Heart May Generate Stem Cells

Yet another source of stem cells that does not involve killing a child.

DVC Jumps the Shark

Snakes in the Yard

Forget Snakes on a Plane, today I found two snakes hiding under a wood pile in the yard. I picked up the smaller one (with a gloved hand) to show my three year old son. Today's gospel reads: "... they will pick up snakes in their hands..". Weird. I had not even noticed that this morning at Mass. I'm not going to try drinking poison, though.

Pirates promise improved version of DaVinci Code next month

I love the title of this article. I picture Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow making Tom Hanks and Ron Howard walk the plank.

Good News on the Vocations Front

The Archdiocese of Washington's paper, the Catholic Standard, is reporting that twelve men will be ordained priests for the archdiocese this year. Interestingly, lay movements seem to be a real catalyst for vocations. Two of the men mentioned the Neocatechumenical Way as an influence.

Three mentioned Opus Dei. Of the three, two are sons of members of the Work, come from large (over 7 kids) families, and attended The Heights, a local high school that is a corporate work of Opus Dei. The third was influenced by Fr CJ McCloskey. The last few crops of priests in DC have had a number of ties to Opus Dei.

Also notable, is that the priestly candidates seem to be getting younger. In the past few years it seemed to be that a high percentage were forty and over.

Congratulations and prayers go out to all twelve of these men and to Fr Robert Panke, vocations director of the archdiocese.

What a Prize

The prizes in those things have certainly gotten better since I was a kid.

Brown's Last Supper

This is fiction, but true. My theory is that Dan Brown was a closet Star Trek freak. Note how Tom Hanks has that pasty-faced Commander Data look. Ron Howard is sporting a Klingonish goatee. And is that shadowy figure above Opie's head an ET? Do Audrey Tautou's ears look a bit pointy to you?

Somewhat Serious Subject. Very Juvenile Humor

In grade school they taught us that the book The Yellow River was written by I.P. Daily. It looks like the follow up was authored by Sonny d'Lite. Rimshot.

Vatican restricts public ministry of Maciel

I'm not really sure what to make of this. Reading between the lines, most people are interpreting this that the Vatican thinks that at least some of the accusations against Maciel are well-founded.

Some people who are against the Legionaries are laughing and piling on all sorts of anecdotes. They are saying that the Legionaries are stone-walling and defending a pedophile.

I have a good friend who is in Regnum Christi and actually is employed by the Legionaries and know other members of Regnum Christi who are really serious about their faith. While the little I know about Regnum Christi's spirituality does not appeal personally to me, I've always thought that it was good and that there is plenty of room in the Church for different personalities as long as they are orthodox, prayful, devout, etc -- which is my personal observation of my friend and others that I've known to be in Regnum Christi.

I am a member of Opus Dei and have heard all sorts of calumnies aimed at the Work and even a cursory glance at the history of the Church has shown that it is full of great saints who were maligned. I'm hoping that that is the case with Maciel, but am not naive. I think it is best to let history decide on this one.

In the meantime, my prayers go out for my friend and all the sincerely prayful people in the Legionaries and Regnum Christ.

More Reviews

You know a movie's a dud when even its self-flagellating albino killer monk isn't any fun. - John Beifuss, commercialappeal.com

The Hollywood alchemists haven't turned gold to lead. They've turned copper to zinc. - Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The story is not so much an enigma wrapped in a mystery as an unlikelihood wrapped in an impossibility." - Jay Stone, CanWest News Service

I cannot vouch for the novel, but the movie is a remarkably underwhelming experience. - David Cornelius, efilmcritic.com

That it is risible and dim-witted doesn't make it less disgusting. - Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films

The most controversial thriller of the year turns out to be about as exciting as watching your parents play Sudoku. -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

what has ended up on screen is roughly as compelling as a bowl of wax fruit. -Anthony Quinn, The Independent

How can a film contain so many clues yet remain utterly clueless? - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Paul Bettany’s Silas, meanwhile, is the most sympathetic character in the film. You know there’s trouble when you care most about a murderous albino monk. - Erik Lundegaard, MSNBC

It's Just Fiction, Right, Dan?

Dale Price says some things about Dan Brown's mother, but it is just fiction, so it is alright.

Real Piece of Opus

Movie reviewers must really love stinkers. When else can they throw out lines like this.

I don't know about the Dei, but anybody who can make cellphone calls in Latin, while flagellating his naked back raw, is a real piece of Opus. And not to be messed with.

Da Vinci Code' misses the mark for critics

The Cannes audience clearly grew restless as the movie dragged on to two and a half hours and spun a long sequence of anticlimactic revelations.

"I kept thinking of the Energizer Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way," said James Rocchi, a film critic for CBS 5 television in San Francisco and the online outlet Cinematical. "Ron Howard makes handsome films. He doesn't make bad ones, but he doesn't make great ones."

One especially melodramatic line uttered by Hanks drew prolonged laughter and some catcalls, and the audience continued to titter for much of the film's remainder.

Albinos Not Happy with Da Vinci Code

Critics cite a long list of albinos cast as heavies by Hollywood: The dreadlocked twins in "The Matrix Reloaded," a powder-haired hit man in the Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn crime romp "Foul Play," the pasty zombies in "The Omega Man," a sadistic killer in "Cold Mountain," even the wicked executioner in the fairy-tale comedy "The Princess Bride."

Michael McGowan, an albino who heads the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, said "The Da Vinci Code" will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino.

"Silas is just the latest in a long string," McGowan said. "The problem is there has been no balance. There are no realistic, sympathetic or heroic characters with albinism that you can find in movies or popular culture."

No word yet from the Winter brothers, Johnny and Edgar (pictured above).

This Poster Makes Me Laugh

...don't listen to the demon, laugh at him -- St. Therese of Lisieux

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. -- James 4:7

... for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed. -- Screwtape