2025-07-20

Svithe: Ward Variety

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The first three missionaries in Buenos Aires were Elder Wells, Elder Pratt, and Elder Ballard, all native English speakers. Elder Pratt was also fluent in Spanish and Elder Wells spoke pretty good German, and that was it.

There were already some German-speaking Saints in Buenos Aires and they started their work meeting with them. In December 1925, they baptized the Kullick family, including their sixteen-year-old daughter Herta. Because Herta was being raised in Buenos Aires, she spoke Spanish, unlike her immigrant parents.

Herta shared the gospel with her Spanish-speaking friends at school. Then, the German-speaking missionary’s bad health forced him home which meant the missionaries could no longer speak to the German-speaking Saints. So this sixteen-year-old girl stepped up. The story is told in Saints, the new church history which I recommend to everyone—it’s a terrific read. This is what it says:

Elder Ballard [an apostle] would prepare a message for the Saints in English, Elder Pratt would translate it into Spanish, and Herta would translate the Spanish into German. It was a complicated—and sometimes very funny—process, but the missionaries were grateful for her help.

During their meetings, the missionaries often presented slideshows using a projector they brought from the United States. Thinking her friends might take an interest, Herta invited them to attend the shows. Soon, nearly a hundred young people—most of them Spanish speakers—were appearing at the Saints’ rented meetinghouse, and the elders organized a Sunday school to teach them.

Parents of the youth, curious about what their children were learning, started meeting with the Saints as well. At one meeting, more than two hundred people crowded the meetinghouse to see slides about the Restoration and hear Elder Pratt teach in their native language….

Not long after…the mission had its first Spanish-speaking convert, Eladia Sifuentes.

I love this story. Here’s this foreign family meeting with foreign missionaries, and their daughter who has been going to school and learning the language, gets to work with an apostle and his companion to bring the gospel to her new friends. And now there’s a second temple coming to Buenos Aires.

Beautiful.

I don’t think apostles usually go to new nations and look for sixteen-year-olds to help them build the Church, but the Lord does things his way. And his ways are not our ways. Working with the Lord requires a willingness to be surprised.

I served my mission in Korea. In my last area, I was on the island of Cheju Do. The branch president had gone to BYU and knew all about what the Church was like in Provo, Utah—which was pretty different from a little branch on an island. The married-student ward he attended in Provo had basically 100% active members, most of whom grew up in the church with parents who grew up in the church. They also were about 50% people in their 20s and 50% under two years old. None of those things were true in Cheju! There were quite a few inactive people. Most of the members either had joined the church themselves or their parents had. And people were of all ages.

I remember a talk he gave once where he held up two chocolate bars. A Korean Lotte bar and an American Hershey’s bar. And he asked everyone in the congregation who had ever had a Hershey’s bar how different they were. Everyone laughed because even though they were both chocolate bars, they were very different.

Everyone here who grew up outside the United States—how different did the chocolate bars of your childhood taste from a Hershey’s bar?

But weren’t they both delicious?

When President Nelson announced that we would be changing home and visiting teaching to ministering, that change came with the instructions that wards should be creative, try new things, go crazy. Just let the Spirit guide and you can’t go wrong.

Three years later I was called as the Berkeley Ward’s elders quorum president. Our ministering still looked basically identical to the old home and visiting teaching except everyone was more confused. Honestly, it wasn’t going well. So we decided to try something new. Instead of companionships were these two brothers minister to these three families and these two brothers minister to these five families and these two sisters minister to these five sisters and these two sisters minister to these five sisters, we decided that we would put people and families into groups and everyone would minister to everyone that group. So for instance, right now, in my group is my family, the U**** family, Sister S****, and Sister C*****. And so the J*****s minister to the U****s and the U****s minster to the J*****s. The J*****s minister to Sister S**** and Sister S**** ministers to the J*****s. The J*****s minister to Sister C***** and she minsters to us and Sister S**** and Sister C***** minister to each other and so on.

It’s worked okay. I’m not suggesting the S**** Ward should do what Berkeley’s doing. Wards are trying different things. I’ve heard of married couples being assigned both elders quorum and Relief Society responsibilities together. I’ve heard of ministering all happening once a month at the church building. I’ve heard of ministering being accomplished entirely through shared meals. Those all sound like good ideas to me.

But it’s not just ministering where the Lord tells us to innovate. I think of the Parable of the Talents. Or, in this translation, the Parable of the Dollars.

“…a man going off on an extended trip…called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand…. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.

“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

“The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

“The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’

“The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

“‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out….’”

I like this translation because of the description of the man with five thousand dollars as “the one who risked the most.”

That’s just a story of course that Jesus told to make a point. But let’s remember that the man telling us this story—Jesus—died for our sins. He died so we can be forgiven. And so when he gives us five thousand spiritual dollars to risk, it’s okay to risk them. The Atonement makes it spiritually safe to take those risks. The market is rigged in our favor.

If the ministering-group idea had been a massive failure, well, God still loves me. It’s okay. Try something new.

We believe that in 1820 some dumb kid wandered into the trees near his house and met with God the Father and his son Jesus Christ.

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, we can all be saved.

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

And we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the O****** S**** Ward.

From Joseph Smith to today, we believe that God trusts us to run his Church. To pray and rely on the Spirit. To try new things. To restore the Church a little bit more every week.

Sometimes when we try new things, it doesn’t work out. But we believe in the Atonement. The story never ends after a failure.

And other times when we try new things, it does work out. We have discovered the will of God and our courage is rewarded. We have been part of a miracle. Everyone is blessed.

This courage is a sacred responsibility for every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As in the Parable of the Dollars, we must be willing to take risks. And when we do, our Savior Jesus Christ will make us his partners.

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Most of us in this room have been given this gift. We received this gift because we had faith and because we repented and because we then were baptized.

Now it is our responsibility to work with the Holy Ghost and exercise our faith and our willingness to repent by being brave and taking holy risks.

We are the partners of Christ.

We cannot fail.

In the name of…..

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Incidentally, here are a couple other nice sources on Herta, if you’re interested in knowing more about her: 1, 2.

She’s in this photo. Look for the only teenager. (Click the photo for other cool stories alongside Herta’s)

I don’t speak Spanish but I’m giving this talk in Spanish. It was translated for me by Charlie Allison with revisions by Gabriel González Núñez to make it as beautiful as it was in English, darn it. It’s good to have friends!

Another friend, Martin Castillo, read it for me and I’ll br practicing the next 28 days trying to sound like I know what I’m doing. Wish me luck!

[ previous svithe on thutopia | previous svithe on thubstack ]

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Los primeros tres misioneros en Buenos Aires fueron el élder Wells, el élder Pratt y el élder Ballard, todos hablantes nativos de inglés. El élder Pratt también hablaba español con fluidez y el élder Wells hablaba alemán bastante bien, pero nada más.

Ya había algunos santos de habla alemana en Buenos Aires, y estos misioneros comenzaron su obra reuniéndose con ellos. En diciembre de mil novecientos veinte y cinco, bautizaron a la familia Kullick, incluida su hija de dieciséis años, Herta. Dado que Herta se estaba criando en Buenos Aires, hablaba español, a diferencia de sus padres inmigrantes.

Herta compartió el evangelio con sus amigos de habla hispana en la escuela. Luego, la mala salud del misionero de habla alemana lo obligó a regresar a casa, lo que significó que los misioneros ya no podían comunicarse con los santos de habla alemana. Así que esta chica de dieciséis años dio un paso al frente. El relato aparece en Santos, la nueva historia de la iglesia que recomiendo a todos; es una lectura magnífica. Esto es lo que dice:

El élder Ballard [un apóstol] preparaba un mensaje para los santos en inglés, el élder Pratt lo traducía al español y Herta lo traducía del español al alemán. Resultó un proceso complicado —y a veces muy divertido—, pero los misioneros se sentían agradecidos por su ayuda.

Durante las reuniones, los misioneros presentaban a menudo diapositivas, por medio de un proyector que habían traído de Estados Unidos. Pensando en que sus amigos podrían estar interesados, Herta los invitaba a asistir a las presentaciones. Al poco tiempo, casi cien jóvenes —la mayoría de ellos, hispanohablantes— asistían al local alquilado que los santos usaban como centro de reuniones, y los élderes organizaron una escuela dominical para enseñarles.

Los padres de los jóvenes, curiosos por saber lo que sus hijos aprendían, también comenzaron a reunirse con los santos. En una de dichas reuniones, más de doscientas personas llenaron el centro de reuniones para ver diapositivas sobre la Restauración y escuchar al élder Pratt enseñar en su idioma natal...

Poco después… la misión tuvo a su primer converso de habla hispana, Eladia Sifuentes.

Me encanta esta historia. Aquí hay una familia extranjera reuniéndose con misioneros extranjeros, y su hija, que en la escuela aprendió el idioma, tiene la oportunidad de trabajar con un apóstol y su compañero para llevar el evangelio a sus nuevos amigos. Y ahora ya se ha anunciado un segundo templo en Buenos Aires. Hermoso.

No creo que los apóstoles normalmente vayan a nuevas naciones y busquen adolescentes de dieciséis años para ayudarles a edificar la Iglesia, pero el Señor hace las cosas a su manera. Y sus caminos no son nuestros caminos. Trabajar con el Señor requiere una disposición a ser sorprendido.

Hice la misión en Corea. En mi último sector, estaba en la isla de Cheju Do. El presidente de la rama había ido a BYU y sabía cómo era la Iglesia en Provo, Utah, la cual era bastante diferente a una pequeña rama en una isla. La unidad de estudiantes casados a la que asistió en Provo tenía básicamente el cien por ciento de los miembros activos, la mayoría de los cuales se criaron en la iglesia con padres que también se criaron en la iglesia. Además, el cincuenta por ciento de los miembros tenía veinte y pocos años, y el cincuenta por ciento de la congregación eran menores de dos años.

¡Nada de eso era cierto en Cheju! En Cheju teníamos bastantes inactivos. La mayoría de los miembros eran conversos, o sus padres lo eran. Y había personas de todas las edades.

Recuerdo una charla que él dio una vez en la que levantó dos barras de chocolate. Una barra Lotte coreana y una barra Hershey’s americana. Y preguntó a quienes en la congregación habían probado una barra Hershey’s si eran muy diferentes. Todos se rieron porque, aunque las dos eran barras de chocolate, sus sabores son muy distintos.

Todos los presentes que crecieron fuera de los Estados Unidos: ¿qué tan diferentes saben las barras de chocolate de su infancia de una barra Hershey’s? Pero, ¿no eran ambas deliciosas?

Cuando el presidente Nelson anunció que en vez de maestros orientadores y maestras visitantes tendríamos maestros ministrantes, ese cambio vino con las instrucciones de que las unidades deberían ser creativas, probar cosas nuevas. Simplemente dejen que el Espíritu les guíe y no se pueden equivocar.

Tres años después, fui llamado como presidente del cuórum de élderes del Barrio de Berkeley. Nuestros maestros ministrantes seguían siendo básicamente los antiguos maestros orientadores y maestras visitantes, excepto que todos estaban más confundidos. Honestamente, la cosa no iba bien. Así que decidimos probar algo nuevo. En lugar de compañerismos donde dos hermanos ministraban a tres familias o dos hermanas ministraban a cinco hermanas, decidimos que pondríamos a las personas y familias en grupos y todos ministrarían a todos dentro de ese grupo. Así que, por ejemplo, ahora mismo, en mi grupo está mi familia, la familia U****, la hermana S**** y la hermana C*****. Y así, los J***** ministran a los U**** y los U**** ministran a los J*****. Los J***** ministran a la hermana S**** y la hermana S**** ministra a los J*****. Los J***** ministran a la hermana C***** y ella nos ministra a nosotros. La hermana S**** y la hermana C***** se ministran entre sí. Y así sucesivamente.

Ha funcionado bien. No estoy sugiriendo que el Barrio Seis deba hacer lo que Berkeley está haciendo. Las unidades están probando cosas diferentes. He oído de parejas casadas que son asignadas juntas con responsabilidades tanto de cuórum de élderes como de Sociedad de Socorro. He oído que la ministración se realiza una vez al mes en la capilla. He oído que la ministración se lleva a cabo completamente a través de comidas compartidas. Todas estas me parecen buenas ideas.

Pero el Señor nos dice que innovemos no solo en la ministración. Pienso en la Parábola de los Talentos. O, en esta traducción, la Parábola de los Dólares.

“…un hombre que se iba de viaje prolongado… llamó a sus siervos y delegó responsabilidades. A uno le dio cinco mil dólares, a otro dos mil, a un tercero mil... Luego se fue. Desde el principio, el primer siervo se puso a trabajar y duplicó la inversión de su amo. El segundo hizo lo mismo. Pero el hombre con el mil solo cavó un hoyo y cuidadosamente enterró el dinero de su amo.

“Después de una larga ausencia, el amo de esos tres siervos regresó y saldó cuentas con ellos. El que recibió cinco mil dólares le mostró cómo había duplicado su inversión. Su amo lo felicitó: ‘¡Buen trabajo! Cumpliste bien con tu labor. De ahora en adelante, serás mi socio.’

“El siervo con dos mil mostró cómo también había duplicado la inversión de su amo. Su amo lo felicitó: ‘¡Buen trabajo! Cumpliste bien con tu labor. De ahora en adelante, serás mi socio.’

“El siervo que recibió mil dijo: ‘Señor, sé que tiene altos estándares y odia las formas descuidadas, que exige lo mejor y no permite errores. Tenía miedo de decepcionarlo, así que encontré un buen escondite y resguardé su dinero. Aquí está, sano y salvo, hasta el último centavo.’

“El amo se enfureció: ‘¡Esa es una manera terrible de vivir! ¡Es un crimen vivir con tanta cautela! Si sabías que busco lo mejor, ¿por qué hiciste menos que lo mínimo? Lo menos que podrías haber hecho era invertir la suma con los banqueros, donde al menos habría obtenido un poco de interés.

“‘Quítenle los mil dólares y dénselos el que arriesgó más. Y despidan a este “miedoso” que no se atreve a correr riesgos. Despídanlo…’”

Me gusta esta traducción porque describe al hombre de los cinco mil dólares como “el que arriesgó más”.

Es apenas una historia, por supuesto, que Jesús contó para recalcar algo. Pero recordemos que el hombre que nos cuenta esta historia —Jesús— murió por nuestros pecados. Murió para que pudiéramos ser perdonados. Y cuando nos da cinco mil dólares espirituales para arriesgar, está bien arriesgarlos. La Expiación hace que sea espiritualmente seguro correr ese tipo de riesgos. El mercado está amañado a nuestro favor.

Si mi idea de ministrar en grupo hubiera sido un fracaso masivo, bueno, Dios me amaría igual. Está bien. Probemos algo nuevo.

Creemos que en mil ocho cientos viente un chico medio torpe se adentró en la arboleda cerca de su casa y conoció a Dios el Padre y a Su hijo Jesucristo.

Creemos que por la expiación de Cristo, todos podemos salvarnos.

Creemos todo lo que Dios ha revelado, todo lo que actualmente revela, y creemos que aún revelará muchos grandes e importantes asuntos pertenecientes al reino de Dios

y creemos que aún revelará muchos grandes e importantes asuntos pertenecientes al Barrio Seis de Oakland.

Desde José Smith hasta hoy, creemos que Dios confía en nosotros para dirigir su Iglesia. Para orar y confiar en el Espíritu. Para probar cosas nuevas. Para restaurar la Iglesia un poco más cada semana.

A veces, cuando probamos cosas nuevas, no resulta. Pero creemos en la Expiación. La historia no termina después de un fracaso.

Y otras veces, cuando probamos cosas nuevas, sí resulta. Descubrimos la voluntad de Dios, y nuestro valor es recompensado. Somos parte de un milagro. Todos somos bendecidos.

Este valor es una responsabilidad sagrada para cada miembro de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Como en la Parábola de los Dólares, debemos estar dispuestos a arriesgar. Y cuando lo hacemos, nuestro Salvador Jesucristo nos hace sus socios.

Creemos que los primeros principios y ordenanzas del Evangelio son: primero, Fe en el Señor Jesucristo; segundo, Arrepentimiento; tercero, Bautismo por inmersión para la remisión de los pecados; cuarto, Imposición de manos para comunicar el don del Espíritu Santo.

La mayoría de los que estamos en este salón hemos recibido ese don. Recibimos ese don porque tuvimos fe y porque nos arrepentimos y porque luego fuimos bautizados.

Ahora es nuestra responsabilidad trabajar con el Espíritu Santo y ejercitar nuestra fe y nuestra disposición a arrepentirnos, siendo valientes y corriendo riesgos sagrados.

Somos los socios de Cristo. No podemos fallar. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amén.

2025-07-18

The Visitor
a time-travel non-narrative

 

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These images are intended to be placed in any order. I used a simple system involving a six-sided die, paper, pencil, and ten rolls to discover this one.

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2025-07-04

Books on the Fourth of July

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Happy Independence Day! Celebrate with me, a person who thinks the First Amendment still has a chance.
 


046) Final Cut by Charles Burns, finished May 28

The primary recollection I have of reviews when this came out (which I did not read closely intending to read the book first) is that it is darker and more horrifying than Burns's Black Hole. To which all I can say is

What?

Black Hole is a work of extended body horror (the only comparison that seems fitting is Junji Ito). Final Cut is about people who watch horror movies and hope to make one of their own. That alone seems to reject the comparison. Perhaps the reviewers were suggesting they found Final Cut the more devastating work to which, okay, that's subjective.

Final Cut is the story of two character: one finding herself, the other losing himself. Black Hole was about teenagers and much of their character change happens out in the woods. Final Cut is about twenty-somethings and much of their character change happens out in the woods. Plus, I think they're Burns's best two books. No wonder everyone wants to compare them.

I think I personally like Final Cut more. Granted, it has been a long, long time since I read Black Hole (which was finished in 2005, after all), but while it was excellent the greater restraint of Final Cut made its characters' growth more happy and falls more tragic. But at least they live and breathe which, frankly, doesn't always happen in a Burns book. It's great to see him on the top of his form no matter which of the two you end up preferring. 

about a week


047) Fever Beach by Carol Hiassen, finished June 12

I've never read a Hiassen novel. Nonfiction, sure, but not a novel. Even though my oldest son was a huge fan of Hoot when he was a kid.

But the covers of his books are always eyecatching and he has a good reputation and I'm interested in what funny wirters are up to. Then The Atlatntic pushed me over

I did enjoy myself. Some of the satire is pretty broad and even mean-spirited. I do agree that America's would-be nazis deserve mockery, but, on the other hand, these people are fools, sad and lost, and the purpose of satire is to punch up. So I appreciated the Matt Gaetz standin more than the little loser standins. It was a strange position to be in, as a reader.

I was also startled (spoiler warning) that Hiassen decided to give his audience a series of deaths at the end. Most of the major bad-guy characters die in the last chapter and a half. Which comes off like some sort of perverse wish-fulfillment.

I liked the good guys and I did find stuff amusing, but I'm realizing as I write this that the book feels more like twitteresque in-crowd mockery than "literature." I get why people like it, but it won't make you feel any better once your laughter dies down. It provides about as much longterm comfort as a couple Advil.

Still. There's not a lot of broad comedy reaching a broad audience. So that has to provide some benefit to the national psyche. I mean, right?

maybe a couple weeks 


048) How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Persico, finished June 17

I found a lot to like about this book. It's a charming little thing about grief and growth with popping colors and a mildly confusing nature mythology.

But there were also a lot of things I didn't like. The characters have largely the same face and the dialogue tends to resolve into the just-so words of a roleplay following some emotional-intelligence training.

Which perhaps is a little cynical of me. I suspect, when I give it to my 8yrold (as I will tomorrow), she will share none of these complaints.

Sometimes just let a middle-grade book be a middle grade book 

(The publisher sent me a gratis copy.) 

perhaps a week 


049) Poetry Comics from the Book of Hours by Bianca Stone, June 24

I like Bianca Stone's work. I've read one of her poetry collections through and I've been working on another for over a year at a lleeiissuurreellyy pace. This one, however, is different. Poetry and Comics all at once.

These poems are more abstract than most of her stuff I've read. The comics are not always very comicky. You can see a one-pager that reappeared in this collection here. Her visual style is line-heavy with a good, loose sense of anatomy. Reminds me of Dave McKean, actually. 

I liked the book quite a lot and it made me want to engage in similar artistic pursuits (I have a plan for one!), but I don't feel that I much understood it. It was more like a strange painting than it was like either poetry or comics. I would more expect to see it on the walls of SFMOMA than, you know, in a book.

But that's a fun experience art can, sometimes, give: it can give you pleasure without making any sense at all. 

i think three days but they were not sequential 


050) Night of Camp David by Fletcher Knebel, finished June 25

This is a novel about a president of the United States who goes insane and the politicos who try to do something about it. The ending is a bit too convenient (though suitably patriotic) and the writing has a very midcentury feel (like this book, not this one). It mixes high ideas with sex and paranoia in a way someone of my generation might know from John Grisham or Dan Brown. It is, in other words, custom built to be a bestseller.

You might ask how I came to pick up this 1965 novel and I would answer . . . that's a very good question. I didn't expect it to show up at the library with my name on it. Obviously I'd put it on hold some time in the past and scheduled it to arrive just as school ended, but I didn't remember doing it. Since it was about madness adjacent to nukes, I assumed it was the novel both Dr Strangelove (which I think is overrated) and Fail Safe (which I talked the library into buying and have checked out about five times and still never managed to watch) are based on, but, um, no. Although Kubrick did start a copyright violation suit against the Fail Safe people, in fact, neither movie is based on Night of Camp David. Instead, they are, respectively, based on Red Alert and Fail-Safe. And so, whatever reason I put this on hold, that wasn't it.

Anyway, Knebel's also the author of Five Days in May which, like Fail Safe, is a serious and well-regarded movie about nuclear war that I have never watched. I won't read the novel (this was a fine read, but . . . not my style) but perhaps someday I'll watch it.

Just to stir my future memory, this is the book where the man's wife and mistress both love to kiss his cleft chin, where proposing a national wiretap law is proof positive of insanity, where the president goes mad while president as opposed to being elected while mad, where suggesting a president is crazy makes people think you are crazy, where a drummer's album can be the hottest thing among the youths, and other unlikely/"unlikely" things.

a couple weeks

  

051) The Serial Killer's Son Takes a Wife by Michael Libling, finished July 3

Thanks to the title and cover design, I assumed this would be about the titular son meeting a woman, their courtship, and the problems that ensue on the way to the altar. But no. Not at all. They get married pretty quickly, right near the beginning of the novel. And then more happens.

This is a pretty bold book, structurally speaking. Although some violence occurs near the beginning of the book (and throughout), it's hardly preparation for the grand guignol–level horrors at the end. And introducing a (potentially) supernatural element three quarters of the way through is wild. Wild.

The comic elements of the book are strikingly similar to those I described above in relation to Hiassen's novel. I have some of the same complaints, but balanced differently.

But, also like Hiassen, the primary characters are actually pretty great. Son and especially wife are terrific company. And our p-o-v allows for uncertainty in some surprising places.

In short, it's grotesque and at times inconsistent in quality, but I didn't stop reading it.

The strongest element, in the end, as promised by the title, is the marriage. It takes a couple stumbles, but the way Rob and Cori navigate their peculiar backgrounds and complicating relationship feels honest and true even when some of the stuff that happens is Grade A Bizarre.

(Note for people who collect such things: a pair of LDS missionaries are murdered for a two-paragraph bit. Plus, William Shunn is thanked in the acknowledgment, if you want need two vaguely relevant data points.) 

a couple weeks 

 

 

earlier this year..........

 

Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings!

001) Beowulf translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, finished January 1
002) Cthulhu Is Hard to Spell: Volume Three, finished January 1
003) Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell), finished January 8
004) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, finished January 11
005) You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, finished January 12
005) Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard—and Still Is by Terryl Givens and Nathaniel Givens, finished January 24
006) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book Two by Emil Ferris, finished January 25

Maybe we should just pretend this set begins and ends with Wednesday Addams

007) Chas. Addams Half-Baked Cookbook, finished January 29
008) Monica by Daniel Clowes, finished February 3
009) The Unexpurgated French Edition of Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, finished February 19
010) Peach and the Isle of Monsters by Franco Aureliani and Agnes Garbowska, finished February 20
011) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, finished February 28
012) Comic Poems edited by Peter Washington, finished March 7

Love, Beauty, and a complete lack of sasquatch 

013) Love that Dog by Sharon Creech, finished March 11
014) Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper, finished March 21
015) Antelope Spring by John Bennion, finished March 24
016) Shelley Frankenstein by Colleen Madden, finished March 28
017) Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #21: Double Take, finished April 5
018) The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clark, finshed April 8
019) Rave by Jessica Campbell, finished April 13
020) The Creeps: A Deep Dark Fears Collection by Fran Krause, finished April 14

Do not ask what she does with the babies.

027) Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, finished April 21
028) Somna: A Bedtime Story by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay, finished April 23
029) Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu, finished April 24
030&031) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, finished April 25
032) Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26
033) Ephemera by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26

Brighter and brighter until we all get our heads lopped off 

034) Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day by Sharlee Mullins Glenn, finished April 27
035) Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, finished May 3
036) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, finished May 5
037) Equus by Peter Shaffer
038) Travesties by Tom Stoppard, finished May 8
039) The Art of Intimacy: The Space Between by Stacey D'Erasmo, finished May 10
040) A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, finished May 16

Criticism & Comics

041) Arts and Inspiration: Mormon Perspectives, edited by Steven P. Sondrup, finished May 18
042) The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, finished May 19
043) Odessa by Jonathan Hill, finished May 22
044) Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder by Tula Lotay and Scott Snyder, finished May 22
045) Bingo Baby, finished May 26
 

PREVIOUS OTHER YEARS IN BOOKS

2007 = 2008 = 2009 = 2010 = 2011 = 2012 = 2013 = 2014 = 2015
2016 = 2017 = 2018 = 2019 = 2020 = 2021 = 2022 = 2023 = 2024

 

 

2025-07-01

J is for Cinema, U is for Fun

.

We'll start with the end of the film class then move on to the beginning of summer.

There is some overlap.

.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd
Jaws (1975)

Huh.

First time showing this one to stundents. It did okay, it got tense at points, but they were underwhelmed.

This is the same class that was underwhelmed by Casablanca and I think part of it is when you watch a film that everything you have ever seen was deeply influenced by it can be hard to see it for itself on first watch.

Anway, I'm excited for Soderbergh's book. You?


ELSEWHERE
our dvd
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

I've never made Napoleon Dynamite a film option because I figured too many students had already seen it. I don't mind studnets having seen the movies before, but too many calcified opinions makes it hard to judge the film fresh. And, as it ends up, more than half of them have seen it before. Often more than once. Often because a teacher is killing a day. So while some loved it and some hated it, most of them were trapped in previously held thoughts.

So it's back off the list.


HOME
library dvd
Lost in America (1985)

Coupla yuppies drop out and learn a valuable lesson?

I did like it but after one viewing I'm kind of confused how it counts as one of the great American comedies.

Also, I'm very distressed that we never learn about her FIRST time gambling. I feel we deserve to know!

All that said, I can see how this is the sort of movie that might play better after you already know the shape of it.



ELSEWHERE
Link+ dvd
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

I've been aware of this movie for a long time but even though I liked Geena Davis and have since come to like Samuel L. Jackson, I never considered watching it. Seemed like a dumb action movie that would fritter away time and braincells.

But then I watched this video and felt obliged to give it a shot.

And it's good. It's funny, it has impressive action sequences, the character work works.

I wouldn't really say I've missed all that much by waiting thirty years to watch it, but I would say that it was two hours of solid entertainment and I was left satisfied. And with my braincells reasonably intact.

Also: the mid90s soundtrack.

Also: like Arlington Road three years later, this movie plays with terrorism in a very pre-9/11 way that hits so different now, especially with its giddy/evil pleasure in the the possibility of conspiracy. They'd make an interesting pairing.


ELSEWHERE
our dvd
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Who knows how many times I've seen this movie and yet each time it still gives me a new experience.

This time I was struck by how funny the "Beautiful Girls" sequence is. I'm not sure I've ever noticed that before.

And it's remarkable even when you know how much crying Debbie Reynolds had been doing or that she has blood in her shoes or that Gene Kelly's running a massive fever or that Donald O'Connor starts a sequence already exhausted that you just can't tell. That's acting, baby.


ELSEWHERE
our dvd
Psycho (1960)

Still one of the best films to strike up conversation. And I love how students have wildly different opinions about things like how Anthony Perkins comes off or whether the psychiatrist is a good addition or whether they saw X or Y coming, etc etc. Every movie I show is a great movie but only some of them engage practically everyone every time—yet not in the same way.

Call it what you will but I call that art.



HOME
library dvd
Past Lives (2023)

What a lovely movie. Those stairs at the beginning, those lateral moves at the end, the long two-shot in-bed marital scene as real a snapshot of any marriage I've ever seen. The depths of emotions that are ambiguous even to—especially to?—those experiencing them.

Really, an amazing first films. Obviously from the mind of a playwright yet entirely filmic and terrifically so.




ELSEWHERE
Hoopla
Heathers (1988)

Everytime I watch this I wonder why the heck am I watching this?????!?!?!!!?!!?!? but by the end, I mean, it's so great. I'm so glad I did.









HOME
our dvd
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Never gets old.

Among the most quoted lines are: "Excuse me. Excuse me."

"You wrote a bad song, Petey."

and

"'Cause I'm little."


ELSEWHERE/HOME
Public Domain Movies
Sita Sings the Blues (2008)

Caveat upfront. I haven't seen anything about how other Hindus feel about it, but apparently right wing–Hindus hate hate hate this movie. I take it they don't disagree so much with the details of this story from the Ramayana so much as the presentation and the attitude. I suppose one could dismiss this story as some orientalist Western froufra but, I mean, I liked it.

For one thing, I loved the varied styles of animation and how they fit together. I loved the music by Annette Hanshaw, a voice I did not know. It's a bummer that issues with the music trapped the movie in copyright jail (apparently it was out of copyright in the U.S. but not all the individual S.s?; this is an issue since repaired by Congress, remarkably). When I first heard this I wondered why she didn't just swap out the music but having seen the movie this is obviously impossible. The music is core to the storytelling.

Among the interesting credits at the end are demon wrangler, beloved cult leader, duck wrangler, genetic engineer, chameleon handler, and moon wrangler. I'm not certain what any of these people did, credit notwithstanding.

Loved the soundtrack which was not only Hanshaw but also Indian music, Europrean classics put to witty use, and more. Hope I can figure out how to get it.... (Ah ha!)

Anyway, Nina Paley killed with this. And predicted a lot of YouTube's animation aesthetic. I recommend.


HOME
Internet Archive
Gwen, le livre de sable (1985)

I don't know if having subtitles would have helped me understand what was going on here. This seems to be a work of surrealism and so the value of language is questionable. Direct influences clearly are the paintings of Salvadore Dali and 2001: A Space Odyssey, but might also include Kafka, Canticle of Leibowitz and Dune. It also reminded me of the trash planet of Thor: Ragnarok and the Borrowers.

It's apparently a post-apocalyptic world of some sort, filled with stand and massive human artifacts. By which I mean you can use a fork as a bridge here. A girl has sex with an idiot prophet who then gets sucked up to some upper-level world where the sacred texts are old catalogues.

The movie is wild and strange but beautiful. The opening sequence of them chasing an ostrich and then harvesting and eating its tail feathers before letting it go is enough to let you know you're in for something wondrous and strange.

click for more

THEATER
Cinemark Century Hilltop 16
Materialists (2025)

Lady Steed heard Celine Song say that she wanted to dig into romantic comedies next and I'm glad she did. I'll admit my core image of a romcom is a 90s Nora Ephron number starring Meg Ryan possibly opposite Tom Hanks and this is very different from that. Less silly, for one thing. (Which isn't a knock on 90s Nora Ephron numbers starring Meg Ryan possibly opposite Tom Hanks—I love those movies.) But it's easy to forget it's a comedy for long stretches.

Speaking of Lady Steed, she did say the only thing that keeps me from being a ten is not working in finance. But then she thought about it some more and said certainly I'm over a five. So that was nice.

She also said, before pulling me in, that the kissing in this movie is good—that it makes you want to kiss. Until you remember you don't like kissing.

So I would say the joke is on us but I have to say we left this movie happy to be in love with each other.

Also, special props for the excellent closing-titles sequence. It's perfect.

And I also want to point out something I didn't notice until Celine Song pointed it out: Materialists is very much structured like a noir. To which all I can say is: cool.

Also, happy to be introduced to Zoë Winters who kills in a supporting role.

Here's to hoping Song gets another writing nod, at minimum.


HOME
Plex
The NeverEnding Story (1984)

I haven't seen this since the '80s, although I saw it many times as a kid. My memories are a bit scrambled. I combined appearances of the Nothing into one single horrific sequence, for instance. And the empress, always a deeply uncanny character? I had a much different reaction to her. This time she seems like not the worst actor but in fact the best actor. It's why she didn't fit in. And what a shame that she didn't act in another movie for twenty-four years. Then ten years until another. Then six more years, in 2024, she made her fourth and (so far) final film. Wild.

Anyway, it's part of that dark, terrifying, imagination-celebrating movie family that created my generation. This and Dark Crystal and Don Bluth prepped us all for Sandman and shaped us into the weirdos we are.

So even though I was correct about never needing to see this again, I am satisfied. And will probably never watch it again. Now that Lady Steed has shown it to our progeny once, I think we're done.

ps: doesn't atreyu look like anna kendrick

pps: i would be amiss not to mention the great creature design at that ivory-tower scene and to ask outloud about the sphinxes' breasts


THEATER
Rialto Cinemas Elmwood
The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

Having watched Fantastic Mr. Fox since my last viewing, I have to say that I think these two films share the most DNA. Yes, it looks like Asteroid City with some hints of Grand Budapest, but the rhythm of the dialogue and the blocking seems more like Fox. Benicio del Toro's performance is much like Clooney's. And the shrugs Liesl and Hilda give are straight out of Fox.

Anyway, I have answers to some of the questions I was left with last time. For one, it's too soon to know whether the scheme succeeds. But that it was even attempted suggests a sort of holy sacrifice on the part of the family. (Spoilers, by the way.) Instead of profiteering over endless violence, the scheme, especially following Liesl's changes, is a plan to bring peace and prosperity to the Middle East. The Korda's have bet everything on the scheme. And if it succeeds they will be wealthy and Phoenecia will be so much better off than ever before. If it fails? Well, just as now, they will have each other. And, as we see, that is enough.

A beautiful movie.


THEATER
Cinemark Century Hilltop 16
Elio (2025)

I have mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, a lot of the beats it took seemed pretty obvious and lesson-oriented in the true Kid-Movie Way.

On the other hand, it did make me cry twice, laugh a lot, and I loved all the alien designs.

The 8yrold liked it a lot.

I'm above-average curious how my opinion might evolve on further watches. But I can definitely recommend checking it out and making up your own mind.


HOME
our bluray
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

I think I might love this movie? I didn't as a kid, but . . . it's really good. I think Gene Wilder was the main reason Dahl didn't like the movie, but he's a marvel. Such casual menace. I love the stream of quotations. But he's also a source of originality. And when he is filled with joy or love, I believe it. And while Charlie Bucket's line deliveries are only okay, the kid gives us excellent face acting. And one of the Oompa Loompas looks like Hugh Grant.

That about covers it, don't you think?

Unless you want me to rank the songs from sublime to erm but I think I'd rather not.


HOME
Kanopy
The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016)

I just watched Cecil B. DeMille's original Ten Commandments so coming across this felt like a spot of kismet.

Who does not seem to have kismet is the poor folks who tried to do archaeology on the movie's set, buried in the Central Coast dunes. Nothing will make you more enraged about California's byzantine permitting processes this week than this movie. Guaranteed.

I've been down to Oceano twice the last couple years but I haven't tried to make it over to what there is to see. Having seen this movie I realize there's probably still a lot under the stand, but good luck finding it.

But I need to get myself to the proper museum and check out what they have found.

Anyway, the rest of the movie is sort of a hagiography for DeMille and it kinda persuaded me that maybe he deserved one. And so let me apologize real quick for occasionally getting him mixed up with D. W Griffith. DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

And I think I'd like to watch him movie on the Crusades next. Which, let me assure you, was NOT true two hours ago. But watch this movie and tell me if you don't feel a slight obligation yourself.


HOME
our dvd
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967)

Not a lot of movies take these kinds of chances anymore. We can disagree about how successful each choice is, but Ward Kimball's titles are wonderful, Bruns and the Sherman Brothers nailed the music, the cast is great, and, dang it, more movies should take these kinds of chances.







ELSEWHERE
Friday Night
Movies in the Parks
The Wild Robot (2024)

Watching movies in the park is . . . suboptimal. But this was still a pretty darn good movie. Perhaps under other circumstances, even as good as everyone says? My main uncertainty is whether that third act was necessary. Your thoughts welcome.

I haven't seen the trailer in over a year but I was surprised how many plot points it covered. But I don't think it told us its when and where and so that was a surprised.

Also, props for the dark jokes. It might get a little too cozy at the end, but perhaps it earns it by going dark early. Also, those jokes have to be a big part of the reason parents dug the movie, n'est ce pas?