Today was a travel day for me. Late out of Honolulu, late out of LAX, but still a good day into Nashville. Not much sleep, but already time well-spent.
This song, a Caedmon’s classic, always comes to mind on such occasions. Ah, them lines on the road.
It’s almost a wrap for this season of Doctor Who on BBC America. Last week’s episode had its moments, but I’m not sure how it’s all going to come together to create a greater whole. And one big question: will the Doctor’s regeneration happen in this finale or will we have to wait until the Christmas special? Here’s the trailer for the finale.
Granted: three Time Lords together means pretty much anything can happen. We’ll definitely know this time next week . . .
A few weeks ago I spent some time reflecting on some of the high points of Andy Crouch’s The Tech-Wise Family. It is, in my opinion, a book that everyone should read, Christian or not, single or married. The folks at Q Ideas just posted a short talk given by Crouch on the topic of “managing technology.” It’s a nice primer for all that Crouch says in the book.
Best use of Downton Abbey as an analogy that I’ve heard in a long while, too!
Tonight brought the season (and perhaps series) finale to Fargo on FX. This season was built well, hit lots of solid notes over the course of 10 episodes. The law enforcement end of the story didn’t click as well as in the previous seasons, but that could easily be a fatigue thing. Always beautifully shot with nice, artistic flourish.
Saturday brings us closer to the end of the current run of Doctor Who, leaving us with a few months until the Christmas special (where we will supposedly meet the new Doctor). Lots of interest in this week’s episode as it brings back a character long hoped for (and almost ruined by weak scripts): The Master. Here’s the latest trailer.
Two versions of the Master running around (don’t forget Missy). That and an impending regeneration could make for some interesting shenanigans. As always with the Doctor, time will tell.
From “On Gargoyles,” the January 1909-penned introduction to Daylight and Nightmare, a collection of short pieces by G. K. Chesterton:
Realism is simply Romanticism that has lost its reason. This is so not merely in the sense of insanity but of suicide. It has lost its reason; that is its reason for existing. The old Greeks summoned godlike things to worship their god. The mediaeval Christians summoned all things to worship theirs, dwarfs and pelicans, monkeys and madmen. The modern realists summon all these creatures to worship their god; and then have not god for them to worship. Paganism was in art a pure beauty; that was the dawn. Christianity was a beauty created by controlling a million monsters of ugliness; and that in my belief was the zenith and the noon. Modern art and science practically mean having the million monsters and being unable to control them; and I will venture to call that the disruption and the decay. The finest lengths of the Elgin marbles consist of splendid horses going to the temple of a virgin. Christianity, with its gargoyles and grotesques, really amounted to saying this: that a donkey could go before all of the horses of the world when it was really going to the temple. Romance means a holy donkey going to the temple. Realism means a lost donkey going nowhere.
By the end of the introduction, the gargoyle also becomes a picture for Chesterton’s own work. You can also find the introduction under the title “The Three Temples.”
(image from Getty Images via the Huffington Post)
We’re in the middle of an attempted summertime Arthurian renaissance. I say attempted because it hasn’t been going all that well. King Arthur and his knights are always swirling around somewhere in the creative, storytelling mix, which makes it interesting but not totally unexpected that we have arrived at such a Camelot moment.
The first attempt at summertime Arthurian renaissance was a few weeks ago with the release of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Aside from a few director-inspired flourishes, the story of an unknown king raised in the rabble wasn’t all that great. Rumor has it that the movie was meant to be the opening salvo in a franchise, which I can’t anticipate happening now that is has only brought in $38 million domestically (though it has brought in $100 million internationally).
The second attempt at a summertime Arthurian renaissance is this week with the release of TransFormers: The Last Knight. Does it look like a mess? Totally. I’ve only seen one TransFormers movie from the recent run (Dark of the Moon?). It was utterly forgettable. But look: Sir Anthony Hopkins!
There’s also some pseudo-Unicron imagery in there, but I’m trying to know as little about the movie as possible in case I actually see it.
The third and final attempt at a summertime Arthurian renaissance arrives the first week of August with The Dark Tower. Whatever else the story might be (and it ends up being many things, thankee-sai), the life of Roland Deschain falls in line with the world won and lost by Arthur and his knights (here they use guns instead of swords). If it’s done well, this could be the most-true of the three.
It’s funny: every few years we get at least two movies within two months of one another where the same story is told (the best example: Armageddon and Deep Impact). This is not quite the same but still interesting. King Arthur deserves to fare well, I think. Maybe by the end of this summer he will.
Today I caught an a.m. showing of The Mummy. It was either that or Pirates, and I just wasn’t up for 2 1/2 hours of pirate storytelling (perhaps later this week). Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy Returns was one of my favorite movies for a long time (a great blend of humor and mystery). Tom Cruise’s “take” feels nothing like that. Which isn’t to say that the 2017 rendition of The Mummy is a bad movie.
Universal is up to something different this time around, hoping to craft a connected movie universe like the MCU or DCEU. Here’s something of what they were going for and why.
The movie is dark, for sure. That’s more of a setting thing that a tonal thing, though. Some levity exists, but not in a “humorous sidekick” way (though there is something like an attempt at it). And there is some universe building going on that doesn’t distract too much from the overall story. (I’m really glad I didn’t have much exposure to spoilers before my viewing.)
The question at this point will be where the Dark Universe goes from here. Lots of options, obviously. There will supposedly be a new version of The Wolf Man running into theaters as well as a possible Bride of Frankenstein story. I’m not sure how the performance of The Mummy will affect things, as it didn’t exactly break any box office records.
Still and all, an enjoyable movie: well-shot, well-acted, and mostly coherent. I do wonder how well the sensibilities of the originals can translate into contemporary culture. There’s definitely been a dilution of the brand over the last few decades. Not a monstrous way to spend some of your Saturday morning, though.
One last post of recent Andrew Peterson concert clips. It’s a bit long, but you get some nice conversation from Peterson as the clip begins.
Here’s the trailer for “The Eaters of Light,” the next episode in the current series of Doctor Who.
This season, Capaldi’s last, has been underwhelming at best. Which is unfortunate, as I think he brings a great sense of balance to the Doctor. At this point, though, the pieces haven’t worked together to create a greater whole. A lot of things feel like retread. Nardole is a bit of a mystery. Bill, who has the makings for a great companion, hasn’t really found narrative traction. The vault started out interestingly enough, but the Missy revelation hasn’t quite pushed things forward well.
So the show has three episodes remaining, two before the dramatically titled “The Doctor Falls.” We all know, of course, that a regeneration is coming. At this point, part of me is asking: what’s the point? Perhaps the greatest long-term weakness of NuWho has been its reticence at embracing the show’s long history. Sure, we get fun moments like the return of Alpha Centauri, but the moments that point to moving the story of Gallifrey forward just aren’t there. Beyond some (ultimately) weird moments and an amazing anniversary special, we haven’t really seen an embrace of any real long-term sci-fi saga. Maybe that’s the weakness of short seasons of hour-long episodes coupled with built-in reboots every few years. That and the only other major story arc, the strange case of River Song, was wrapped up wonderfully well a couple of Christmases ago.
There’s still a chance that the show can pull it off. Capaldi, I think, deserves better. Moffatt, the show’s runner since Matt Smith took over, wrapped up the best of this story with River Song’s exit. What should have been a victory lap for him has been anything but. Maybe “the eaters of the light” will open the door to something better.
Well, I think I’m “done” enough that I can enjoy some summer vacation for a few days. All of the necessary paperwork is done, for sure. I’ll have to pick up some threads next week. It’s been a good day, though, and an even better evening with friends and fro-yo and Redbox.
Here’s another recent upload of Andrew Peterson in concert through Creator Arts. It’s an older song (but not one of his oldest). It’s a great example of how well Peterson weaves together imagery from all across the biblical story, a great picture of how God through Jesus makes “All Things New.”
Space Enough, and Time 