Category: Arts & Culture

The saint who did this par excellence was St. Simeon the Stylite: for thirty or forty years he lived as a hermit at Antioch, up in the air on a platform. Some years he spent all of Lent standing, as a penance. (Don’t try this at home, kids.)
In that situation he wasn’t really hidden away from the world: he wrote letters to people far away, including the Emperor, and preached to crowds of people below who came to visit him. There are tales about him, of course, including the one about how he healed and converted a great serpent.
British film student Leo Earle takes St. Simeon as his inspiration for some playful animations, and updates the scene by placing the saint on top of a high-rise apartment block.

While you’re dropping in at Leo’s, also see his short films Washing Up Liturgy and The Dark Night, and a photo project, Saints on the Paris Metro.

This might seem like a surprising statement to see on a Catholic blog, but I’m glad “Revenge of the Sith” will be rated PG-13. Just because a movie is inapproprate for 12-year-olds doesn’t make it morally objectionable, and frankly, I think the “Star Wars” series needs to get a little more edgy.
“Sith” has to show the transformation of Anakin Skywalker from whiny, pouting brat to a dark menace with James Earl Jones’ voice. I have very low expectations here. George Lucas lost interest in human beings a long time ago, and in all likelihood, the movie will be a pile of poop.
I’ll still see it, though.
Postscript: My older son, Charlie, has wanted to name our new baby Luke, after Luke Skywalker, if it’s a boy. Now he wants to name him Michael, after Michael the Archangel — but he wants his full name to be Michael Skywalker Johnson.

This masterpiece is fitting as we pray for the Pope, for the Church and for the entire world. May the peace of Christ, and the knowledge that he has done the will of God, be upon our Holy Father in his final hours.

“The village police chief was surprised when he woke up in the middle of the night to find a man inside his home playing Beethoven on the piano…[the man] was drunk and looking for a friend’s house when he mistakenly wandered into the wrong place early Monday. […]The chief added that [the man] played perfect Beethoven.”
Source

Charles has an interesting point in the comments below this post.
It emphasizes the unfortunate fact that people like cheese.
Cheese being those tunes that are old-timey sentimental or broadway ballads turned to songs like “Jesus: Buddy, Friend, Pal!” They like being swept away emotionally, not thinking too much about the words and just having a nice time.
It’s taken years for me to move my choir from a sizable amount of cheese to bite-sized portions. Every now and then we throw in “We Are Called” at the end of Mass and people in the congregation who aren’t half-way to the donut shop sing with some gusto. That’s probably the only thing that keeps me from throwing it into the proverbial trashbin like I did “I Believe.”
For those of you not familiar with “I Believe” – take some extra time to today thank God. My ears still bleed from this juxtaposition of the Gounod “Ave Maria” and a doofy counter-melody. It turns into a screamfest at the end with half the choir singing at the very top of their range.