Skip to main content

Just A Guy

I spent all day with Bob yesterday. He and his wife are huge Trekkies. That's awesome. And it followed upon Confession and Mass in the early afternoon. And then we ate meat. I stayed until late in the night. We watched the TOS episode, "The City On The Edge Of Forever." I love you, "Edith Keeler." Even if you are a humanist hippie. [Dude, she's like 75 now.--ed.] Don't you kill my dreams. [Your dreams are stupid.--ed.] I grant that it would be better if she were 25, Catholic, and actually real. [Duh.--ed.]

Most of the time, I mock either Captain Kirk or the writers for subjecting us to their amorous whims. Not this time. Dark black hair, eyes to light up a city...sheesh. Well played, Kirk, well played. [But...--ed.] Shhhh. There might be people who haven't seen it. But of course, it won't work out. We all know that Kirk's true love is the Enterprise. Remember Elaan of Troyius? She literally chemically addicted him, and he just quit her. Cold turkey. If you don't get who Kirk's true love is, you don't get Star Trek. That's why Mr. Wise included the shuttle-pod scene in The Motion Picture. Many people were critical of that scene, and the pacing of the whole film, but they are wrong. It is quintessential Star Trek, and we Trekkies don't need explanations. I understand that for our culture to persist, we must appeal to the casual fan. I support that effort. But we just get it, and that's it.

But the new movie is great. I love what they have done, almost without reservation. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto just get it. They have nailed the two most important roles in the whole canon: Kirk and Spock. I have more to say about this later.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Thoughts On The Harrison Butker Commencement Speech

Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...

Dear Alyse

 Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

 I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...