Executive Graven Image

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Do you want a lithograph of President George W. Bush at a podium, head bowed in prayer, while the spirits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln flank him, hats off and heads also bowed, their hands on Bush’s shoulders, with a shining white cross over the Presidential seal, adorning the chief executive’s head like a halo, all backdropped by the Statue of Liberty, Iwo Jima, and the American flag? For a suggested $35 donation, you got it:

Praying for Peace

Thanks, Presidential Prayer Team Store! GOD BLESS AMERICA! WOO!

Tax Haiku

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Hello, tax refund.

Goodbye, credit card balance.

Goodbye, tax refund.

An Udvar-Hazy Day

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Bus ticketsIn the post about Seagulls On Ice, I mentioned that Amy and I were off to the NASM Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, but I never got down to writing about how that went, did I? Well, It was great, well worth the 45-minute bus ride from DC out to VA.

udvarhazy14The annex is a huge hangar containing artifacts from almost every era of aviation history — those that would not fit in the main Air and Space Building. Smaller planes were hung from the cavernous ceiling, arranged as though in an airshow, while larger aircraft — which I was far more interested in — sat on the hangar floor. Right at the entrance was the SR-71 Blackbird, sitting before the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Near that was the restored and reassembled B-29 Enola Gay, its label ominously playing down Hiroshima and Nagasaki in favor of more technical aviation info. (Protestors had splashed the bomber with red paint, but it appears to have been cleaned off.) Further down, the world’s only remaining Stratoliner (recent crash survivor) glinted silver beside the Dash 80 prototype. At the food court side of the hangar, a newly retired Concorde dominated the view.

udvarhazy18A few drawbacks: disappointingly, none of the aircraft interiors were open to tourists. Also, while the Space Hangar is still being constructed, most of the Space Shuttle is cordoned off so you can only view it from the front or from afar and above. And one tip for visitors going to the annex, there are practically no food options at the Udvar-Hazy Center, so eat first. There’s only one tiny Subway sandwich stand in the “food court.” Their supply of personnel and box lunches is severely limited, the line stretches halfway across the hangar at the peak of lunch rush, and seating may not always be available. It doesn’t look like they’ll have a proper food court till summer of this year. Also, if you want to get up to the viewing tower to see planes landing at Dulles Airport, you’ll need to come earlier in the day to get tickets, which are in high demand and low supply.

Otherwise, the place is great: a flight-nerd’s dream. I highly recommend it, just as long as you start with a full stomach. Photos here.

Ustinov as Friedrich

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Hearing of Peter Ustinov’s death last month made me think of the last film I saw him in, Luther. Amy and I watched that last August with Valerie. The film itself was pretty ordinary, not too daring, more like an exceptionally well-made docu-drama. Joseph Fiennes as Martin Luther was simply not a reconcilable image. I prefer Valerie’s idea of casting Sean Astin in the Great Reformer’s role: he has the face and the build for it.

As for Sir Peter, he was Friedrich the Wise, and he played it perfectly, as an endearing old monarch whose hapless childlikeness belied shrewd political wiles. But other than that, it was a mostly unengaging film. And that singing scene. Cringe.

Dance of the Simple Gifts

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So I mentioned last night that I have a bit of a problem with Sydney Carter’s Lord of the Dance. It’s a petty problem. But first, the positive: Dance can go hand in hand with song as an art form and an expression of worship, and it’s an interesting symbolism. (Myself, I don’t dance, but I’m not some fundie anti-dancer.) So the use of the “dance” as a unique allegory for Christ is perfectly okay with me.

The melody, though, the melody! I’m no Shaker and I’m no Copland fan, but I like Simple Gifts. I’ve always associated that melody with “‘Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free…” and it’s a jarring thing to hear it being applied to a song about dancing. Dancing? To “Simple Gifts?”

Later on, the song reaches the crucifixion and death: “I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black, it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back…” The dance imagery falls flat here, and the composer’s feeble attempt to add drama to the scene by simply shifting the song to a minor key is a major source of discomfort. Is it just me, or is Christ’s Passion trivialized by this effort to stuff the shame and gore of his sacrifice into what should be a lighthearted tune? It rubs me exactly the wrong way.

The First Baptist DC choir sang Lord of the Dance last Sunday as a well-arranged Offertory interlude, but I worry that, in attempting to come off as liberal and fun-loving, some church out there might try to stick this into the congregational singing lineup, and some newcomer will be freaked out at having to sing about a dancing Christ in the first person, with mention of devils dancing on backs, to the tune of “Simple Gifts.” Never mind that Sydney Carter (may he rest in peace), already known for writing controversial religious music, held to what appears to be a rather loose, dubiously pluralistic view of Christ and faith. Well, it was the 1960s.

Amy Welborn cringes at it too. What do you think? I’m open to feedback about the song, especially if you have an insightful biblical reference on this whole issue of dance and tasteful song composition.

Easter Weekend Retrospective

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Capitol TulipsAmy came over to DC for Easter, and we spent the sunny part of the weekend hopping about Washington, looking at medieval Italian works and Dutch landscapes and portraits at the National Gallery, hiking up and down a half-mile of the Melvin Hazen Trail in Rock Creek Park, and browsing through PetCo for catnip and a brine shrimp net.

Easter Sunday itself dawned gray and rainy. I came to church an hour early for choir practice, and glided through two excerpts from Handel’s Messiah: “Since By Man Came Death” and the Hallelujah Chorus (natch), and Sydney Carter’s Lord of the Dance. (Ugh — that is an “ugh” I will explain some other time, no offense intended to the recently deceased composer.)

After worship, we joined the young adults for a smorgasbord brunch hosted by Rob. Not long after, Amy and I joined my aunt and uncle for Easter dinner with relatives in Arlington, where we feasted on bacalao and rice as my 89-year-old great-aunt regaled us with stories of my ancestors.

A great Easter weekend, despite the wet weather. The rain continues even tonight, as I see to a host of web chores and get things in order for the possible birth of a teeny-tiny business venture.

Meanwhile, I see that Joel has whipped out a spiffy new design, and TA-TA-TARATA-TAAA, TA-TA-TARATA-TAAAAAA!!!

Saints of GD

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Patron Saints of Graphic Design. W. Lynn Garrett does a superb job of drawing on Catholic literary and artistic tradition to come up with a professional graphic designer’s tongue-in-cheek hagiology. Some of the saints’ histories are funny, others are groaners, but all of the “paintings” (actually digital photocollages) are exceptionally well done, with all the narrative detail one would see in a medieval triptych.

(Also posted to Metafilter.)

Risen

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+ “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

+ Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

+ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Christos Aneste!

Passion in the Desert

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(Note: This entry has nothing to do with that leopard love story, Honore de Balzac’s A Passion in the Desert.)

Interesting report from Country Keepers about The Passion making a significant splash in Qatar and Kuwait, generating among Muslims an interest in Jesus and Scripture. Ironically, interest in the film was piqued by word of its supposed anti-Semitic content. Just as ironic is the film’s propagation via the spread of “sinful” pirated DVDs.

TPOTC has also made a timely Holy Week premiere in the Philippines, where I think it has been well-received. Filipinos are mostly Roman Catholic, after all, and are also less likely to be offended by scenes of gore and violence, being a people more jaded to such things than an American audience. (Especially with those bloody penitentias literally flagellating themselves down provincial roads and nailing themselves to crosses. More on that some other time.) For an excellent POV on TPOTC from a Filipino Catholic philosophy professor at a Jesuit university, here’s the review from Rowie.

Meanwhile, here in the USA, they’re whipping Easter bunnies. The horror, the horror.

Lema Sabachthani?

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+ And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

+ “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? …. they have pierced my hands and feet — I can count all my bones — they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

+ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

+ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.