblical studies and continues to live in community in St. Louis. Sr. Mary Margaret’s home parish is St. Giles, Oak Park, in the Chicago Archdiocese. She is the daughter of the late Edward and Eugenia (Ziemba) Pazdan. [Source: Biography for her 50th Jubilee in 2012]

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I recently finished reading Becoming God's Beloved in the Company of Friends (A Spirituality of the Fourth Gospel) by Mary Margaret Pazdan, OP.

I am so glad that I did not do what I originally had in mind with the book. I thought about purchasing about 20 copies for a "Company of Friends" and inviting them to read it along with me while studying the Gospel of John. Common sense prevailed and I decided it might be prudent to read it myself first. That turned out to be a good decision because the book proved to be a rambling, disjointed  mess. There was no Preface thanking an editor and it showed that either no one edited the book or whomever did was (rightfully) embarrassed to be associated with this disaster.

I was led to this book near the end of 2014 while studying some of the Minor Prophets. One of my references for that Bible study was Collegeville Bible Commentary OT17  (see picture below).  That study inspired me to search for more information about Sr Mary Margaret.

(c1986)

That search revealed that she had also written a book about the Gospel of John. It was then that I realized that I had not read John in a long time (i.e., I had not noted in my Bible any dates for when I read this Gospel).  After reading the Introduction to "Becoming God's Beloved" online, I began to get grandiose ideas about reading the Fourth Gospel (see above). 

Perhaps the summary (on the back cover-see below) stirred up my idealism:

"Becoming God's Beloved in the Company of Friends offers a fresh perspective and invites persons to develop a personal and communal Christian spirituality. It offers a way to deepen commitment to live as a disciple of Jesus personally and with others. It bridges the gap between a first-century biblical text and twenty-first-century readers who hunger for genuine spirituality today. Each chapter focuses on a few stories and a few teachings to illustrate a particular characteristic of becoming a disciple."

I was especially intrigued with the Introduction's suggestion to read the entire Gospel first before beginning the Pazdan book. This distracted me and I did not order the Pazdan book until near the end of July (2015) while in the middle of my third straight reading/studying of the Gospel.

Back Cover

After struggling through the first couple chapters, I concluded the book was a disaster and put it aside. After finally finishing my study of John, I decided to finish what I started and forced myself to get through the rest of this mess.

The book is contains touchy-feely instructions such as found at the end of Chapter 2: "Visualize the mutual relationships of the Father and Jesus by an abstract or concrete sketch with colored markers.  You may wish to go to a daily newspaper and some magazines. Cut out words and pictures that represent their relationships. Add them to your drawing or put them on a separate sheet of paper. The drawing and the design offer you a clue about what you treasure in these relationships."

Sr. Mary Margaret's identity as a Roman Catholic nun is also a well kept secret in this book. I found it quite annoying when she referred to St. Thomas Aquinas as (merely) "Thomas." I didn't think we were on a first name basis. There were several "Tables" in the book that seemed to serve no purpose other than to be able to say the book had some tables. They were generally poorly formatted and did not seem well integrated with the text. Quotations from Aquinas, Catherine of Sienna, and Henri Nouwen appeared to be haphazardly inserted.

The book appeared to be an attempt to take several lectures and essays and fashion into a book. It turned out to be a dreadful failure. I would not recommend this book to anyone. Don't waste your time.

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Links:

http://www.sinsinawa.org/news_events/jubilarians2012_50.html
http://wipfandstock.com/becoming-god-s-beloved-in-the-company-of-friends.html

http://www.ai.edu/Academics/Faculty-and-Administration/Faculty-Bios/Mary-Margaret-Pazdan-OP
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_John
http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/0
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Written Thursday 4 February 2016

Bethlehem 2015

Replica of the first Christmas cachet from Bethlehem, CT.
This over-sized replica hangs in the lobby of the Post Office.

Bethlehem. I have made the trek here to mail my Christmas cards for about each of the last 20 years. (One of these days, I should research that). The attraction is the annual cachet plus the "Bethlehem" postmark. More background can be found in my 2014 post or another's blog post that includes some illustrations of the post office and the town of Bethlehem, CT. Below are some pictures I took this year of the lobby inside the post office.

This is the west side of the lobby where much of the stamping occurs.
Note the baskets on the tables (filled with rubber stamps) and the green ink pads.

The is the east side of the lobby.
 Finished/stamped cards are placed in gray trays at the left.
The door leads to the sales counter.
Note the table at the right with cachet rubber stamps and green ink.

This poster shows all the current cachets. It is located  to the right
of the door (turn left when you enter). Each cachet is numbered in
chronological order. #1 is at the top (of the tree).

Usually (but not always), I have traveled to Bethlehem on a Saturday because it was a day off. However, this year I went on a Wednesday because I wasn't ready with my cards and "Holiday Letter." Since I had plenty of unused (paid) time off (i.e., PTO) I didn't mind taking off from work.  I spent the morning creating my "letter" (with a little help from the "Spirit") and then worked on assembling the cards, envelopes, address labels, letters, and stamps. Fortunately, I had purchased the stamps early this year. Sadly, the USPS did not create a religious stamp for this year, so I used a Madonna & Child stamp from an earlier year that was still available.

Typically, it would take me about an hour to drive to Bethlehem (CT is a small state) but this year it took an extra half hour. Boy, was I fuming. Highway construction and mall traffic were the main culprits I think. Luckily, I made it before closing time (and that lobby hours had been extended an extra half hour).

The 2015 cachet (but, see below...).

After arriving at the post office, my first task was to stamp all my envelopes with this year's cachet (see above). At the time, I thought it was a no brainer. But now as I write this post, I discovered that there appears to be an "extra" cachet. Last year's cachet was #78 (I thought). So this year's should be #79; but I assumed #80 was this year's (especially since it has "2015" on it). So either there are two cachets this year (#79 and #80) or I got mixed up earlier. (Some might concur that I have long been mixed up).

On the way home, I continued a somewhat recent tradition by stopping for "lunch" (it was actually dinner time by then) at G's Burgers. I had a cheese burger, sweet potato fries, and soda. Perhaps because I was alone (again), it didn't seem to taste as good as in the past.

As I mentioned in my "Holiday Letter," I consider being able to mail my Christmas cards from Bethlehem a tremendous blessing. Going to Bethlehem is an opportunity to remind me (and others I hope) of the true meaning and origin of Christmas.

Autograph manuscript of first stanza of O Little Town of Bethlehem.
Benson, Louis F. Studies of Familiar Hymns.
 Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1903. Public Domain.

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Links:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Bethlehem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cachet

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2014/12/bethlehem-2014.html

http://www.marthahallkelly.com/lets-time-travel-back-to-christmas-at-the-bethlehem-post-office

http://www.ci.bethlehem.ct.us

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2014/12/bethlehem-2014.html

http://www.gsburgers.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manuscriptolittletownofbethlehem.png

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Written Wednesday 23 December 2015.