Warning: contains episode spoilersI happen to like a few of the series on USA Network, including "In Plain Sight", about an agent, Mary Shannon, in the Witness Protection Program. Last night's (7/20) episode, was"Don of the Dead". It opened with a married Catholic couple, Don and Ruth, meeting with a priest, because they really can't stand each other anymore, and they really don't meet the conditions necessary for an annulment. They also witness the murder of that priest, which is why they are now in the Witsec program.
Together, they started, and continue to run, a soup kitchen. They stay together because they feel that it was God's will that they were married, and Ruth won't divorce, and they can't get an annulment.
When Mary is questioning why they didn't just divorce, she reveals that she too is Catholic, which was never mentioned on the show.
When Don is found dead, Ruth's true feelings are revealed: she really did love him. After it is discovered that the deceased was an alcoholic, Mary finds out that Don is not really dead. In the end, he decides to remain "dead" to give Ruth a chance to find real happiness. He says "she deserves it".
I was struck by Ruth's faithfulness to the Catholic Church and Catholic teaching. Both Ruth and Dan seem to be very good people who live Christian lives. They cared for eachother more than they realized.
cross-posted on A Catholic View
If you'd like to see this episode, you can see it online at the site below.
Listen to their rendition of Ave Maria and O Holy Night and visit their website here. Their superior musical gift is apparent, and traditional arrangements reflect their background in Church history. They are authentic and uniquely talented to re-present traditional music at a time when the Traditional Mass is making a comeback. I wish them every success, and will be looking forward to their first New York concert.
Warning: Possible SpoilersAlthough my nephews and I all enjoyed the latest Batman story, I really don't think it lived up to the hype surrounding it.
There is plenty of action and violence, mostly explosions.
Heath Ledger is indeed brilliant as the Joker.
One of the aspects of superhero movies that interests me is the origin of both the hero and the villains; how they became who they are. In the case of sequels and remakes, I find it interesting to compare how they handle the telling of that aspect of the story.
They specifically indicate they have no idea of the Joker's background, his DNA, fingerprints, or any other information. (in the Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson Batman movie, we see Jack Napier fall into a chemical vat, causing him to become the Joker).
Right after Rachel Dawes agrees to marry him, we see DA Harvey Dent become Two Face after the Joker leaves him with drums of chemicals, which run over his face, causing him to becomeTwo Face. (In the Val Kilmer/Tommy Lee Jones Batman movie, we only see a brief flashback reference to a criminal throwing acid at Dent, causing him to become Two Face.
I found it sad that Batman, who fights criminals, was so afraid of becoming the villain.
Harvey had said to him "You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain". He seemed to be really be afraid of that happening to him. Considering how the Joker was able to turn Harvey, who was also considered a hero, into Two Face, The underlying theme seemed to be the idea of good succumbing to evil. It was good to see Lieutenant Gordon get promoted to Commissioner.
I didn't care for all the loose ends the ending left.
What happened to the Joker? (although they may have had to leave his fate unknown, because there is an indication that he will be back).
How/when will Batman be back? (We see him ride away at the end, but you know they'll be a sequel :).
Will Lucius Fox be back?
I don't mean to sound too down on The Dark Knight, it really was a cool movie.
Your comments welcomed!
http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/
I get a LOT of spam on my work email account -- they use Yahoo business service. Too many of them are porn spam.I applaud this reader's initiative. I am fortunate enough to not have this sort of thing coming through our email filters but I know it is an increasing problem so am happy to be able to tell about this resource.
But this evening I received a spam advertising Web sites for child pornography. I won't go into details of what it pitched, but it listed 5 Web sites with Russian domains.
I was so disturbed by this, I couldn't just delete it (which I do with the rest of the spam). After some research, I discovered that it is possible to report cases on even email spam related to child pornography.
In case anyone else might receive this kind of spam, I thought it would be good to at least let them know it can be reported.
The CyberTip line of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children will collect reports of child pornography spam.
I worked for years teaching in inner city high schools like those she describes. The teens in these areas have no hope for a better future. No one they know is married, gangs rule their social lives, and many of their friends are drug addicted and in and out of jail as a peverse type of second home. I had a student commit a crime in order to spend Christmas with his friends in jail, but get out in time to go to the beach in the summer.
They often lack fathers to discipline them, little or no Christian faith to believe in an eternal reward, and few with the tough love to teach them moral behavior. They accept and even embrace the culture of crime as their reality, perhaps despairing of a better life. Who could blame them for feeling despair?
What frightens me is when so called middle class kids, mostly from broken homes, glorify crime, violence, gangs through video games, film and RAP music. According to Ebony magazine, over 80% of Rap musis is purchased by whites. Here in semi-rural suburbia, my 15 year old daughter passed a schoolyard walking the dog, and was verbally accosted by a young man with blonde hair whose trash talking came straight from a RAP video. Why did he think he would impress her with this kind of talk? To her credit, he didn't.
The Holy Father pointed out in his talk to the youth at Dunwoodie, that these youth, both within and outside the inner city need the hope of the Gospel and the reclaiming of the culture from the culture of crime. Catholics must never support this types of entertainment which seek to glorify the suffering of the poor, regardless of the misguided souls who find a sense of pride in it.