Music and Spirituality | Fr. Basil Cole, O.P.

The Ignatius Insight just published an article from Fr. Basil Cole Music and Spirituality | Fr. Basil Cole, O.P. | Ignatius Insight | Ignatius Insight that is very insightful and very much needed in this Society Gone Madd!  I've read his book Music and Morals which really helped me, he is just awesome.  Now he connects Music and Spirituality to the tune of St Thomas Aquinas - my favorite saint.  Part of spirituality is using your mind, but people today seem to believe whatever they feel is ok.  When music (or any of the arts, I believe) causes feeling a certain way for a prolonged period of time it is bound to have it's effects.  Please consider reading the article (which I think can be applied to all forms of the arts), it may change your life, like his book Music and Morals did mine. 

GH Nightshift 08/06/08

General Hospital is by far the best soap on right now.  I began watching it in the dayroom with all the second shift guys in the dorms on the Air Force Base I was at.  It was during the Luke and Laura days.  About twenty five years later, I got back into it somehow.  Now all the kids of the characters are in it and it's as good, if not better than ever.  Then Last year they started a spinoff, Nightshift, with some of the same characters and they bring in new ones also. 

This particular episode was the best one ever.  I was really happy they tackled the subject of abortion in a worthy way.  They really brought out the horror of abortion and how it really affects the mother, even years later.  This is what will stop the crisis the entertainment industry is in.

A Christian at the Movies

First Things has a good article - A Christian at the Movies that chronicles some of the things that have happened in Hollywood to cause it's deterioration.  There is also good information on Dr. Ted Baehr and his MovieGuide web site and Christian Film & Television Commission. The article notes, interestingly, that since around the turn of the century Hollywood has released an average of 33 movies with strong positive Christian content each year.  Though the article questions his rating system, it has some good information to ponder.

FIRST THINGS: Interview with an Ex-Vampire Novelist

 FIRST THINGS: Interview with an Ex-Vampire Novelist is an article that gave me some insight on how art can bring about the conversion process.  It took writing 27 books for Anne Rice to learn the things that helped bring her to Christ.  I like how she characterizes some of the current scandalous biblical scholarship.  It seems to me she is a bit misguided in the area of politics.  For the best explanation of how to vote in a informed manner consistent with Catholic Moral teaching and fundamental human rights read the Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics.

Earthquake Coverage

We had a 5.4 Earthquake yesterday (07/29/2008) here in Los Angeles and TV coverage during events like this is dismal at best.  We had all channels covering it most of the day.  This is totally unnecessary.  Nothing really happened, some things fell, but that's about it.  All they needed to do was come on, make an announcement, and return to regular programming.  I bet all the people that wanted to watch the soaps in LA were really mad, I know I was, they pre-empted General Hospital! !   I had to wait until 10:00 to watch it on SoapNet! ! !  They could have run GH at the normal time and have a ticker at the bottom informing everyone news of the earthquake and nothing big happened.

This is LA and we have strong buildings, not straw huts like a lot of places that get earthquakes.  Some places an earthquake of this size would kill thousands of people, but basically nothing happened here, just some minor things.

I know some have good intentions but it's really all about the hype and trying to scare us so that we'll be ok with the government taking more of our money.  Don't Be Scared!

An American in Paris - A Refreshing Feeling

I was flipping channels this evening and came across the movie "An American In Paris" and thought I'd seen it before but I never had and right from the beginning of the movie,  from the first notes of music, it just gave me a good feeling.  It made me really realize how much entertainment has devolved.  It is amazing the drastic difference in the past fifty years.  The mid sixties is when the de-evolution started.

The biggest change I felt watching the movie is the quality of music.  I normally am not a big Gershwin fan, but most of the music in the movie was very uplifting to the soul, unlike the music of this day and age.  There has to be something that can be done to re-beautify the music and movies of this day and age.

KUSC is making classical music relevant

This is a good article on the state of Classical music in LA and in the USA.  I like Rich Capparela and Dennis Bartel.  Long Live Classical Music.

KUSC is making classical music relevant - Los Angeles Times